What did critics charge against roosevelt’s attempt to "pack the court"?

he was going to put every new deal law in jeopardy.

he was violating the judiciary act of 1789.

he was blurring the separation of powers required in a democratic republic.

he was trying to shift the balance of power defined in the u. s. constitution.

The correct answer is "He was going to put every New Deal law in jeopardy."

The Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, also known as "court-packing plan" was a legal initiative from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to appoint an additional Justice to the US Supreme Court for every member of the court who exceeded the age of 70 years and 6 months. The limit would be 6 additional justices.

This was seen as a clear attempt from President Roosevelt to obtain favorable rulings regarding his "New Deal" reforms which had previously been rejected by the Supreme Court.

The critics believed Roosevelt’s was trying to shift the balance of power defined in the US Constitution

In 1937, the US president Roosevelt communicates his intention to add more judges to the Supreme Court. The bill as proposed by Roosevelt was meant to increase the membership of the Supreme Court to almost 15 judges.

The motive behind the proposed expansion was meant to appoint more judges who will support the new deal legislation. Therefore, the bill was widely criticized and it was never considered by congress.  

The critics believed Roosevelt was trying to shift the balance of power as enshrined in the US constitution. They believed the president should not mediate in the affairs of the Supreme Court. Most of the critics were also of the opinion that the Supreme Court must evaluate laws proposed by the president and congress and can determine which laws are suitable or unsuitable to the constitution of the United States.

President Roosevelt's attempts to increase the justices of the US Supreme court were not successful because he didn’t brief the congressional leaders before the announcement of the bill. As a result, the bill was however not endorsed by the house judiciary committee chairman at the time.

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