Evening star., 1937-09-19
by MARK SULLIVAN.

BY MARK SULLIVAN.
TT Is common to say that President
Roosevelts attempt to change the
Supreme Court has been defeated.
4 1t is commoner for opponents Of
the court plan to say this than for Mr..
Roosevelt and his friends to say it.
Mr.. Roosevelt and his friends did not
regard the plan as lost when the
Senate refused to adopt it. From
many public statements of Mr.. Roose-
velt's friends and some rumors OF
his private attitude, one gathers they
may intend to renew the fight. Almost
certainly they would renew it IL the
conditions should at any future time
be favorable-in such case they
would be foolish not to renew it.
Meanwhile the opponents Of the
court plan are fatuously assuming the
fight has been won. With the spectac-
ular refusal of the Senate to adopt
the plan, the opponents of it had a
manner of saying, well, that's all
over"
But the fight on the court plan is
not over. This would be true even
if Mr.. Roosevelt and his friends did
not have any intention of taking the
initiative to renew the fight at a
favorable time. No struggle of the
magnitude of this one is decided
finally by the action of Congress upon
it. Such struggle Is not won con-
clusively until after there has been a
verdict of the electorate. And until
there is verdict of the voters on the
court plan, the fight about it will not
have been conclusively decided.
How shall this verdict of the electo-
rate be had? 1t comes automatically.
1t comes next year. 1t does not wait
for the presidential election of 1910.
A verdict on Mr.. Roosevelt and his
whole course, including his court plan
In 1910 Is made awkward or impossible
by uncertainty whether Mr.. Roosevelt
himself will be before the electorate
ss a candidate in that year.
Verdict Next Year.
No, the verdict Of the voters on Mr..
Roosevelt's court plan comes next year,
1898. 1t comes in the shape Of the
actions Of the States with respect to
Senators who took positions on the
plan. If the Senators who opposed the
Presidents court plan are defeated for
denomination or reelection; and if at
the same time the Senators who sup
ported the Presidents court plan sue
ceed in denomination and reelection
In that event the court plan will have
won before the electorate. And, of
course, vice versa.
Of Senator'S are involved: First, the
Senators who opposed the Presidents
court measure; and second. the Sen
ators who supported 1t. Consequent
ly, for defeat Of the court plan at
the hands Of the electorate, two things
must occur: First, the Senators who
opposed the court plan must be re-
nominated and reelected: second, the
Senator'S who supported the court
plan, the Senator's who stood with the
President, must be defeated.
/ have spoken as If all the Senators
are involved. But obviously we can
omit the Republican Senators-they
all opposed the court plan as mat
ter of course.
The Senator'S whose fates before the
electorate next year would express
the verdict Of the electorate on the
court plan are the AZ Democratic
Senators who will come up for re-
nomination and reelection next year.
Twenty-seven Is the whole number of
Democrats coming up next year. For
the purpose Of popular verdict on
the court plan, these ~ are divided
into twp groups:
First, the nine Democratic Senator'S
who opposed Mr.. Roosevelt's court
plan and who come up next year.
These are: Adams, Colorado; Clark,
Missouri; George, Georgia; Gillette,
Iowa: Lonergan, Connecticut; Nc
Carran, Nevada; Smith, South Caro-
lima; Tydings. Maryland, and Van
Nuys. Indiana.
Eighteen Proponents Come Up.
For clarity repeat. Those are the
nine Democratic Senators who op-
posed Mr.. Roosevelt's court measure
and who next year come up for re-
nomination and reelection.
The second group consists OF 18
Democratic Senators who favored Mr..
Roosevelt's court measure and who
come up for denomination and re-
election next year. These are:
Barkley, Kentucky; Berry, Tennes-
see; Bone, Washington; Brown, New
Hampshire; Bulkley, Ohio; Caraway,
Arkansas; Dieterich, Illinois; Duffy,
Wisconsin; Hayden, Arizona; Hitch
cock, South Dakota; McAdoo, Cali
fornia; McGill, Kansas; Pepper,
Florida; Pope, Idaho; Reynolds, North
Carolina; Thomas, Oklahoma; Thom-
as, Utah, and Wagner, New York.
For clarity repeat: Those 18 are
the Democratic Senators who sup
ported Mr.. Roosevelt's court measure
and who come up for denomination
and reelection next year.
These two lists have been made up
with care. 1 think they are accurate.
1t is not easy to say as to each and
every Senator whether he was for or
against the court measure. There
was never any roll call in the Senate
directly on the measure, neither on
the original measure nor on the sub