The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-10-26
Drew Pearson

MT, Pearson and MT. Allen de- scribe the marble affair as the TaJ Mahal, and they relate what the late Huey Long once said, "A mil lion dollars apiece for those Nine Old Men. And they used to be glad to sit in one room"
 !. In presenting the Nine Old Men the authors do a thorough job Read CTS are given more than a thumb nail sketch. One learns their good points and bad, their habits, their methods in law procedure, their l, Shortcomings, their dispositions; 1n short they actually acquaint you with nine men who might previous 1y have been to you just figureheads. But in developing and presenting to you their characteristics, their aersonalities, their viewpoints and
 ihcfg for making decisions, the
 'Es nave done so impartially, in
 ftisan way, very thorough
 lure, but never unkindly.
 Man bn the Flying Trapeze
 Mr. Allen and MT. Pearson lead of with the chief justice, Charles Evans Hughes, who it seems, arrived at the chief just "eship by mistake. A chapter caption describes him as .sThe Man on the Flying Trapeze," :" first one thing then another, "oscil- lating," now a liberal, now reac- stionary. An "acrobatic liberaP are words used to picture Mir Hughes, and asa chief justice, failure, ac- cording to the authors, as such, and a man who twas qualified more than any other member of the court to grasp and act upon the problems of xhe present emergency"
 K The authors next turn to Harlan Fiske Stone, who ranks fairly high in their estimation as a man and as an associate justice. Him they term HTIoovers Pal" Justice Stone learned his Supreme Court matter from Holmes and Brandeis, from the for xner he got his social philosophy, ana 1rem the latter his economics. When Stone once asked Oliver Wendall Holmes to propound to him his guid- ing principle, Holmes replied, young man. (Stone was sixty-five), about seventy-five years ago learned that t was not God" Justice Pierce But Ter is described as "The Bruiser." Tie is presented as a man of ruth 1essness, in favor of big business and a great supporter of the Roman Catholic church of which he IS member. Next comes Owen Josephus Roberts, "The Philadelphia Lawyer" and to quote the authors "the big gest joke ever played upon the fight < ing liberals of the United States sem ate" but turning out to be, instead, :'the foremost meat-axer of their cause"
 Brandeis, "The Crusader"
 ! Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis is called by the authors, 'TEe Crusa- der" Perhaps his summing up is one of the finest in THE NINE OLD MEN. His personality appeals, since 2 he was not out for what was in it, during his career before and since < he has been on the court. He is, say the authors, "a crusader chiefly for {. human rights" Concerning Bran { deis, who is the oldest member of x the court, the authors write, when he has finished an opinion 1t is a 1, model of clear English and log ical presentation of facts" People disagree with him." the authors state, lon point of view. They can not do so on the facts" Willis Van pevanter is described as "The Dur1- 4 my Director" IF has been on the court the longest, and suffers, say the authors from literary constipa- ton" He has turned out fewer de- cisions, 1t seems, than any other jus tice: orally his utterances have great merit, but putting his thoughts down on paper is another matter. Justice George Sutherland is captioned s.The Lame Duck Senator" He is de- scribed as "an attractive and schol-