The Second Hundred Days Summary and Analysis

One of the fears that went along with the New Deal programs was that they would be found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. "If the Court pursued the line of reasoning it had followed for much of the past decade, all was lost. The administration hoped it would be open to a different conception: that the depression constituted, in Justice Brandeis' words, 'an emergency more serious than war.' Consequently, New Deal lawyers festooned early legislation with 'emergency clauses.' When the Court in January, 1934, in a 5-4 decision written by Chief Justice Hughes, upheld a Minnesota moratorium on mortgages, it indicated it might be receptive to such a view of the depression" (Chap. 7, p. 143).

There were several ruling applying to New Deal programs. In 1935, the Hot Oil provision of NRA was invalidated...