February 12, 1937, New York Herald-Tribune, “Qualifying Test For
Supreme Court Jobs” Many people were very critical about the
Supreme Court’s willingness to accept the New Deal. This cartoon
was drawn at the time when FDR won his second term as president
with a landslide victory.The cartoon shows FDR saying a command
and the Supreme Court Justices abiding by what he said. The
artist of the cartoon depicts the justice scales and the
Constitution in the trash can. According to Foner, “the court’s
willingness to accept the New Deal marked a permanent change in
judicial policy” and many begin to worry that FDR was becoming
more of a dictator and making way for presidents after him to
become dictators. Some felt that the court became more
supportive of the New Deal because of FDR’s “court packing”
proposal that he made to Congress (which was rejected). I think
that some of the justices felt that FDR might replace them.