Court-Packing Plans

Encyclopedia of the American ConstitutionCL-EY (2000)

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Court-Packing Plans

"Court packing" is an ambiguous phrase. It arises more frequently as an epithet in political disputation than as an analytical term in scholarly discourse. "Packing" connotes a deliberate effort by an executive, especially a President, to appoint one or more (usually more) judges to assure that decisions will accord with the ideological predisposition of that executive. Webster's New International Dictionary defines "pack" as "to ? make up unfairly or fraudulently, to secure a certain result." Yet not everyone agrees on what is unfair, and it is not at all extraordinary for Presidents to take pains to ascertain that a prospective nominee is likely to behave in ways that will not be out of harmony with the ends of their administrations.

Furthermore, the word "packing" has been employed with respect to two different situations?when a President is filling vacan...

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