The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1937-10-07
fabrication. Mr.. Black chose not to dc


so.
It would be superfuous to labor
these facts as charged against Mr..
Black and as admitted by him. They
speak for themselves. The Ku Klux
Klan was secret organization devot-
ed to racial and religious bigotry. 1t
practiced terrorism in many parts of
the country and it made travesty of
the Bill of Rights. Mr.. Black was no
adolescent when he joined this organ
ization. He was a mature man of SO
years. Nor was Mr.. Black a man so
ignorant as to be unable to measure
this organization against American
principles and civilized society. For
fifteen years he had been a member of
the bar. He had held public office. He
had held commission in the army.
And he had before his eyes the heroic
and inspiring resistance to the Khan
of his predecessor in the Senate, Oscar
W. Underwood.
***
No, there is no need to label the
facts and no need to struggle for char
acterization of the facts. In their max
edness they tell all that is to be told.
Mr.. Black was a politician in Ala
bama. He was ambitious. The Khan
was dominant in Alabama. Therefore,
he Joined the Klan, gave it his support
and procured its support in return. 1t
is probably quite true, as he says, that
he is not religious or racial bigot.
There is nothing in the record to in
dictate honest, if ignorant, passion.
There is nothing to indicate sincere,
if misguided, fervor. He was simply a
politician who wished to get ahead.
To get ahead in Alabama one Joined
the Khan. Mr.. Black was willing to
pay the price. To him, the preference
of an Underwood for defeat rather
than submission was quixotic.
Today, because of the act of Pres
ident Roosevelt, and the courtesy
rules Of the Senate in confirming one
of its members, this politician. of the
lower grade is member of the Su-
preme Court. What to do? Nothing,
save to learn the lesson-the lesson
of the menace in bowling down to an
Executive who demands that the leg
islative and judicial departments shall
be subservient and who is enraged by
resistance. No more is in sight. The
President has no right to remove Mr..
Black from the bench and should not
attempt to do so. The power of Con-
gress to remove will probably not be
exercised. There will be debate when
Congress reconvenes, but there is
not likely to be impeachment by the
House or two-thirds majority in the
Senate for removal.
**m
The thing that can be done, the
thing that can be useful, is to awaken
the people to the menace that lies in
disrespect for the courts by the most
popular President, no less than the or
binary individual. Hugo Black would
not today be a member of the Su-
preme Court had not Mr.. Roosevelt
been so enraged against the indepen-
dent Federal judiciary that he wished
to insult it, and so enraged against the
! Senate which. defeated the court pack
ing plan that he wished to humiliate
it. This Klan-joining politician, this
mediocre lawyer, this thirdIline Sem
ator was not only me-too New Deal
er. He was. the perfect choice to-
wound the court, the perfect choice
to make the Senate squirm in it's own
courtesy rules, and hence the perfect
nominee of an angry autocrat.
To understand and to resist the
menace that lies in Mr.. Roosevelt's
arrogant purpose to control the courts
If he can and recklessly to impair
their personnel if he cannot control
that is the practical lesson to be learn
ed from the events which have come to
a climax in Mr.. Justice Blacks state
nlent on his membership inathe Ku