In 1937, at the height of the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt, four members of the United States Supreme Court resisted any part of the programs to deal with the Great Depression, and came to be known derisively as the “Four Men Of The Apocalpyse!.
These four Justices, seen as overly right wing conservatives were:
Willis Van Devanter (1911-1937)
James McReynolds (1914-1941)
Pierce Butler (1922-1938)
George Sutherland (1923-1939)
Today, 75 years later, it is clear that three Supreme Court Justices are united in their opposition to the agenda and programs of Barack Obama, as he tries to deal with many of the same economic problems that we had in the Great Depression.
These men are:
Antonin Scalia (1986-)
Clarence Thomas (1991-)
Samuel Alito (2006-)
It would seem appropriate to call them the “Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse”!
In 1937, we had two moderate centrists on the Court, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes and Associate Justice Owen Roberts, while today we have somewhat equivalent conditions with Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy!
Hopefully, Barack Obama will have much of the same fortune that FDR had, the ability in the second term to replace, in FDR’s case, three of the four “Horsemen of the Apocalypse” with replacement appointments with a more open minded, progressive attitude, which had a dramatic effect on the future of the nation!