Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act:
The FDCA is a set of laws passed by Congress in 1938 in reaction to the growing demand in public safety. The act gives authority to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to oversee the safety of food, drugs, and cosmetics. The act has been amended several times including the recent addition of bioterrorism preparation requirements. The FDCA replaced/strengthened the earlier Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 which provided federal inspection of meat products, and the production of harmful medicines and foods. The act regulates the use of color additives, food additives, and cosmetics and ensures that factories are thoroughly inspected and that food items are produced under sanitary conditions. Today the act is one of the primary means by which the federal government enforces food and pharmaceutical safety standards.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Food,_Drug,_and_Cosmetic_Act
FDR vs. The Supreme Court-Court Packing Issue:
When President Franklin Roosevelt first proposed his New Deal, the Supreme Court declared it to be unconstitutional. The New Deal's philosophy went against the principles of liberty and free markets on which the U.S. was founded and also violated limited government which was established by the Framers of the Constitution. The four out of nine justices who delared this became known as the Four Horsemen with justice Owen Roberts joining them on certain decisions. Instead of pursuing an admendment to the Constitution, FDR deceitfully led Americans to believe his new economic system would "save" freedom and free markets. After realizing that the Supreme Court was actually doing their job by interfering with his plans, he came up with a plan to pack the court with justices that he approved of so that he could get the necessary votes for his New Deal.
For every Supreme Court justice that was over the age of 70, Roosevelt was able to appoint another justice. He calculated that this plan would give him the votes he needed to sustain his program. He claimed that this plan was simply to relieve the court of their workload. His deceit was shown when the Chief Justice for the United States proved that the Court was not behind with its cases by any means. Once the American people were aware of this, they caused a huge uproar, realizing that the president was trying to alter the nation's economic system. Given the Great Depression however, many Americans were willing to let Roosevelt get his way with his new economic system but they refused to let him mess with the judicial system that was set up by the Framers of the Constitution. This refusal and the opposition to his court-packing scheme led Congress to defeat it.
In the long run, Roosevelt ended up getting his way. Soon after the court-packing scheme was defeated, Justice Roberts voted with the other side in the West Coast Hotel vs. Parrish in 1937 and from that day forward, the Supreme Court never delared Roosevelt's economic programs unconstitutional again. Also, the Four Horsemen began retiring and were replaced with pro-New Deal justices. Today, FDR's scheme is know as one of the most shameful acts by a president in U.S. history.
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