By William Haupt III | The Center Square
“Presidents come and go, but the Supreme Court goes on
forever."
– William Howard Taft
As darkness descended on the U.S. economy in 1932, everyone was reaching for a way to survive. Franklin Delano Roosevelt handily beat Herbert Hoover in the presidential race, promising to reduce spending and allow the economy to self correct. But that lasted until the day he took office. For the next four years, FDR put the expansion of government on steroids without respect for the Constitution or Congress. By 1937, many Americans saw him as a threat to our republic – and one brave man did something about it.
FDR felt he was invincible. But in 1935 when the Supreme
Court struck down three of his bad New Deals, he came up with a scheme to pack
the court, adding six new liberal judges to legislate from the bench. Congress,
the people and even his party disapproved. As FDR and his loyalists moved into
uncharted waters, Americans feared he’d destroy their independence and
protection for their rights. Worse: He’d also eradicate the division of powers,
the cornerstone of our judicial system.
FDR’s arrogant act did more to galvanize opposition to his heavy-handed dictating than anything in the past! And that is what brought North Carolina Democratic Sen. Josiah Bailey out of the closet. He would rally the bellicose congressional opposition against FDR’s new “Raw Deal” for America.
When FDR took office, Bailey meekly resisted his
expanding of government and rogue leadership tactics. FDR was popular and he
had won his own seat in 1930 since Sen. Furnifold Simmons had been censured for
disloyalty to the party. As a result, Bailey mainly went along to get along.
“I just watched until Roosevelt got totally out of
control, then I could not take it any longer.”
– Josh Bailey
Raleigh News editor Jonathan Daniels predicted Bailey’s
“patriotism” would prevail once he was re-elected; and it did. In 1936,
reacting to FDR’s court-packing scheme, Bailey formed a bipartisan coalition to
stop FDR’s attempts to turn the Court into his personal black-robed, liberal
legislative body. Both parties felt FDR was violating the division of powers in
the Constitution and Congress.
A brilliant constitutional scholar, Bailey was so
outraged by FDR’s violation of powers he told the New York Times: “I oppose
this scheme. The judicial department is independent from the executive and
legislative branches.” This won him immediate unilateral support from an angry
Congress and the judicial branch. It infuriated FDR, who branded him a trader
to the Democratic Party platform.
“Governments exist upon confidence, and confidence in the
courts is fundamental.”
– Josh Bailey
Shortly after this altercation, Bailey delivered a
powerful attack on FDR on national radio. During this speech, Bailey chastised
FDR and concluded it with a warning that the Supreme Court and the Constitution
are inseparably linked. He told listeners, “To weaken either will weaken the
foundation of the Republic and it will destroy the Court and America.” As a
result of his bold actions, he gained enough votes from both parties to defeat
FDR’s attempt to invade and control the judicial system.
Democrat Bailey believed FDR’s progressive desire to
control business not only prolonged the Depression but also ruined any chance
of a legitimate economic recovery. In a radio interview, he said FDR’s New Deal
“destroyed American integrity and hardiness.” Bailey went on: “I am a great
liberal when it comes to the fundamental meaning of the word, but I am not a
liberal to those who interpret liberalism in terms of a return to the old
reactionary system of centralized political power.”
FDR’s attempt to legislate from the bench provoked Bailey
to the point he was determined to stop any future president from abusing his
powers or those of the court. He saw this as an opportunity to align
congressmen, and build a united confederation that stood for a limited
government. They would also refuse to support FDR’s New Deal activism and
attempts to interfere with the courts.
Bailey’s vision of a bipartisan conservative coalition
became a reality and he was convinced that FDR would have to move closer to the
center of the aisle if he wanted to get anything else done. Although Bailey
slowed him down tremendously, FDR found ways to strong-arm policies through
Congress.
“If you don’t succeed at first try everything else until
you do.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt
Although Bailey’s efforts shut down FDR’s court-packing,
his most important achievement was the development of the Conservative
Manifesto. Although it was not explicitly anti-Roosevelt, it was authored to
appeal to conservatives in both parties. He addressed the need to control government
expansion and leave free markets alone. He refined how capitalism should be the
entity to drive our economy and politicians had no business ever interfering
with the highest court in the land.
Martin Luther King told us, “A genuine leader is a molder
of consensus.” Josiah Bailey was ahead of his time in seeking bipartisanship to
save Jeffersonian democracy from the diabolical clutches of a liberal leader
obsessed with recreating America for his party. Democrat Josiah Bailey saved
the republic from FDR’s dream of turning America into a socialist-style
dictatorship run by liberal elites.
No educated American would dream FDR’s radical
anti-American scheme would resurface again? Yet socialist Democrats threaten to
do that next year. They plan to turn the Supreme Court into a legislative body
of fancy-robed liberal legislatures to make every unconstitional law they pass
legal.
“Bipartisanship is nice, but if we are in control, like
it or not, we’ll do what we want.”
– Nancy Pelosi
When Josh Bailey stopped FDR’s assault on American
republicanism, he put the security of our nation first. As a constitutional
scholar, he feared FDR and radical Democrats would obliterate all institutions
that protected the people’s government from power hungry leftist politicians.
He knew the value of divided and isolated powers of each branch of government
to protect us; while today’s radical left has no respect for our Constitution,
and thinks that the government belongs to them?
Our founders knew without judicial independence any
populist could corrupt all other branches of government. Historians consider
Bailey’s Conservative Manifesto the most important document in American
judicial history. He saved America from FDR’s reign of terror and redefined our
republic.
“We are a nation of free enterprise, with a limited
government, with an independent Court, one built on respect for the
Constitution. If we allow politicians to violate these principles, we will not
survive. We must put an end to this one man regimentation and his denouncing of
our Congress. This is a government of representatives of the people not one
man. By law we must follow the Constitution. It’s time politicians do this. If
they violate the Constitution, they must be replaced.”
– Josh Bailey
Contributing Columnist William Haupt III is a retired professional journalist, author, and citizen legislator in California for over 40 years. He got his start working to approve California Proposition 13.
