When the conservative Supreme Court justices called FDRs New Deal measures “unconstitutional”(which is what SC justices call things they hate politically), FDR responded by saying, in essence: my responsibility is to feed and protect the American people. I’ll pack the court. /1

FDR was right to do so. The primary duty of the leader is to protect the public. Not merely to respect the outer shell of democracy, but to heed its substance. FDR was such a leader. Americans were struggling. He was trying to help them. The Court was trying to stop him. /2

In the end the court packing fell through, but the Supreme Court got the message: FDR was not going to stop working on behalf of the American people, especially the poor, simply because a bunch of reactionary judges didn’t like it. The same SC justices began ruling favorably. /3

Two of the justices moved sides and, even before FDRs court packing bill came before Congress (April 1937), they ruled in favor of the National Labor Relations Act and the Social Security Act. From that point on, the New Deal was largely legally unopposed. /END