When Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger contemplated the viability of American military intervention abroad in 1984, he well understood the importance that the support of the citizenry would play. "There must be some reasonable assurance that we will have the support of the American people," he said.4.

             The role of public support for the American government has traced its perceptions of strengths and weaknesses since the dawn of the nation. In 1937, public opinion fostered the lens through which the power of the administration was viewed when President Roosevelt suggested the reorganization of the Supreme Court nine to fifteen members.5 This reconstruction was not without significant support, but its popular hesitation was more critical. .

             "Enlargement of the Supreme Court from nine to fifteen members was the most controversial feature of the general reorganization of the federal judiciary proposed by the President, aimed at speeding up the process of clearing cases through the federal court system, and making the system more 'representative' of the wishes of the people."6.

             The enlargement of the system was welcomed by many for the speed with which it could usher long-standing and expense-ridden cases through the judiciary, but recent events cast a shadow of doubt upon the plan. The recent New Deal plan, while absolving many of the nations woes, came on the heels of the market crash and ensuing Depression. In an era in which so many people's futures were cast upon the fortune of national finances, the expansion of one President upon the law of the land was frightening. The power of one President to nominate, one Congress to vet, and one pool of applicants from which to choose six new Supreme Court Justices was too perceived to be too much power for one administration to hold, even if the goal of that administration was to prevent the Court from being able to "usurp" its own powers and exert them unduly upon the citizens of the United States.