The Influence of FDR’s Bill of Rights Rhetoric on the Court’s Jurisprudence

• In Event: The Supreme Court in American Constitutional Development

Abstract

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution were not generally referred to as the Bill of Rights until the second half of the 20th century, because early Americans thought of bills of rights as philosophic preambles to constitutions, not legally-binding appendices. It was not until FDR’s presidency that the title was generally used. This paper analyzes the relationship between FDR's rhetoric and rights-based jurisprudence since World War II. I argue that FDR convinced Americans to believe in a constitution that would require a far more active judiciary.

Author

• Jerome C. Foss, Saint Vincent College