FDR's Court-Packing Plan (1937)
President Franklin Roosevelt, frustrated by a conservative U.S. Supreme Court striking down New Deal programs, proposed adding up to six justices. The plan drew sharp opposition even from his own allies.
The bill failed in Congress. The Court soon upheld New Deal legislation in a shift often called 'the switch in time that saved nine.'
The defeat entrenched a norm against court expansion in Washington, a norm state legislatures have not always shared.
The Utah expansion follows the same logic as FDR's plan: change the court's size to change its rulings.
