socialism and the courts

I was looking at a summary of the ANNUAL REPORT ON THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY, written by the Chief Justice of the United States William H. Rehnquist a weeks ago that was posted on AIM.org. The full text is in the Special Issue of the NEWSLETTER OF THE FEDERAL COURTS -- this year Volume 37, # 1. Thinking of contracts (see previous post) my eye caught on this paragraph where the Chief is addressing judicial activism and impeachment of judges.

If judges cannot be removed from office for judicial decisions, how can we be certain that the Judicial Branch is subject to the popular will? The answer...may be found in President Franklin Roosevelt's clash with the Supreme Court of the 1930s. The Court had invalidated legislation FDR thought was essential to restore...prosperity during the Great Depression. Roosevelt, and an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress, faced a Court that had for 30 years been reading into our Constitution a doctrine of "freedom of contract"...hostile to social legislation, and had adopted a very limiting view of congressional authority under the commerce clause.

So this battle over socialism was fought before. I didn’t know that. I mean, I knew about people fighting against communists but I didn’t know socialist issues had been rejected by the courts. Ultimately FDR won when he was able to appoint 5 justices in his second term. Social Security began in 1935 and FDR’s second term doesn’t start until 1937 so that doesn’t explain everything but is a new avenue of research. The Court had fought socialist tendencies for 30 years and lost after FDR stacked the court. Come to think of it, those previous 30 years were pretty bad. WWI, Great Depression and Federal Reserve, introduction of income tax, battles over prohibition, direct election of senators (17th Amendment - a huge blow to power of the states), League of Nations. A lot of bad ideas. What were they thinking? I have always thought of inventions when I think of that era. I am a nerd. Advances in electrical engineering, autos, aviation etc were amazing.

Communism has failed. Our run at socialism has just taken a little longer to cannibalize itself but a few more years and it will all fall apart. How can we make it end sooner and with less upheaval? No one wants revolution, it is always bloody. Another Great Depression would be devastating. Everyone in MSM keeps talking about fixing the system. I don't want it fixed. I want it gone.