Evening star., 1937-05-30
What the Court Plan Is.

What the Court Plan Is.
No public need today is more I'm.
peratiVe than that the country should
see the undisclosed intention-the
artfully concealed intention-of Mr..
Roosevelt's court plan. 1t is possible
Mr.. Roosevelt himself may not have
grasped it fully. 1t may be the plan
was devised and written out by soma
remaining members Of the brain trust,
unknown TO the public, who supply
many Of Mr.. Roosevelt's ideas. Ger.
talnly the persons who wrote out the
bill which Mr. Roosevelt sent to Con.
gress were men with ingenious minds
and purpose Of revolution.
The effect, to state it in q few
sentences, is this: To bring 1t about
that every lawsuit, civil or criminal,
between the Federal Government and
an individual, is to be decided the
way the Government wants 1t decided.
which would ordinarily be in favor
OF the Government And AZ out Of
every 100 suits tried in the Federal
courts are suits between the Govern.
ment and citizen. Further than that.
IN suits between two individuals, tho
Government is to insert its hand when
it wishes to and exert its power to
bring about decision that the Gov.
eminent desires. The certainty of op-
preston Is clear. The possibility Of
corruption is great.
How is this to be achieved? Under.
standing can be best had bv starting.
not with what the President proposes
about the Supreme Court, but with
what he proposes about the lower Fed.
eral courts.
May Name a Judges.
First the President by his court
measure is given power to appoint A
new judges, over and above such va.
cancies as he might be called on to f!l
by death or retirement. In the cir.
cult courts he would appoint new
judges at once, in the district courts
l3 new judges at once During the re-
mainder Of his term he would appoint
Is more, a total of A. (This is apart
from the six to be appointed to the
Supreme Court)
These A new judges are a class
apart, special caste They are care.
FULLY described as hereafter appoint.
ed They have a special status and
function, differing from and superior
to that Of judges already on the
bench. They would not be appointed
exclusively, not at all except in ono
IN tho ri
where there is congestion of work.
They are to be mobile army" a
Tying squadron" OF hand d-picked
judges. They are to be assigned to
sit in any district and to try any case.
One Of the regular judges may be
about to step upon the bench to try
8 case, when he will be confronted
by man he has never seen, one
OF the hand-picked flying squadron,
who will tell the regular Judge to
step aside. The usurping Judge need
give no reason; he can merely say:
Il have been assigned to try this
case"
Assigned BY Proctor.
The assigning Is to be done by
the Chief Justice OF the Supreme
Court of the United States, and Mr..
Roosevelt. by the other part Of his
bill, hopes to get new Chief Justice,
one to his own liking Moreover, while
the assigning OF the hand-picked
judges is to be done officially by the
Chief Justice, the actual work Of
recommending the assignments is
to be done by wholly new Official,
/ not now known in American law, q
proctor"
Under the complete system set up
by the Presidents plan any citizen,
party to a suit in which the Gov
ernment is the other party, whether
the citizen be defendant or plaintiff,
whether the suit be civil or crimi-
! nal, may find his case tried In the
District Court by judge hand
picked for that particular case On
appeal to the Circuit Court, he again
finds himself before q judge hand
picked for the case. On appeal
to the Supreme Court he would find
himself before court Of which six
would be the ones whom the Presi-
dent, under his plan, Is to appoint.
The clear purpose is to cause the
courts to be, not what they now are.
unbiased arbiters between the citizen
and the Government. 1t is to make
the courts become what courts are in
Germany, Italy and Russia, agents Of
the government, the same as soldiers
are agents of the government. Such
change, because of far-reaching
effects too many and intricate to de-
scribe here, would bring about
revolution in the American form Of
government Mr.. Roosevelt's court
plan Is an attempt at revolution with.
out use Of overt violence, coup d'etat
by artfulneSs.
Copyright. 1937J