Our guest is Mr. Burt Solomon, author of FDR vs. The Constitution: the Court Packing Fight and the Triumph of Democracy, published by Walker & Company, NY. NY. (Seventy-two years ago on July 22, 1937, the US Senate rejected FDR’s ambitious court plan! But eventually FDR, who had not appointed one Justice, had the opportunity to replace the whole Court!)

Download | Duration: 01:00:18

This fascinating, behind the scenes story is about FDR’s attempt to re-organize the federal court system and enlarge the Supreme Court. Historically many term this dramatic effort that started on February 5, 1937 as the “FDR’s attempt to pack the Supreme Court.” This story has “…special resonance today as we debate the limits of Presidential authority.” Burt Solomon.

Burt Solomon was born and raised in Baltimore, graduated Harvard College in 1970, worked for Texas Observer, Danvers (Mass.) Times, The Real Paper (alternative weekly in Cambridge, Mass.), went around the world 1975-76 when the paper was sold, The Energy Daily (as the editor), National Journal (covering the White House and other beats). It won the Gerald Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency in 1992. This is his 3rd book; the first one, Where They Ain't, was about baseball in the 1890s in Baltimore and Brooklyn (named by GQ as one of the 20 best books of the millennium); the 2nd, The Washington Century, was a 20th century history of Washington through three families. He is now a contributing editor for National Journal and lives in Arlington, Va., inside the Beltway with his wife and has two grown kids.