FDR's Gambit

Reviews / Votes

This boldly revisionist history of FDR's effort to 'pack' the Supreme Court could not be more timely or relevant. Laura Kalman, one of the country's most important legal historians, offers a spellbinding exploration of the realm where law and politics met in 1937-and where, with the stakes as high as ever, they still meet today. * Linda Greenhouse, Yale Law School
* By writing from the perspectives of the players, especially FDR, Laura Kalman casts much new light on an episode-the Court-packing plan-that many of us falsely believe we know all about. She writes vividly and leads readers to want to turn pages to find out what comes next. A wonderful read on an important topic. * Sanford Levinson, author of Framed: America's 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance
* One of the nation's preeminent legal historians, Laura Kalman provides an insightful and entertaining look at the New Deal constitutional crisis. Kalman shines a fresh light on the public and legislative reaction to Franklin Roosevelt's 'court-packing plan' and explains why Roosevelt was unable to persuade a Democratically-controlled Congress to increase the number of Supreme Court justices. FDR's Gambit is a must-read for anyone interested in the story behind this bold political move at a pivotal moment in the history of the Court and of the nation. * Brad Snyder, author of Democratic Justice: Felix Frankfurter, the Supreme Court, and the Making of the Liberal Establishment
* With Supreme Court reform again bobbing up and down at the surface of political contention, Laura Kalman's meticulous examination of the political history of FDR's Court-packing plan cautions against any simple version of what happened. Moving almost day by day, Kalman shows how complicated the Court-packing plan's course was (like that of any piece of significant legislation). Was the plan a blunder by FDR? Maybe yes, maybe no. Was it doomed from the start? Perhaps, but perhaps not. Did politically savvy interventions by the Court and its Chief Justice derail the proposal? A bit, but perhaps not too much. Kalman's careful account lets readers come to their own conclusions about the plan's fate-and about the meaning of the episode for our own times. * Mark Tushnet, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law emeritus, Harvard Law School
* Laura Kalman's revisionist account of the Court-packing crisis of 1937 delves more widely and deeply into the relevant archival materials and contemporary journalistic coverage than has any previous treatment. Her overview of the vast body of scholarship concerning constitutional development in the New Deal period is erudite and discerning. Even those who may differ with her normative perspective or with some of her interpretive conclusions will find much to learn from and admire in this absorbing and illuminating narrative. * Barry Cushman, John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame
* Laura Kalman has been a longtime participant in and observer of the ongoing debate about the political and legal significance of the Roosevelt Administration's introduction of a bill to expand the size of the Supreme Court in early 1937. This book is her most recent and extensive contribution to the debate. It demonstrates Kalman's great talent for archival research and exceptional command of scholarly literatures. Students of the New Deal, twentieth century American politics, and twentieth-century constitutional history are in debt to Kalman for her illuminating intervention into a scholarly issue of enduring significance. * G. Edward White, David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor, University of Virginia School of Law
* The book will be useful in courses on the political process. * Choice *