The Supreme Court has not yet announced whether it will return to normal operations when the 2021-22 term begins in October. This article is part of a symposium about how the coronavirus pandemic changed the court — and which of those changes are worth keeping.
This post is the latest in an occasional series from the Supreme Court Historical Society looking back at events in the Court’s history – here, the recent fiftieth anniversary of the Warren Commission.
At the end of the October Term 1936, the Justices dispersed as usual in June. They needed a break. The Court was under attack by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Court-packing bill, which threatened to add a new Justice for each one over the age of seventy who refused to retire, under the trumped-up premise that the “Nine Old Men” (average age: seventy) were unable to keep up with their workload.