Final answer:
FDR wanted to "pack" the Supreme Court to secure favorable rulings for his New Deal initiatives and to counteract previous unfavorable decisions from the Court, reflecting a broader struggle over executive power.
Step-by-step explanation:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to "pack" the court to ensure that his New Deal programs would not be declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. After winning a landslide victory in the 1936 presidential election, Roosevelt proposed the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, which would have allowed him to appoint an additional justice for each sitting justice over the age of seventy, potentially adding up to six more justices.
This move was commonly seen as an attempt to gain more favorable rulings for his legislation, as the Supreme Court had already struck down several key parts of the New Deal. The bill was widely criticized and seen as a threat to the judicial branch's independence, reflecting concerns about the expansion of executive power.