Law Commons^™

Nazi Germany's Race Laws, The United States, And American Indians, Robert J. Miller

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

Most Americans would be shocked to learn that in the 1920s and 1930s Adolf Hitler and Nazi scholars, lawyers, and officials were studying United States law while developing Germany’s policies and laws concerning Jews and the conquest of Eastern Europe. Most Americans would also be surprised that, as the leaders of the Third Reich were turning racist ideas into official German policies, Nazis were carefully studying United States federal Indian law and state laws that discriminated against Indian nations and American Indians.

Attribution Time: Cal Tinney’S 1937 Quip, “A Switch In Time’Ll Save Nine”, John Q. Barrett

Faculty Publications

In the history of the United States Supreme Court, 1937 was a huge year—perhaps the Court’s most important year ever.

Before 1933, the Supreme Court sometimes held that progressive policies enacted by political branches of government were unconstitutional. Such decisions became much more prevalent during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first term, from 1933 through 1936. In those years, the Court struck down, often by narrow margins, both federal “New Deal” laws and state law counterparts that sought to combat the devastation of the Great Depression.

Then, in early 1937, President Roosevelt proposed to “pack”—to enlarge—the Court, so that it would …