The President’s Plan Respecting the Supreme Court

To commemorate our founding in 1914, the Board of Editors has selected six influential pieces published by the Law Review over the past 100 years and will republish one piece in each issue. The second piece selected by the Board is the testimony of Ignatius M. Wilkinson, the fourth and longest-serving dean of Fordham Law School (1923–1954), to the Judicial Committee of the U.S. Senate. Speaking to the Committee on the Judiciary, Wilkinson criticized the Franklin D. Roosevelt Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937 because it would “undermine the independence of the courts” and “shake[] the foundations of our constitutional structure.” Wilkinson’s testimony appeared in the May 1937 edition of the Fordham Law Review, only two years after the Law Review resumed printing. The publication of Wilkinson’s testimony shows the Law Review’s enduring commitment to promoting the public debate