While many readers know how FDR's effort turned out, Solomon tells the tale the way a good sportswriter would describe an exciting baseball game. The comparison is apt, since Solomon sprinkles the book with cultural references including descriptions of some of the games that Supreme Court justices attended during this period.
This was one instance where FDR's legendary persuasiveness and ability to cut deals failed him. Not only was he convinced of the rightness of his cause, and for once failed to read the political tea leaves, but his opponents had principled views on which they were unwilling to budge.
Many Democrats, led by Senator Burton Wheeler of Montana, saw the court as a sacred entity that was the last best hope for protecting the rights of the less fortunate, even though many legislators were frustrated by several of the court's decisions striking down New Deal initiatives. Republicans were happy to find a way to hand FDR a defeat.
Solomon is generally evenhanded, though it is clear that he thinks the plan was a lousy idea.
While the justices were outraged by FDR's plan, they generally refrained from publicly commenting on it. Solomon, however, unveils some of their behind-the-scenes maneuverings.
The justices also played a part in defeating the plan by their own flexible decisions. After striking down key initiatives such as the National Recovery Act (which gave the government extensive power to regulate wages and prices), the court handed the Roosevelt administration several wins in subsequent cases, including upholding the National Labor Relations Act. Solomon concludes that these decisions showed the court becoming "more lenient in its understanding of the Constitution's elastic terms." These decisions, he maintains, laid the groundwork for the subsequent liberalism of the Warren Court.
