Wilson Administrations - Wilson and the Judiciary

Wilson and the Judiciary

Around the time of his inauguration, Wilson told Navy secretary Josephus Daniels that the federal courts needed "a very different sort of men," who were free from ties and biases "in favor of the Big Interests rather than the superior rights of all the public." Historians differ as to how well he succeeded at this goal, but Wilson certainly did appoint a higher percentage of federal judges who were members of his own political party than any president since Grover Cleveland (Abraham, p. 60). Still, at least in his High Court appointments, Wilson seems to have cared little for a candidate's nominal politics and placed more weight on his actual inclinations. That Louis D. Brandeis was a registered Republican from Massachusetts, for example, made little impression on Wilson. Broadly, Wilson required a liberal-progressive outlook on issues generally, with a particular dedication to trust-busting in...

[The entire page is 1025 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass