.gif)
Four Horsemen (Supreme Court)
Encyclopedia
The "Four Horsemen" was the nickname given by the press to four conservative members of the United States Supreme Court during the 1932–1937 terms, who opposed the New Deal
agenda of President
Franklin Roosevelt. They were Justices
Pierce Butler
, James Clark McReynolds
, George Sutherland
, and Willis Van Devanter
. They were opposed by the liberal "Three Musketeers
"—Louis Brandeis
, Benjamin Cardozo, and Harlan Stone. Chief Justice
Charles Evans Hughes
and Justice Owen J. Roberts controlled the balance. Hughes was more inclined to join the liberals, but Roberts was often swayed to the side of the conservatives.
Though at first the Court had accepted some of the New Deal legislation over the objections of the four conservative justices, in the 1935 term, the Four Horsemen, together with Roberts and Hughes, voided the Agricultural Adjustment Act
of 1933 (United States v. Butler
, 297 U.S. 1
(1936)), along with the Federal Farm Bankruptcy Act, the Railroad Act, and the Coal Mining Act. In Carter v. Carter Coal Company
, 298 U.S. 238
(1936), the Four together with Roberts voided legislation regulating the coal industry; the same line-up voided a New York minimum wage
law for women and children in Morehead v. New York, 298 U.S. 587
(1936). The Court had also struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act
in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States
295 U.S. 495
(1935) the previous May. Though the latter decision was unanimous, Cardozo did not join the opinion for the Court (written by Chief Justice Hughes, and joined by Brandeis, Roberts, and the Four Horsemen), and wrote a separate concurrence, joined by Stone, to state the view of why the delegated power of legislation in the code at issue was "not canalized within banks that keep it from overflowing."
The Four Horsemen would ride in a car to and from the Court together to coordinate positions and arguments. They were bitterly opposed to the New Deal policies for unemployment and economic recovery, and they invalidated state laws regulating labor and business relations. The Four's votes kept Congress and the states from regulating the economy. These actions led many observers to the conclusion that the Court was likely to be obstructive to all legislative efforts to cope with the depression, and to remain wedded to the precedents of the Lochner era
. Some academics argued that the Court's aversion to 'regulated capitalism' confronted the country with "the question not how governmental functions shall be shared, but whether in substance we shall govern at all."
The result of these dynamics was a steady drift of the Court towards a crisis; the 1935 term was labeled by Justice Stone "one of the most disastrous in [the Court's] history." New Dealers decried the Court's actions as "economic dictatorship", and some communities even hanged the justices in effigy.
It was the success of the Horsemen in striking down New Deal legislation that led to Roosevelt's court-packing scheme
. The switch in time that saved nine
together with the retirement of Van Devanter in June 1937 and his replacement by Hugo Black
ended the Four Horsemen's domination of the Court.
Hugo Black and President Franklin Roosevelt considered the Four the "direct descendants of Darwin and Spencer
."
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
agenda of President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Franklin Roosevelt. They were Justices
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States...
Pierce Butler
Pierce Butler (justice)
Pierce Butler was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1923 until his death in 1939...
, James Clark McReynolds
James Clark McReynolds
James Clark McReynolds was an American lawyer and judge who served as United States Attorney General under President Woodrow Wilson and as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court...
, George Sutherland
George Sutherland
Alexander George Sutherland was an English-born U.S. jurist and political figure. One of four appointments to the Supreme Court by President Warren G. Harding, he served as an Associate Justice of the U.S...
, and Willis Van Devanter
Willis Van Devanter
Willis Van Devanter was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, January 3, 1911 to June 2, 1937.- Early life and career :...
. They were opposed by the liberal "Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers (Supreme Court)
The "Three Musketeers" was the nickname given to three liberal members during the 1932-1937 terms of the United States Supreme Court, who generally supported the New Deal agenda of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They were Justices Louis Brandeis, Benjamin N. Cardozo, and Harlan Fiske Stone...
"—Louis Brandeis
Louis Brandeis
Louis Dembitz Brandeis ; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939.He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to Jewish immigrant parents who raised him in a secular mode...
, Benjamin Cardozo, and Harlan Stone. Chief Justice
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
Charles Evans Hughes
Charles Evans Hughes
Charles Evans Hughes, Sr. was an American statesman, lawyer and Republican politician from New York. He served as the 36th Governor of New York , Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States , United States Secretary of State , a judge on the Court of International Justice , and...
and Justice Owen J. Roberts controlled the balance. Hughes was more inclined to join the liberals, but Roberts was often swayed to the side of the conservatives.
Though at first the Court had accepted some of the New Deal legislation over the objections of the four conservative justices, in the 1935 term, the Four Horsemen, together with Roberts and Hughes, voided the Agricultural Adjustment Act
Agricultural Adjustment Act
The Agricultural Adjustment Act was a United States federal law of the New Deal era which restricted agricultural production by paying farmers subsidies not to plant part of their land and to kill off excess livestock...
of 1933 (United States v. Butler
United States v. Butler
United States v. Butler, , was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the processing taxes instituted under the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act were unconstitutional...
, 297 U.S. 1
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1936)), along with the Federal Farm Bankruptcy Act, the Railroad Act, and the Coal Mining Act. In Carter v. Carter Coal Company
Carter v. Carter Coal Company
Carter v. Carter Coal Company, 298 U.S. 238 , is a United States Supreme Court decision interpreting the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, which permits the United States Congress to "regulate Commerce.....
, 298 U.S. 238
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1936), the Four together with Roberts voided legislation regulating the coal industry; the same line-up voided a New York minimum wage
Minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...
law for women and children in Morehead v. New York, 298 U.S. 587
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1936). The Court had also struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act
National Industrial Recovery Act
The National Industrial Recovery Act , officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 (Ch. 90, 48 Stat. 195, formerly...
in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States
Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States
A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495 , was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that invalidated regulations of the poultry industry according to the nondelegation doctrine and as an invalid use of Congress's power under the commerce clause...
295 U.S. 495
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(1935) the previous May. Though the latter decision was unanimous, Cardozo did not join the opinion for the Court (written by Chief Justice Hughes, and joined by Brandeis, Roberts, and the Four Horsemen), and wrote a separate concurrence, joined by Stone, to state the view of why the delegated power of legislation in the code at issue was "not canalized within banks that keep it from overflowing."
The Four Horsemen would ride in a car to and from the Court together to coordinate positions and arguments. They were bitterly opposed to the New Deal policies for unemployment and economic recovery, and they invalidated state laws regulating labor and business relations. The Four's votes kept Congress and the states from regulating the economy. These actions led many observers to the conclusion that the Court was likely to be obstructive to all legislative efforts to cope with the depression, and to remain wedded to the precedents of the Lochner era
Lochner era
The Lochner era is a period in American legal history in which the Supreme Court of the United States tended to strike down laws held to be infringing on economic liberty or private contract rights, and takes its name from a 1905 case, Lochner v. New York. The beginning of the period is usually...
. Some academics argued that the Court's aversion to 'regulated capitalism' confronted the country with "the question not how governmental functions shall be shared, but whether in substance we shall govern at all."
The result of these dynamics was a steady drift of the Court towards a crisis; the 1935 term was labeled by Justice Stone "one of the most disastrous in [the Court's] history." New Dealers decried the Court's actions as "economic dictatorship", and some communities even hanged the justices in effigy.
It was the success of the Horsemen in striking down New Deal legislation that led to Roosevelt's court-packing scheme
Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937
The Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, frequently called the court-packing plan, was a legislative initiative proposed by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt to add more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. Roosevelt's purpose was to obtain favorable rulings regarding New Deal legislation that...
. The switch in time that saved nine
The switch in time that saved nine
“The switch in time that saved nine” is the name given to what was perceived as the sudden jurisprudential shift by Associate Justice Owen J. Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court in West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish...
together with the retirement of Van Devanter in June 1937 and his replacement by Hugo Black
Hugo Black
Hugo Lafayette Black was an American politician and jurist. A member of the Democratic Party, Black represented Alabama in the United States Senate from 1927 to 1937, and served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1937 to 1971. Black was nominated to the Supreme...
ended the Four Horsemen's domination of the Court.
Hugo Black and President Franklin Roosevelt considered the Four the "direct descendants of Darwin and Spencer
Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism is a term commonly used for theories of society that emerged in England and the United States in the 1870s, seeking to apply the principles of Darwinian evolution to sociology and politics...
."