Hughes Court

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Supreme Court of the United States
Hughes Court
→ 
Stone Court
February 24, 1930 – June 30, 1941
(11 years, 126 days)
SeatOld Senate Chamber
(1930–35)
Supreme Court Building
(1935–41)
Washington, D.C.
No. of positions9
Hughes Court decisions

The Hughes Court refers to the

Harlan Stone was nominated and confirmed as Hughes's replacement. The Supreme Court moved from its former quarters at the United States Capitol to the newly constructed Supreme Court Building
during Hughes's chief-justiceship.

Presiding over the country during the

Pierce Butler, James Clark McReynolds, George Sutherland, and Willis Van Devanter), and struck down many of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies.[1] Roosevelt's frustration with the Court led to his so-called court-packing scheme, a 1937 proposal—defeated in Congress—to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court in order to affect its ideological position
.

Membership

The Hughes Court began in 1930, when Hughes was confirmed to replace William Howard Taft as Chief Justice. As president, Taft had appointed Hughes to the position of Associate Justice in 1910, and Hughes had remained on the Court until his resignation in 1916 to run for president.

Associate Justice Edward Terry Sanford died less than a month after Hughes's confirmation as Chief Justice, and was succeeded by Justice Owen Roberts in May 1930, after the Senate rejected President Herbert Hoover's first nominee, John J. Parker. With the confirmation of Roberts, the Hughes Court consisted of Hughes, Roberts, and seven veterans of the Taft Court: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Van Devanter, McReynolds, Louis Brandeis, Sutherland, Butler, and Harlan F. Stone. Holmes retired in 1932 and was succeeded by Benjamin N. Cardozo; like Roberts and Hughes, Cardozo was appointed by President Hoover.

Roosevelt made his first appointment to the court in 1937, replacing the retiring Van Devanter with

longer than any other justice in the Court's history. Butler died on November 16, 1939, and was replaced by Frank Murphy. With these appointments, the president was able to successfully move the Court to a more liberal and agreeable position. Lastly, McReynolds retired shortly before Hughes did, and Roosevelt replaced him with James F. Byrnes. The Hughes Court ended with Hughes's retirement in 1941. Roosevelt selected Associate Justice Stone to succeed Hughes. Stone's position as Associate Justice was subsequently filled by Robert H. Jackson
.

Timeline

Bar key:
  T. Roosevelt appointee   Taft appointee   Wilson appointee   Harding appointee   Coolidge appointee   Hoover appointee   F. Roosevelt appointee

Other branches

Presidents during this court included

Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Congresses during this court included 71st through the 77th
United States Congresses.

Rulings of the Court

The Court seated
The Hughes Court in 1937, photographed by Erich Salomon.

The Hughes Court issued several notable rulings touching on many aspects of American life. Landmark cases of the Hughes Court include:[2]

Judicial philosophy

The Hughes Court has been called a time of "constitutional revolution" in which the court turned away from the

Homer Cummings failed to adequately defend the laws in court.[6] Regardless of the reasons for the change, the Supreme Court did not strike down another New Deal law after 1936.[7] The subsequent retirements or deaths of three of the Four Horsemen (plus Justices Cardozo and Brandeis) gave Roosevelt the opportunity to appoint liberal Justices who ruled more favorably on his agenda.[7]

References

  1. ^ .
  2. ^ a b c "The Hughes Court, 1930-1941". The Supreme Court Historical Society. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  3. ^ "West Coast Hotel v. Parrish (1937)". The Supreme Court. PBS. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  4. ^ Caplan, Lincoln (13 September 2013). "Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Footnote Four". New Yorker. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  5. ^ .
  6. ^ a b Cushman, 249-255
  7. ^ a b Leuchtenburg, William E. (May 2005). "When Franklin Roosevelt Clashed with the Supreme Court – and Lost". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 1 March 2016.

Further reading

Works centering on the Hughes Court

Works centering on Hughes Court justices

Other relevant works