The Democrat Who Challenged FDR’s Supreme Court Plan

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced a plan to expand the U.S. Supreme Court and shift its balance in favor of his New Deal legislation. The idea gained support...until a fellow Democrat pushed back. Hatton Sumners, a Texas congressman and New Deal ally, believed that court packing would harm the Constitution more than it would help the country. His decision to oppose FDR came at a political cost, but it helped preserve the structure of the Court. Historian Josiah Daniel shares the story of one man who stood on principle—and why the Court still has nine justices today.

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