Hatton Sumners, a constitutional scholar and lawyer, played a pivotal role in opposing President Franklin D. Roosevelt's court packing plan in 1937. The plan aimed to add seats to the Supreme Court to gain a favorable majority, but Sumners, who was a member of the New Deal team, believed it would undermine judicial independence and the rule of law. He proposed an alternative solution, the Retirement Act, which allowed justices to retire and be replaced, ultimately resolving the crisis without the need for court packing.
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