Question

What did critics say would be a result of Roosevelt's "Court-packing" plan would disrupt the checks and balances of the government's branches?

Answer 1

The Judicial Procedures Reform Bill enacted in 1937, commonly known as the "court-packing plan", was a legislative measure proposed by Roosevelt's goverment that intended to add more justices to the US Supreme Court.

The ultimate aim of much measure was to the obtain the approval of certain provisions of the New Deal that had been declared unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court. The enactment of the bill would grant the president the power to appoint one justice for every member of the court that was older than 70 years and 6 months. He would be able to appoint a maximum of 6 judges.

The detractors of the bill claimed that it posed a threat to the system of checks and balances that keeps the equilibrium between the three branches of power in the US: legislative, executive and judiciary. The enactment of the bill would give the executive power the chance to interfere in the judiciary by appointing justices, with the ultimate aim of influencing a decision that was convenient for the goverment.

Answer 2

It would disrupt the checks and balances of the government's branches.