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Constitutional Law in 1938–1939: The Constitutional Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States in the October Term, 1938

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Robert E. Cushman
Robert E. Cushman
Affiliation:
Cornell University
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Extract

The 1938 term of the Supreme Court brought substantial changes in its personnel. Mr. Justice Cardozo died on January 9, 1938. He was succeeded by Mr. Justice Frankfurter, who took office on January 30, 1939. On February 13, 1939, Mr. Justice Brandeis retired, and on April 17 Mr. Justice Douglas was appointed to fill his place. By the end of the term, therefore, four justices appointed by President Roosevelt had taken office. It is too early to appraise the results of these appointments upon the decisions and doctrines of the Court. One statement may be made, however, which throws some light upon the recent trend of judicial decisions. In preparing the present survey of the Court's decisions, some sixty cases were examined, all but one or two of them turning upon constitutional issues. In these sixty-odd cases, Mr. Justice McReynolds and Mr. Justice Butler, the two remaining members of the conservative “old guard,” dissented together twenty-five times. In several instances they were joined in dissent by Mr. Justice Roberts, and once or twice by the Chief Justice. In the main, however, they stood alone against a compact majority of six or seven justices. With the death of Mr. Justice Butler in the fall of 1939, Mr. Justice McReynolds stands like the boy on the burning deck amidst what obviously appears to him to be the imminent destruction of the old constitutional system.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , April 1940 , pp. 249 - 283
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1940

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References

1 307 U.S. 433, 1939.

2 256 U.S. 368, 1921.

3 307 U.S. 474, 1939.

4 306 U.S. 1, 1939.

5 307 U.S. 38, 1939.

6 United States v. Butler, 297 U.S. 1, 1936. See this Review, Vol. 31, p. 254.

7 307 U.S. 533, 1939.

8 291 U.S. 502, 1934. See this Review, Vol. 29, p. 45.

9 Mountain Timber Co. v. Washington, 243 U.S. 219, 1917.

10 Noble State Bank v. Haskell, 219 U.S. 104, 1911.

11 New England Divisions Case, 261 U.S. 184, 1923.

12 307 U.S. 588, 1939.

13 305 U.S. 197, 1938.

14 Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495, 1935. See this Review, Vol. 30, p. 58.

15 Carter v. Carter Coal Company, 298 U.S. 238, 1936. See this Review, Vol. 31, p. 259.

16 306 U.S. 601, 1939.

17 306 U.S. 240, 1939.

18 306 U.S. 332, 1939.

19 306 U.S. 292, 1939.

20 307 U.S. 277, 1939.

21 253 U.S. 245, 1920. See comment by E. S. Corwin in this Review (cited in the majority opinion), Vol. 14, p. 641.

22 268 U.S. 501, 1925. See this Eeview, Vol. 20, p. 83.

23 307 U.S. 247, 1939.

24 307 U.S. 266, 1939.

25 306 U.S. 118, 1939.

26 305 U.S. 255, 1938.

27 306 U.S. 398, 1939.

28 306 U.S. 381, 1939.

29 305 U.S. 177, 1938.

30 305 U.S. 364, 1939,

31 306 U.S. 56, 1939.

32 307 U.S. 125, 1939.

33 307 U.S. 148, 1939.

34 307 U.S. 174, 1939.

35 307 U.S. 156, 1939.

36 307 U.S. 214, 1939.

37 305 U.S. 391, 1939.

38 307 U.S. 325, 1939.

39 305 U.S. 395, 1939.

40 307 U.S. 22, 1939.

41 307 U.S. 496, 1939.

42 296 U.S. 404, 1935. See this Review, Vol. 32, p. 296.

43 306 U.S. 451, 1939.

44 305 U.S. 376, 1939.

45 307 U.S. 104, 1939.

46 169 U.S. 466, 1898.

47 305 U.S. 134, 1938.

48 274 U.S. 531, 1927. See this Review, Vol. 22, p. 81.

49 307 U.S. 357, 1939.

50 280 U.S. 204, 1930. See this Review, Vol. 25, p. 90.

51 307 U.S. 383, 1939.

52 305 U.S. 337, 1938.

53 163 U.S. 537, 1896.

54 235 U.S. 151, 1914.

55 306 U.S. 354, 1939.

56 294 U.S. 587, 1935. See this Review, Vol. 30, p. 83.

57 238 U.S. 347, 1915.

58 307 U.S. 268, 1939.

59 306 U.S. 535, 1939.

60 306 U.S. 539, 1939.

61 306 U.S. 346, 1939.

62 306 U.S. 79, 1939.

63 306 U.S. 268, 1939.

64 306 U.S. 439, 1939.

65 306 U.S. 375, 1939.

66 300 U.S. 577, 1937. See this Review, Vol. 32, p. 310.

67 306 U.S. 167, 1939.

68 306 U.S. 182, 1939.

69 306 U.S. 62, 1939.

70 306 U.S. 72, 1939.

71 274 U.S. 554, 1927.

72 306 U.S. 583, 1939.

73 300 U.S. 290, 1937. See this Review, Vol. 32, p. 310.

74 305 U.S. 434, 1939.

75 11 Wallace 113, 1871.

76 16 Peters 435, 1842.

77 299 U.S. 401, 1937. See this Review, Vol. 32, p. 309.

78 306 U.S. 466, 1939.

79 304 U.S. 405, 1938. See this Review, Vol. 33, p. 237.

80 199 U.S. 437, 1905.

81 McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheaton 316, 1819.

82 Dissenting opinion in Panhandle Oil Co. v. United States, 277 U.S. 218, 1928. See this Review, Vol. 23, p. 99.

83 The doctrine of the O'Keefe case is applied in State Tax Commission v. Van Cott, 306 U.S. 511, 1939.

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