The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1935-05-28
ANTITRUST LAW
ONLY CURB ON
BUSINESS
Full Import Of Decision in
Doubt as Status of Other
Bills Is Weighed
(continusd from Page -

Courts surprising decision IS still
only half.digeSted. Meanwh1le'
Congress has had to abandon its
half-conceived plan Of adjourning
by July /. It will have to stay
around until the New Deal heads
clear UP sufficiently to decide
what can be done to bring order
out of chaos, and chaos it Is.
The New Deal, in fact, is in .
bad way. It has lost every round
but one before the nine black
robed old gentlemen who constl'
tute the Supreme Court.
Congress Split
Nv the narrow margin Of .
single vote, 5.to-4, it emerged vic.
torious in the gold cases, but
then only after taking some good
solid body punches. 1t lost by
S-to-1 a decision in the "hot oil"
case. It lost by 5-to-4 the rail-
road pension case, and lost by
unanimous decisions the big NRA
test case, the FraZier-Lemke
mortgage case, and the Hum
phrey case. In three Of these
cases the court severely called
the Executive to task for AFRO
eating to himself powers that the
court held were outside his con-
stitutional prerogativeS.
To make the confusion worse
COMPOUNDED, Congress is badly
split on how to proceed, or in
what direction. The ConServa-
tive-Oppositionists to the New
Deal, and they include both Re
publicans and Democrats, are
gleeful and predicting return
to pre.New Deal standards and
practices.
Curb On Court Sought
The New Dealers are glum and
resentful, and talking Of perform
ing q major operation on the
court. There is increasing talk
of legislative action that will pro
hibit the court from passing upon
the constitutionality Of an act Of
Congress.
This could be done, they say, by
the simple enactment Of a law
which will prohibit lower Federal
courts from passing upon sucn
conStitutionality. AS no one can
bring a suit directly before the
Supreme Court, this would have
the effect of preventing the high
court from ever considering a con.
Stitutional case, since there could
be no appeals if the lower courts
were prescribed.
Court Power Hit
Symptomatic of this feeling was
the angry comment Of one New
Dealer in Congress when he heard
Of the NRA decision. He said:
1--WE have reached . point in
this country when the question
Of who is to run the country
must be determined. Is it to be
the Congress, elected by the peO-
pie and responsible to the PEG.
pie, or is it to be nine old men
who hold office for life, who are
not elected by the people and
who are not responsible to the
people? That is the biggest ques-
ton before the country, and II
our generation doesn't solve 1t
the next one WILL"
He pointed out that the ConSti-
tuition itself does not give the
Supreme Court specific authority
to declare unconstitutional an act
Of Congress. It was power as
Sumed by John Marshall and con-
tinued by his successors.
Congress Hobbled
What adds to the New Dealers
resentment is the hobbling re-
Strictions which recent decisions
have put upon the future actions
Of Congress.
In the railroad pension case, the
court decided and positively stated
that Congress could not enact
legislation Of that type. Chief Jus
tice Hughes, in his vigorous dis.
senting opinion, regretfully con-
cluded that the majority decision
forever closed the door, to such
action.
In the MIRA case, the court de.
cided Congress was without au-
thority to delegate its powers, or
to have anything at all to say
about wages. hours or working