Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-04-15
Only the Beginning
Supreme Court Decisions Momentous, But Roosevelt
Wants More Than Power to Regulate Labor.

for each circuit. Historically each
Supreme Court justice had direct
relation to his circuit. In the ancient
days, he used to ride circuit" on
horseback. Practically all this relation
between justice and his circuit has
disappeared; but enough remains to
form the basis Of a compromise now.
The compromise would add one new
Justice to the courts present nine,
in order to have one Justice for each
circuit. This would cure the situation
in which, at present, one justice, Mr..
Van Devanter, has two circuits. Then
the compromise would say that the
Chief Justice ought to be freed from
responsibility for circuit-he should
be supervisor over all the circuits.
Thus the compromise would add yet
one more justice. 1t would result in
two new justices in all, and Supreme
Court Of IL justices instead of 9.
Pass Buck" to Congress.
One consequence of last Mondays
Supreme Court decision will take time
to sink into the minds of those most
affected. The Supreme Court, in a
sense, has passed back to Congress a
buck" which Congress has long been
passing to the court. In effect, we
can imagine the court saying to Con-
gress something like this:
For years you have been writing
laws which were unconstitutional and
which you knew to be unconstitutional.
You have been voting for these meas
ureS because they seemed to be popu-
lar, or because a popular President
demanded them. In one recent case,
the original Guffey coal bill, you voted
for 1t because the President told you
that he hoped you would vote for it
in spite Of any doubt you might have
about its constitutionality. That was
an improper thing for President to
ask and an improper thing for you TO
do Both the President and Congress
are supposed to have just as much
responsibility and regard for the Con-
stitution as We on the Supreme Court.
You have been passing laws which you
knew to be unconstitutional, and other
laws which you knew to be badly
written and in other respects undesir-
able. You have voted for these
measures, saying to yourselves, oh,
well. anyhow the Supreme Court won't
let it stand You have said to your
selves that the justices Of the court
didn't have to go before constituencies
for reelection and therefore the
court could afford to be the goat.
Well, for the time being, the court is
not going to be the goat. You men,
bers of Congress have got to live up
to your responsibility.
Congress Is Going to Wake Up.
When Congress realizes that the
court, in part at least, takes this posi-
ton, much OF Congress is going to
wake up. 1t is going to wake up
about the Wagner law. The court
only held the Wagner law to be within
the Constitution. The court didn't say
whether it is good law or bad one
Much Of Congress, and many out of
Congress, know it to be badly inspired,
badly written, and generally unwork-
able. It was Mr.. Walter Lippmann,
I think, who called 1t, at the time It
was enacted two years ago. "a legis-
lative monstrosity." It Is now up to
Congress to perform several surgical
operations on the act.
The awakening in Congress will be
explosive when the Southern Demo-
Gratis. who now compose the New Deal
leadership in Congress, realize how far
the Wagner act, which the court has
upheld, involves State rights. Since
last Monday, there is doubt whether
enough is left of States rights to pro-
tect the South in its cherished pre-
rogative of conducting its own
elections without interference from
Washington.
(Copyright 1877