Justice Stone also expressed concern about the abuse of the justices' power of constitutional interpretation in that dissent to the Butler decision, which nullified the Agricultural Adjustment Act, noting "the only check upon our own exercise of power is our own sense of self-restraint." President Franklin Roosevelt publicly criticized this decision and others invalidating New Deal legislation as usurping legislative functions. The Court responded by practicing self-restraint in upholding legislation similar to that earlier declared unconstitutional, and efforts to curtail the power of the Court ceased.

Justice Stone was calling for reciprocal respect for the powers of the legislature and executive by the exercise of judicial restraint. As he said, there is no immediate check on the high court's nationally respected power to rule particular actions of other federal branches and of the States unconstitutional. But the design offers solutions in the unlikely event that any abuse of the power of judicial review does not cease in response to literate dissent, or public opinion, or the President's filling of vacancies with justices having the Stone philosophy. There is the power of Congress to make exceptions to the Court's jurisdiction and to impeach, and of the populace to amend the Constitution. This ability to meet contingencies is another reason for the respect