The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1935-01-31
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National Topics Interpreted "a fSY77f7f
by William Bruckart ks1ET7
Supreme Court Has Last Word
National Topics Interpreted
by William Bruckart

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Westinghouse is seldom that
any genuine widespread interest is
evidenced in the decisions by the
Supreme Court of the United
States. Although that distinguish
ed body of nine men holds in it's
hands power co-equal to that of the
President and of congress, some
way it has never been part of the
government to which attention has
been directed nationally. OF course,
there are more people who are not
lawyers than who are familiar with
laws and that may be the answer
to the fact that the Supreme court
can be said to be little known.
But it seems now that tn e
court is to be "a center of attrac-
ton just as interesting as either
the executive or legislative
branches. The reason is that the
highest legal tribunal in the land
has before it for decision some of
the most momentous legal contro-
versies to engage the country since
the days of the Civil war. Through
many months, questions concerning
the New Deal, their legality and
constitutionality, have been wend-
ing their slow, tortuous way thru
the lower courts, through the
courts of appeals to the court of
last resort under the structure
which we know as our government.
One of these, as / reported to
you previously, has already been
decided. In that instance the SUI
preme court by a vote of eight of
the nine judges determined that
President Roosevelt had gone be-
yond the powers accorded him un-
der the Constitution to prohibit ex-
port of oil from the state where it
was recovered.
Within a very short time w
the most important case of all af-
fecting the New Deal will be
decided. I refer to the so-called
gold cases. Five questions are be-
fore the court and If it decides adj
versely to the governments claim
on any of them, the monetary pol
icy upon which the New Deal has
been operating becomes virtually
null and void. The court heard
lengthy arguments by high pow
cred lawyers on the part of h e
government and on the part of pri-
vate citizens who claim that their
rights have been abridged by the
Roosevelt money policies and they
naturally are seeking redress.
No one dares to make predic-
tion concerning pending action by
the Supreme court. 1T can be only
q guess at any time in advance of
a rule by that group of men be-
cause with one or two exceptions
since the nation was founded, its
decisions have never leaked out
ahead of the time they are formal
~ handed down from the bench.
Lawyers throughout the land
are watching and waiting for the
courts findings. But the most fidg-
ETY. of all lawyers are those in the
government who recognize that an
adverse decision by the court will
flatten out the New Deal and force
a wholesale revision of policies. I
am told that this group Of lawyers
is none too certain of its ground.
True they made what is recognized
rs strong argument in support of
the governments position but the
difficulty seems to be from their
standpoint that the Constitution
was written before the brain trust
came into action and the Constitu-
ton itself provides the only ways
by which it may be changed.
Important Question
Among the questions before the
Supreme court in the gold cases,
that one brought forward by suit
to compel the government to pay
gold in redeeming one of its own
bonds is by far the most import
ant. Indeed, that case can be said
to have an overwhelming import
ance. If the court rules that the
government cannot void its con-
tractor a bond is generally rec
ognized as a contract--to pay back
the borrowed money under the
term named in that bond, then the
seizure of gold by the government
in 1888 likewise is voided. In 9TH
er words, every person holding
government bond containing a
promise to pay in gold is entitled
to have that gold from the treas
ury. 1t takes no stretch of the inn
agination to see what effect that
will have on the whole money pro-
gram.