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Oregon's high court needs 'legal realism'.

Publication: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)
Publication Date: 30-OCT-05 		Format: Online
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Full Article Title: Oregon's high court needs 'legal realism'.(Commentary)(The activist judiciary may face a backlash after overturning voter-approved measures)

Article Excerpt
Byline: Jack Roberts For The Register-Guard

In 1937, a constitutional crisis stalked America as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt contemplated a full-scale attack on a United States Supreme Court that had invalidated 12 major pieces of New Deal legislation in less than 18 months. Roosevelt's plan - dubbed his `court packing scheme' - would have allowed him to increase the size of the court from 9 to 15. With the appointment of six new judges, FDR was confident he could turn the 5-4 and 6-3 votes against his legislative agenda into solid majorities that would support anything he wanted.

This court-packing scheme failed in part because even many partisan Democrats valued the independence of the judiciary more than party loyalty. But it also failed in large part because the Supreme Court itself got the message as two of its members began demonstrating a newfound respect for judicial restraint, curtailing their judicial activism on behalf of conservative ideology and suddenly voting to uphold measures they previously would have struck down.

This shift in voting alignment led pundits to quip, `A switch in time saves nine.' The change was further reinforced when two of the most conservative members of the court resigned within the year. The combination...

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