The New York herald., 1921-01-17
JUSTICE FORDHITS
COURTCODE AGAIN,
FLAYS COLLEAGUE
Says Justice Page Compiled
Discriminatory List o,
Bench Assignments.
WRITES TO GOVERNOR
Handful of Corporation
Lawyers Dominate Bar
Associations, He Says.
ANsWE20 TnEIn REBUKE
Says Appellate Division Re-
Gently Has Become Self
Perpetuatine Body.

Following his letter OF November ~
to Gov. Miller, then Governor-elect, pro-
testing against alleged Determinations
by the Appellate Division in assignment
of Supreme Court Justices TO sit in trial
and special terms, Justice John Ford OF
the Supreme Court made public yester-
day another letter to Gov Miller, in
which he renews his attack and centres
it upon Justice Alfred II. Page. JUS
tice Ford declared that Justice Page
was the compiler of the 1920 list OF
designees, which appointments. he al
leges, were discriminatory: and he pro-
tests against the redesignation of JUS
tice Page to sit in the Appellate Divi-
sion.
The only reply to the charges made
by Justice Ford laet November came
from the committee on Judiciary of the
Association of the Bar of the City or
New York, made public last week, which
declared that Justice Fords allegation
was 'preposterous on its face"
In the light of that rebuke Justice
F'ord's latest letter takes the bar asso-
citation to task In the following words:
"As to bar associations they follow
blindly the Appellate Division. Indeed,
the close affiiation between those
bodies, dominated by a handful of cor
poration lawyers and our Appellate
Division Justices is becoming more and
more matter of grave public concern"
Says Governor Can stop II.
The protesting Justice says that he
opposes Justice Page as probable
candidate for redesignation on Febru-
airy to sit in the Appellate Division
r1a1x- 1.ado Ia I,o. h.
ponent of the reprehensible practice OF
discriminating among Justices of the
Supreme Court"
our failure to redesignate him on
that ground" (of alleged discrmina-
tion), Justice Ford writes the Governor.
would be to kill the practice at one
blow The rest of them would drop II
like hot potato"
In the 1920 list of assignments. which
Justice Ford says Justice Page madc
up. Justice Ford was excluded from sit
ting in special terms, Parts l., II. and
III
"Of late years" says Justice Ford
celebrating his charges. the pernicious
custom has grown Ip of permitting the
Appellate body TO select their own sue
cessors. The prime consideration with
them is to select those who are per-
sonally agreeable to them and syrnpa
thetic with their established policy"
Justice Ford adds that "a sef-per-
petuating body is abhorrent to our form
of government" tending Inevitably
toward autocracy and growing more and
more out of touch with popular inter
ests.' Such a body, he continues. lis
peculiarly obnoxious and dangerous
when IL exercises the irresponsible pow
ers which our Appellate Division JUS
tices have arrogated to themselves"
The act of the Justices of the Appel
late Division in excluding him, after
fourteen years of service. from Parts !
ii. and III. said Justice Ford, was that
of "pinning their tag of disapproval" or
his back. That disapproval, he charged
was the high sign for the launching
of the cowardly attack against me Ia
the bar associations" His reference
here is to the failure of the bar assocla-
tions to approve of Justice Ford's cam
didacy for reelection last fall. though NJ
had the approval of the Democratic ana
Republican organizations.
Declaring that he will appeal TO the
Legislature for relief from AN intolera-
bic situation" Justice Ford adds:
THE courts are the peoples courts
all of them. high or low. These pre-
s5umptuous groups and clques who seek
to control them will have their little
day. but sooner or later they will be
overcome by the swelling tide OF popular
resentment"
Isurpation Of Power Denied.
The report Of the Bar Association
committee of which William ID. Guthrie
was the head. pointed out that the
designation of Justices TO which justice
Ford objects Is provided for In the Con
stitution.. and referred to the records
of the constitutional convention OF 1894 .
10 show that such powers were in
tended Further. that constitutional
power the committee found. Is wise
provision and has been exercised wisely
The committee found occasion for ere
gret'' in some of the terms in which
Justice Ford couchcd his letter of No
vember 81.
The committee summarized its CON
clusions In regard TO Justice Ford's
complaints in the following conclusion
Your committed therefore, Is OF the
opinion that the complaints embodied IN
the letter of Justice Ford are unsound
in law and unfounded I'm fact. and IL is
confident that tho Justices of tho Ap-
pellate Division. i'm fulfilling the duty OF
assignment invested in them by the Con
stitution and the judiciary law. have
uniformly been actuated solely by the
desire 10 secure. as Ear as possible. that
distribution of judicial work which
would produce the most useful and satis-
factory results. II Is submitted tas'
they have been remarkably successful m
this attempt"
on the point Of the constitutional
authority By which the designations are
made. il stice Fords latest letter TO
Gov. Miller says:
I'm your brief and rather non-coin-
initial reply. dated December 20. TO my
letter Of November %. you suggest that
the records Of the constitutional convcn-
tion OF 1894 would show broader power
Intended to be conferred upon the JUS
ticcs of the Appellate Division than !
ascribe to them. In my letter fatty
charged that tho Constitution did not
give them right which they have
usurped to prevent elected Justices of
the Supreme Court from exercising the
functions OF their Office
Justice Ford enclosed brief IN MS
new letter supporting his contention.
ITALY HoxoRs RED cross AID.