Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1994
Publication Information
80 Va. L. Rev. 201 (1994).
Abstract
The story of the "switch in time" is among the most enduring chapters of our constitutional history. It is repeated every year in countless courses in government, history, and constitutional law at the high school, college, and graduate level. One of the great morality plays of American civics, it is a tale both celebratory and cautionary. Its plot is simple, there are good guys and bad guys, and the good guys prevail in the end. Although no comprehensive monograph has been devoted to the subject exclusively, the literature recounting the story is vast and remarkably homogenous-indeed, repetitive. In truncated, composite, and only slightly caricatured form, the narrative goes as follows: Once upon a time, in the dark days of the Great Depression, there was a great liberal President (Franklin D. Roosevelt) who fought valiantly against rich and powerful economic royalists in a noble effort to better the lot of the common man and save the country from economic ruin. His plan, christened the New Deal, enjoyed widespread public support but was repeatedly rejected by the Supreme Court.
Recommended Citation
Barry Cushman,
Rethinking the New Deal Court,
80 Va. L. Rev. 201 (1994)..
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/1771
Comments
Abstract from introduction.