Owen
Roberts was born in Philadelphia
on 2nd May, 1875. After graduating from law school Roberts taught
at the University of Pennsylvania. During the First
World War Roberts served as assistant district attorney.
In 1924 Roberts was appointed by Calvin
Coolidge to investigate the Teapot Some Scandal. This eventually
led to the conviction of Albert Fall. In 1930 President Herbert
Hoover appointed appointed him to the Supreme
Court. Roberts was a conservative justice but was more open-minded
than George Sutherland, Willis
Van Devanter and Pierce Butler.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Democratic
Party candidate, was elected as president in 1932. Over the next
few years Roberts and the other justices who were supporters of the
Republican Party, ruled against the
National Recovery Administration (NRA),
the Agricultural Adjustment Act
(AAA) and ten other New Deal laws.
On 2nd February, 1937, Franklin D. Roosevelt
made a speech attacking the Supreme Court
for its actions over New Deal legislation.
He pointed out that seven of the nine judges (Roberts, Charles
Hughes, George Sutherland, Willis
Van Devanter, Harlan Stone, Pierce
Butler and Benjamin Cardozo) had
been appointed by Republican presidents.
Roosevelt had just won re-election by 10,000,000 votes and resented
the fact that the justices could veto legislation that clearly had
the support of the vast majority of the public.
Roosevelt suggested that the age was a major problem as six of the
judges were over 70 (Charles Hughes,
Willis Van Devanter, James
McReynolds, Louis Brandeis and George
Sutherland). Roosevelt announced that he was going to ask Congress
to pass a bill enabling the president to expand the Supreme
Court by adding one new judge, up to a maximum off six, for every
current judge over the age of 70.
Charles Hughes realised that Roosevelt's
Court Reorganization Bill would result in the Supreme
Court coming under the control of the Democratic
Party. His first move was to arrange for a letter written by him
to be published by Burton Wheeler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
In the letter Hughes cogently refuted all the claims made by Franklin
D. Roosevelt.
However, behind the scenes Charles Hughes
was busy doing deals to make sure that Roosevelt's bill would be defeated
in Congress. On 29th March, Roberts announced that he had changed
his mind about voting against minimum wage legislation. Hughes also
reversed his opinion on the Social Security
Act and the National Labour Relations Act
(NLRA) and by a 5-4 vote they were now declared to be constitutional.
Then Willis Van Devanter, probably the
most conservative of the justices, announced his intention to resign.
He was replaced by Hugo Black, a member
of the Democratic Party and a strong
supporter of the New Deal. In July,
1937, Congress defeated the Court Reorganization Bill by 70-20. However,
Roosevelt had the satisfaction of knowing he had a Supreme
Court that was now less likely to block his legislation.
After the outbreak of the Second World War,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked
Roberts to carry out an investigation into the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
His report published in 1942 was highly critical of the United States
military.
After retiring from the Supreme Court
in 1945 and became dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School
(1948-51). Owen Roberts died in on 17th May, 1955.
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