The New Deal lawyers

Bitter conflict between New Dealers and their Old Guard opponents marked the first 4 years of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency. Swept into office with a mandate to repair the ravages of the Depression, the New Deal Congress that began its "Hundred Days" session in March 1933 enacted an innovative package of legislation designed to revive a moribund economy. Debate on the programs of industrial and agricultural reconstruction that formed the core of the New Deal centered around the construction of broadly worded constitutional provisions and the allocation of power between the states and the federal government. The arena in which these issues were most heatedly contested was not, as one might expect, the chambers of Congress. Popular rejection of the charity-basket policies of the Republicans in the 1932 elections had reduced the once-grand old party to a vocal but ineffectual remnant in both wings of the Capitol. Commanding majorities of almost 3-1 in the House of Representatives and 2-1 in the Senate, the Democratic leadership in Congress easily deflected the rhetorical barbs of the GOP minority as it shepherded Roosevelt's legislative program to passage. The real confrontation between New Dealers and their foes took place, rather, in federal courtrooms dominated by Republican judges wedded to the states-rights and laissez-faire ideologies repudiated overwhelmingly by the voters in three successive elections between 1932 and 1936. The 140 judges appointed by Roosevelt's 3 Republican predecessors made up 3/4 of the district court bench and 2/3 of the appellate bench. It was this group, partisan in background and conservative in judicial philosophy, that constituted the most formidable barrier to the New Deal. - Introduction.