FDR Court-Packing Plan Rejected by Senate Committee 70-20

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 70-20 on July 22, 1937, to reject President Roosevelt's Judicial Procedures Reform Bill, which would have allowed him to appoint one new Supreme Court justice for each sitting justice over age 70, up to six additional justices. Roosevelt proposed the plan after the Court struck down multiple New Deal programs. Justice Owen Roberts had already shifted his votes to uphold New Deal legislation — the "switch in time that saved nine" — reducing urgency for the plan.