The Constitutional Revolution of 1937

Justice Owen Roberts' 1937 vote to uphold a minimum wage law is remembered as the "switch in time that saved nine." It came on the heels of Franklin Roosevelt's March 9, 1937, fireside chat, where he criticized the Supreme Court for blocking needed economic reforms and proposed adding a number of justices to the Supreme Court. After the "switch in time," Roosevelt's judicial reform bill faltered and the Supreme Court upheld other major economic regulations passed by Congress. Whether or not Roosevelt's court-packing plan influenced Justice Roberts' vote, the Court's Commerce Clause jurisprudence looked very different after 1937.