Evening star., 1934-05-27
SUPREME COURT NEEDS
FREEDOM ON NEW DEAL
Republicans Would Make Mistake by
Drafting Justice Stone for Presi.
dental Nomination.

last. I don't know whether the new
dealers in the future are to enjoy
greater or less public esteem.
Anyhow, the next year or two will
be a period in which the Supreme
Court will be passing judgment upon
the new deal legislation. That some
of the courts decisions must invali-
date some of the new deal everybody
knows-the new dealers themselves
know that. While that is going on,
no faintest shadow of justification
should be given for political attack
upon the court.
The one allusion to the Supreme
Court that President Roosevelt has
made since he became President. was
wholly proper and rather appealing.
In his address to Congress January 3
last he held out to the court the no.
tion of cooperation.
ITO consolidate what we are doing,
to make our economic and social
structure capable Of dealing with
modern life, is the joint task of the
legislative. the judicial and the ex-
ecutive branches of the National
Government"
From the standpoint Of the court,
that was in good spirit. Yet we must
remember that a sentence or two pre-
ceding, in the same address to Con-
gress, Mr.. Roosevelt had described, in
part. what he conceives the new deal
to be. Mr.. Roosevelt's notion includes
"a permanent readjustment of many
Of our ways of thinking"
7 d0nht mhaf fhor the rn,,rf will Eyaout
just what that means. And doubt If
the court will be willing to help Mr..
Roosevelt in an enterprise of causing
America to change its ways of think
ing.
Function Is to Hold Balance.
Also, it is doubtful if, in America, 1t
is the function of the courts to CO.
operate with any administration, with
any President or any Congress that
happens to be in power. The glory of
the courts in America is that, to them,
the Governement Is no more than any
citizen. In America the function of
the courts is to hold the balance even
between citizen and Government, to
protect the citizen against the Gov
ernment. And since under the new
deal the Government has trespassed
or the rights of the individual to a
greater degree than since Magma
Charta, it follows that the courts are
going to be called on to give the citi-
zen good deal of protection.
During the presidential campaign in
1882 Mr.. Roosevelt made one allusion
to the Supreme Court that caused a
good deal of furore. Speaking at Bal
timore october Is. 1882, he said:
After March 4, 1929, the Republican
party was in complete control of all
branches of the Government-the leg
islative, with the Senate and Con-
gress and the executive department.
and I may add. for full measure to
make it complete, the United States
Supreme Court as we'll"
That sentence caused a good deal Of
stir. It had not been included In the
advance copy of the speech which Mr.
Roosevelt had given to the newspapers
and which they all published. But the
country. listening to Mr.. Roosevelt
over the radio, heard him make this
allusion to the Supreme Court. It
seemed to imply that Mr.. Roosevelt
thought that whatever party was in
power has q right to control" the
Supreme Court.
Made Foolish Remark.
Immediately there was outcry from
lawyers and others. The best judg-
ment, however, finally concluded that
Mr.. Roosevelt's offhand allusion did
not represent any settled conviction
about the right Of a political party or
a President to control" the Supreme
Court. Most persons concluded that
Mr.. Roosevelt in the midst of a
speech, had yielded to the temptation
to make a rounded sentence and say
something startling. In the end, the
general judgment was that Mr. Roose-
velt had merely made, as the New
York Times put it, a needless and
foolish remark"
Mr.. Roosevelt, in Office, has shown
no disposition to expect the Supreme
Court to defer to him and his admin
istration. And Mr.. Roosevelt must
know, as fully as competent lawyers
in his administration know, that many
aspects of the new deal are likely to be
found invalid by the Supreme Court.
Under these circumstances it is a
time to preserve with peculiar care the
immurement Of the Supreme Court
from politics. That New York Repub-
lican State chairman IN. w. Kings
land Macy who suggested drafting
Justice Harlan F. Stone for the
Republican presidential nomination
would probably serve his party and his
country If he would forget this sug-
gestion, good though it is. and search
farther for some different nominee.
lCnpYripht 1924 New Ynrk Tribune Inc