Evening star., 1937-02-21

is the duty Of every citizen to
concern himself with this question.
We may quickly dismiss the sec
ondary parts Of the Presidents
proposals. We can accept the view
that justice would be expedited II
we had more Federal district
courts. There may not be enough
Circuit Courts Of Appeal. But
there can be only one Supreme
Court. Here Mr.. Roosevelt de-
mands the power to appoint a new
justice parallel with every exist
ing justice who Is over 10 years of
age. This means that two-thirds
of the court. or six of them, are to
be given sort OF intellectual
nurse. having half of the vote Of
each patient. 1t is the implications
OF this proposal which have thrust
us with startling suddenness into
an issue greater and deeper than
any in our generation.
We may also deal quickly with
the reasons for this proposal upon
which Mr.. Roosevelt has given en-
phasis.
1t has been shown by the reports
of the Department of Justice that
the Supreme Court is not behind
with its work Moreover, more
members Of the Supreme Court
would not speed action. The fact
Is each justice must in every case
individually give his own opinion.
Certainly each individual OF Is JUS
tices is likely to take as long in
making up his individual mind as
each individual among nine JUS
tices.
Question Of Old Age
And Dividing" Vote.
One of the reasons given for the
Presidents proposal is old age. Mr..
Walter Lippmann has said: by
an act Of lawless legality he would
force two-thirdS Of the court to
choose between resignation and be-
ing publicly branded as senile."
do not for a moment believe that
was the purpose Of this proposal,
but it might be the consequence.
wonder If those noble inter-
prefers of human liberty. John
Marshall and Oliver Wendell
Holmes, would have served Amer
lea as we'll in the last years OF
their lives had they possessed an
intellectual nurse who also di-
vided their vote.
But the Presidents proposal Is
far deeper and more far reaching
in purpose than these details. The
people must probe it in the light OF
its background, of the incidents
that have led up to it, They must
probe it in the light of its real ef-
feet upon their own security. They
must probe it in the light Of the
forces moving in the world today.
Mr.. Roosevelt has sought many
acts of Congress which lead to
increase the personal power Of the
Executive He has sought to more
greatly centralize the Government.
I am not Sor the moment debat-
ing the merits of these measures
for some of them are of good pur-
pose. The Supreme Court has
found in IA of these laws which
profoundly affect the public well
fare that Mr.. Roosevelt was within
the Constitution in cases and
violated the Constitution in cases.
In many of those decisions justices
supposed TO be of Mr.. RooSevelt's
realm of thought have concurred.
OF important decisions adverse
to Mr.. Roosevelts wishes 4 have
been decided unanimously, and of
the cases where the decisions
were favorable, were unanimous.
There can therefore be no real
charge that the court has not
decided to accord with what the
Constitution means. The court
was not engaged in vetoing Mr..
Roosevelt's proposals as his At
torney General alleges. 1t was find-
ing according to the law as estab-
lished by the people Of the United
States.
And what was the effect OF
these decisions which are now
criticized? The unanimous decision
on the N. r. A. relieved the
American people of gigantic sys-
TEN of monopo!ieS conducted by
big business monopoly that
even reached down to a jail sem
tence for pressing pants for less
than the presidential approved
price. Another of these acts was
thrown out because it was based