The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-02-12

CnHMs lnCEe - I'll ALlbu1tlOhl anu
. conviction which explains that
sort Of thing. It b that TO the liar,
no one tells the truth, TO the thief
no one Il honest, and TO those who
can be bought there does not-afld'
cannot exist any man who has
not got . price tsg hung ON his
soul The editors and those for
whom they speak by asserting that
Mr.. Roosevelt. Is trying TO pacE
the highest court In the land Win
conscienceless, time serving jus1
tees are examples Of unconscious
confession. They are admitting
involuntarily that they accuse the
President OF trying TO do what
they themselves would do II they
were In his place.
s.mss "a
The Other Way
1t is possible to criticize and
find fault with what Mr.. Roosev
welt advises the Congress TO DO
There will be and Is great differ
erice Of opinion among honest
men both in Congress and out OK.
1t, ON the value and the wisdom
Of increasing the number Of 5u-
preme Court Justices. But the
tip-oH to the honesty Of that DIFF
ference of opinion Is whether 1t VI
based fundamentally on the be-
lief that the First American In
the Land Is being actuated by mo-
tives which would disgrace 0 sec
ond-story worker. The min
ute President RoOsevelt's political
adversaries In last November's
rout horn into the front page COL
umns Of the newspaper denounc-
ing his plan as just another on
slaught against the poor battered
old Constitution just that min
ute their opposition should, In the
cause of intelligent discussion, be
washed out Of the picture. When
Mr.. Hoover, Mr.. Hamilton, and, az
threatened, Mr.. Landon sound any
ralIying cry II is time for the cit
henry to run the other way. The
opposition Of these gentlemen.
however 1t may be disguised In
word camouflage, Is essentially po-
IiticaL And into argument for or
against the presidential proposal
politics should have no place afiu
should receive none.
..,
Why the Shooting?
Just why there should be such
hue and cry raised against the
Presidents suggestion / cannot
fathom. What Is wrong about
making the number Of Supreme
Court justices fifteen instead Ct
nine as that bench Of last resort
Is now constituted? There Is moth
ing In the poor old battered Con-,
stitution which says how many
lawyers must make up the SUI
ureme Court. They may be nine
or nineteen or ninety or nine hum
dred. They may be two so far as
the fundamental law OF these here
now United States rims. MT:
Roosevelt in his message to the
Congress pointed out that increas-'
ing or diminishing the member
ship of the Supreme Court was
not an idea that he made up out
OF his own head. As
In 1883 the Court was estab-
lished with Q members. Z, ~
In 1901 II was reduced TO five
members. ~.
In 1907 II was increased TO
seven members. ~
In 1887 It was increased 70
nine members. ~
In 1868 II was increased TO
ten members. -
In 1865 II was reduced to sew =
members. -
In 1869 II was increased 70
mine members. u
Constitutional
Obviously then there Is nothing
unconstitutional In the present
plan to increase the membership
to fifteen. That Is the first prop
knocked from under the opposi-
ton. The objection to the IN
crease Is that fifteen judges can
disagree In their Interpretation
Of the p.o.b. Constitution just as
much as nine. At first blush the
objection seems unanswerable, but
upon investigation 1t does not APP
pear so. The advantage Of the In
crease In membership lies IN tpe
fact that fifteen merr are bound 10
have more divergent ideas on the
Interpretation Of the Constitution
than nine men have. The more
justices the more-and different
concepts OF our constitutional Law
will enter into the courts de-
cisions. And Il should never be
forgotten that the Constitution
does not interpret itself. In the
words OF Chief Justice Hughes
"The Constitution Is what the
judges say II is." -
Age 4.
Whether q justice. at seventy is
more apt to be wrong in his legal
viewpoint than o justice OF Sixty
or seventy-five, Is too deep q
question to be answered by the
writer. I doubtif anyone can an
swer 1t in such way as 70 meet
ali possible objections. But tnis
much may be said. Increase Of
years means generally increase IN
conservatism. A justice 81 seventy
cannot help but be more cautious
in his judgments than ne was at
flfty or sixty although some o.
the present members Of the Su-
prcsne Court msIss, In view Of thelr
decisions, have been conservatives
at weaving. There Is no profit N
recalling the case Of Justice
Holmes who was Q hrebrand lib
eral at ninety. He would have
been two jumps ahead Of his gen.
Grafton II he was as old as Methu-
seIah. But Justice Holmes was 2
phenomenon whose like we shall
not see for many years 70 come.
il ever. It Is my reasoned BELIEF
that what President Roosevelt