US Presidency
1937

The plan has met opposition only so far as the Supreme Court of the United States itself is concerned. If such a plan is good for the lower courts it certainly ought to be equally good for the highest Court from which there is no appeal. Those opposing this plan have sought to arouse prejudice and fear by crying that I am seeking to pack the Supreme Court and that a baneful precedent will be established. What do they mean by the words packing the Court ? Let me answer this question with a bluntness that will end all honest misunderstanding of my purposes. If by that phrase packing the Court it is charged that I wish to place on the bench spineless puppets who would disregard the law and would decide specific cases as I wished them to be decided, I make this answer: that no President fit for his office would appoint, and no Senate of honorable men fit for their office would confirm, that kind of appointees to the Supreme Court.