Imperial Valley press., 1936-12-27
News Behind the News
The Supreme Courts Demoralization.
Actual or Imaginary . Perhaps The
Wish PrecedeS The Thought

WASHINGTON-It is difficult to tell whe-
ther the U. S. Supreme Court is as demorallzeo
as some think whether Its suspected oemor-
alization is only a miSapprehenslon on the par.
of outsiders effectively foStered by substantial
group of interested persons who want to get us
into the habit of poo-poohing the court
Authentic information sometimes trckles out
of the secret conferences which precede the
courts decisions But none has trickled your
correspondents way since the justices ordered
a retrial of the Duke Power case. This action
involves PWAS conStitutionality and particularly
its right to make loan-grants for public power
plants.
The court however stirred critics to take one
more whack at its prestige by refusing TO decide
on the merits of vital New Deal case when 1t
had every possible speck of evidence before 1t.
Following as it did the 4-to-4 verdict which
validated the New York unemployment lnsur-
ance low by a failure to achieve majority
situation, the Duke action has inspired new
outburst of hooting to the effect that the court
has lost its ability to make decisions - even
wrong ones.
Lawyers are guessing that the court stood
to on the Duke Power case, but that Chief
Justice Hughes was mortally afraid OF an
other tie decision that In some Way-poSSlpiy,
they opine, by threatening the liberal Justices
with the possibility that he would jump to the
other side-he managed to have the supreme
bench duck the issue by tossing tthe case back
to lower courts basis of inconsequential
tecnicalities.
spread around assiduously by those who seek to
stir up popular contempt for the court.
New Deal lawyers will talk your ear off In
explaining how the justices never before tossed
back case like this unless the procedural error
involved had hurt someone how the court sock
ed the unemployed who would otherwise be
employed on PWA projects. and how absurd 1t
is for the court to refuse even at this late date
to tell whether PWA is constitutional.
They insist that the order for retrial has put
off a decision the power plant issue Tor an
other year.
OF course if Justice Stone were to recover
sufficiently from his illness to serve on the
bench, there would be little danger Of 4-to-4 de-
csions. No one knows how long he will be out
Meanwhile, general suspicion in Washington Is
that Hughes and justice Roberts got religion"
after they saw the election returns, leaving the
four acknowledgements, Butler VanDevan-
ter, and Sutherland-still holding the fort against
the New Deal on all counts.
The Navy set is telling how some Of its boys
and girls put through call from San Diego to
Mrs. Wallis Simpson a few weeks ago. There
was party and present were not only the lady's
first husband, Commander Earl Winfield Spen-
Ger, Jr, but also several who had known her
when she was Navy wife.
Naval aviation officers took up collection
and found they had just about enough money to
finance call to London. They persuaded Spen-
to put in the call and it wasn't long before
Mrs. Simpson was the wire.
Commander Spencer asked ks former wife
how she was and she said she was fine. He
asked her if she were going to be Queen Of
England and she said she didn't know.