Do you think the US made a mistake in this year's election?

[Blaupanzer]

"Stacking the Supreme Court (SCOTUS)" is accepted terminology for putting idealogues on the court specifically so they will vote according to the Pres's beliefs on selected issues. FDR did threaten to "Pack" SCOTUS. However, that would have required a constitutional amendment and his advisers suspected he could not get 3/4 of the states.

[KrazyHorse]

However, that would have required a constitutional amendment and his advisers suspected he could not get 3/4 of the states.

No. Congress fixes the size of the court with ordinary legislation.

[KrazyHorse]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States

The United States Constitution does not specify the size of the Supreme Court; instead, Article III of the Constitution gives Congress the power to fix the number of Justices.

[KrazyHorse]

Otherwise there would have been no point in threatening to increase the number of Justices (instead, Roosevelt could simply have gotten whatever legislation he wanted passed as an amendment).

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
He didn't try it either AFAIK. Just threatened to.

Hmmm. Reading the wikipedia entry I take this back. Legislation was proposed and failed to pass Congress.

[Ramo]

Yep, Congress had changed the size of SCOTUS a few times.

[Naked Gents Rut]

My point was obviously that "stacking the court" doesn't necessarily mean what you think it does (though it could be used that way).

It's a synonym. I've read articles using it interchangeably with "packing"...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/26/opinion/26smith.html

[Blaupanzer]

Catch up, NGR. we've moved on to FDR's actual attempt. KH is keeping us informed of his research as he goes.

[KrazyHorse]

Only thing I didn't know was that legislation was actually introduced. You thought changing size of court required same standard as an amendment.

[Naked Gents Rut]

He also thinks "stacking the court" is "accepted terminology for putting idealogues on the court specifically so they will vote according to the Pres's beliefs on selected issues."

[Ramo]

It's a synonym. I've read articles using it interchangeably with "packing"...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/26/opinion/26smith.html

You mean "article" in the singular, right? After a cursory google search, I think that NYT opinion piece is the only mainstream source that I found where it was used that way (technically, a WSJ blog used that term in this manner when it was linking to that article). That usage is obviously not very common. What Jrabbit said is perfectly fine.

[Naked Gents Rut]

A cursory Google search reveals no mainstream sources that use "stacking" in the way Jrabbit did. The few examples that exist are from obscure blogs and the like. It's an uncommon term, but the accepted usage is as a synonym for "packing".

[Ramo]

A single opinion piece at a paper doesn't define "accepted usage."

To be clear, I'm saying is that there is obviously no specific meaning attached to "stacking the court," and should be interpreted literally, and therefore could be used in either sense.

[Naked Gents Rut]

A single opinion piece at a paper doesn't define "accepted usage."

It's not just any paper. It's the paper of record.

[notyoueither]

Why do they call it that?