Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-10
ROBERTS APPROVAL
AS JUSTICE IS SEEN
by ADMINISTRATION
Confidence Is Not Shaken by
Threat of Opposition Based
on Dry Issue.
REGULARS ENTHUSIASTIC
OVER HOOVER'S CHOICE
Sheppard Modifes Decision to
Fight Confirmation and Will
Study Records.
BY the Associated Press.


The confidence of the administration
that Owen ]. Roberts will prove ac-
ceptable to the Senate as an Associate
Justice Of the Supreme Court was I'm
diminished today by threat of OPP
position based upon the prohibition
issue.
The regular Republican group was
enthusiastic over the Presidents choice
and the nomination was welcomed, too.
by the leaders of the successful fight
against the confirmation of Judge John
j. Parker, whose rejection opened the
way for the Roberts appointment.
But from the South came a protest
that in delivering an address in 1923
Roberts denounced the eighteenth
amendment. Senator Sheppard, DEM
ocrat, Texas, one of the authors of the
amendment. said that was enough" for
him and that he would oppose con-
firmation. Later he announced he had
been reliably informed that Roberts
had denied making the assertions at.
tributed to him and that he, Sheppard.
would withhold Judgment pending a
study of the record.
AS was the case with the non1if1a-
tons OF Chief Justice Hughes and of
Parker, when first submitted to the
Senate, confirmation seemed likely by
an overwhelming vote. But recalling
tnat the tremendous controversies over
Hughes and Parker developed from just
sucn small beginnings, observers here
were hesitant in predicting the out
come.
Walsh introduced Speech.
The prohibition question as applied
10 the ROBERTS nomination goes back to
the time when his name was before
the Senate for confirmation as special
government prosecutor in the oil scam
dal cases. At that time Senator Walsh.
democrat, Montana, introduced into the
Congressional Record an account of the
HopertS speech as reported in the New
YORK Times. It read:
mfr. Roberts said he was NOT an ADJ
vocate OF prohibition, but he denounced
the eighteenth amendment as the In
sertlon OF police regulation into the
Constitution of the United States which
ordinance"
Hearing of sheppards announced op-
position, Senator Reed, Republican,
pennsylvania, Roberts State, called the
nominee by phone late yesterday. He
quoted Roberts as saying that the
speech in question had involved no dis
| cussion of the merits of prohibition and
was confined to the lawyers academic
question of whether 1t was better to
prohibit by constitutional amendment
or by statute.
Leaders of the Senate pointed out
that Roberts attitude on public affairs
was thoroughly discussed in connection
with his nomination as Government oil
counsel. At that time, he was con-
firmed by vote Of SO to 8. OF the
eight who voted against him, six are
still In the Senate. They are Sheppard,
Ashurst of Arizona, and Wheeler of
Montana, Democrats; Brookhart of
Iowa, and Frazier of North Dakota,
Republicans, and Shipstead Of Min
nesota, Farmer-Labor.
Prominent in Oil Gases.
It was by his vigorous prosecution of
the oil cases, both civil and criminal,
that Roberts came into national prom
inence, although he had long been
xnown as an attorney Of marked ability.
Through his efforts, the Government
obtained the cancellation of the Elk
Hills and Teapot Dome leases and the
conviction of Albert B. Fall, former
Secretary Of the Interior, on charge
of bribery.
He is familiar with the procedure of
the Supreme Court through many years
of practice before 1t, in the course of
which he has won every case he has
argued He is a Republican, but Is
understood not to be closely allied with
any of the factions of the party In
Pennsylvania.
His career has been largely devoted to
private practice, although for three
years, 1908 to 1906, he served as first
assistant district attorney in Philadel-
phia, and during the war was appointed
special deputy Attorney General to
prosecute cases under the espionage
law.
Roberts nomination was submitted to
the Senate at pm, yesterday and re-
ferred to the judiciary committee. Sen
ator Norris of Nebraska, its chairman,
said 1t would be taken up at the regu~
lar committee meeting on Monday and
referred to subcommittee for study.
The same procedure was followed with
the Hughes and Parker nominations.
The American Federation Of Labor,
whose protest against Parker, was an
important factor in his rejection. an
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