Imperial Valley press., 1936-02-16
News Behind the News
Supreme Court in Politics =. Jus
ticeS Become Campaign Issue :.
Constitutions Friends d..

WASHINGTON.-The issue of constitutional
amendment is not likely to enter the presidential
campaign in any large way, but the supreme court
the men who serve on the supreme court, and the
decisions of the supreme court are sure to be
thrown into the forefront.
1t will be easy TO get mixed up as 10 the
extent to which the Constitution really is issue.
The New Deals foes will try very hard to make it
appear that Roosevelt is a great menace to that
document and would like to destroy it altogether.
Roosevelt policy hardly yet evolved, will be
to evince reverence for the Constitution While
putting over the idea that New Dealers are the
Constitutions best friends who seek to save it
from the attacks Of corporation lawyers and the
usurpatons of reactionary judges.
You will hear how the court often reverses
itself how one judge or two can control a ma
tons economic destiny. how the court is divided
on liberal-conseryative lines closely parallelng
those of the political campaign itself.
You will hear how the three liberal justices
have challenged the motives of the six conSerVa-
,tives and you will be urged to accept the legal
leadership of BrandeS, Stone. and Cardozo-along
with the political leadership of Roosevelt.
You will have to decide whether to believe the
six justices who say they have passed on legislation
On purely legal, constitutional grounds or the
three justices who insist that the majority has
been motivated by economic and philosophic con-
siderations.
But first you should check over the back
grounds OF the nine justices, to understand the
argument.
The six who voted to kill the AAA (and also
took the conservative side in the significant Yer
mont and North Dakota tax cases. may be clas-
sified in accordance with predominant characters
tics of their records prior to present service the
court as follows
Chief Justice hCarles Evans Hughes-Repub
lican office-holder and statesman, presidential
candidate and corporation lawyer.
Pierce Butler-Railroad lawyer. Democrat ap
pointed by Hoover.
Owen J. Roberts-Republican corporation
lawyer, and Teapot Dome prosecutor.
George Sutherland-Republican politician, U.
S. senator, and corporation lawyer.
James c. Observation-Disclosures corporation
lawyer, and trustbuster.
Willis Vandevanter-Republican politician and
circuit judge.
The three liberal justices may similarly be
classified as:
Louis D. Brandeis-Advocate of public causes
and legal crusader against vested interests"
Harlan F. Stone-Republican primarily a
teacher of law, but also once a corporation lawyer
Benjamin N. Cardozo-Legal scholar and
jurist.
There is no taint attached to practice as
corporation lawyer or to participation in the game
of politics. Most able lawyers become corporation
lawyers and many of the ableSt statesmen have
been smart politicians.
Yet it is obvious that the backgrounds of the
conservative justices were far more mixed up
with those influences than the backgrounds of the
liberals and you are entitled to decide for yourself
how important the respective backgrounds have
been in judicial decisions