Evening star., 1935-09-12
TEST OF NEW LAWS.
! UNSEEN BY 1886.
Supreme Court Not Expect
ed to Get Cases Until
After Election.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

upon by the Supreme Court of the
presidential election in November,
1886.
This arises out Of the fact that the
average time elapsing between the
passage of New Deal legislation and
decisions by the Supreme Court pass
ing on their conStitutionality has
been Is months.
1t is possible, of course. with the
proper amount OF cooperation and
with the elimination of dilatory tao
tics on both sides, for an issue to be
presented to and decided by the high
est court in from six to eight months.
But it took 20 months and Is days
from the passage of the gold clause
default for the cases to be brought
and argued and decided through the
lower courts to the Supreme Court
and it took % months and IL days
from the time of the passage of the
national industrial recovery act for a
test to be made in the SChechter case.
The Roosevelt administration was
Inclined at first to ward of tests, but
did help finally to expedite the
Schechter case and the gold clause
suits.
Will Seek Delay.
There are indications that the ad-
ministration will try to avoid as long
as possible test on the Guf1ey coal
law and on the Wagner labor rela-
tlons act. This is because organized
labor wants to get the machinery OF
the laws grooved so as TO obtain the
maximum benefit from the acts ire
spective of the outcome of the suits
on constitutionality.
Politically. 1t will be important If
there are no major questions of con-
stitutionality added 10 those already
established by the seven acts of the
Roosevelt administration which vio-
lated the Constitution. Those who
have been hoping that the Supreme
Court would furnish basis for the
introduction into the next presidential
campaign of a constitutional amend
ment that could be considered TO have
been approved in principle If the
Roosevelt regime is indcrSed again at
the polls are doomed to disappoint-
ment.
T. V. A. and A. A. A. Pending.
There are pending, o. course, for
decision in the October term of the
Supreme Court this year two impor-
tant cases affecting conStitutionality.
One is the Tennessee Valley Authority
act, which has been upheld by the
Circuit Court of Appeals and in which
the New Deal probably will be Sus-
tained, and the other is the Agricul-
tural Adjustment act, with its pro-
CeSSing taxes. on which the New Deal
seems certain to lose. The Roosevelt
administration is trying TO have the
cases brought on the agricultural con-
troll law before it was amended at the
last session tied into the cases that
will be brought under the A. A. A.
amendments but 1t appears doubtful
that the courts will care to decide
anything but the issues arising out of
the original law.
The administration has in effect
conceded the unconStitutionality of
the A. A. A. as originally drawn, be-
cause the amendments recently pressed
upon Congress clearly show the an
ticlpation of an unfavorable deci-
sion.
The farmers. however, will not be
deprived of the A. A. A even if the
original law is declared invalid be-
cause the present machinery of the
A. A. A. for the collection of proc
eSsing taxes will require a separate
attack on the lower courts before any
f1nal cases can reach the Supreme
Court, something that may happen
a year and half from now and GER
tainly not before the November, 1886,
election.
Separate Ballot Best.
From the standpoint of national
progress. it is much better TO have
a constitutional amendment, if it is
to be proposed, acted upon separately
from other elections and contro-
versies. 1t would not be surprising,
on the other hand. if the opposition
q to the New Deal raised the issue of
constitutionalism anyway in the next
campaign. Should the President be
reelected, would he consider then
that he had received a mandate to
propose an amendment to the Consti-
tuition permitting strong centralized
4 control over manufacturing, agricul-
ture and production generally?
The answer to that question will de-
pend to large extent on whether
there are any aggravating circum-
stances that force the President to
O. take q position in favor of changing
the Constitution. His friends and ad-
vlsers are divided both as to his in
/, tentions and as to what course should
be pursued. Certainly the invalidation
OF the A. A. A. alone is not calculated
to bring out from Mr.. Roosevelt a
concrete proposal for a new amend
. menv to the Constitution. because the
new A. A. A. amendments will not
nave been passed upon and no such
, administrative confusion will result
9 from the invalidation of the old
A A. A. statute As occurred when tie
N 1. r. A. was declared unconstigu-
tional
4 May Resort to PARALLELS.
, Mr.. Roosevelt may. of course, deal
with the issue by implication. In his
Z recent speeches he has shown a
+. tendency to refer back constantly to
the days of Washington, jefferson and
Hamilton, as if to contend that the
Constitution needs "modernization.
The strategy of the New Deal will be
/, to argue that modernization doesn't
/ mean destruction. The other day Mr..
Z Roosevelt, in his parable about TIE
repairs to the White House, took tEat
, point of view. insisting that rewiring
! of the Executive Mansion didn't
change its exterior appearance or its
framework.
Muct will depend on whether the
administration consents to the presen-
) tat1on of a concrete proposal to amend
the Constitution. Until such a pro-