The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1937-08-26
The Second Choice


Since the confirmation of the Presi-
dents first appointee to the Supreme
Court, the health and frame of mind of
the other eight justices has become
much more vital to the country, as
upon those two things hinge the pos
sibilities of further vacancies in the
near future.
The reasons those who most strong
ly revolted at the attempt of Mr..
Roosevelt to pack the court feel g
deeper concern since the Black selec.
ton are two-frst, because the Presi-
dent has revealed clearly the kind of
man he is willing to put upon the
court; second, because of the known
fact that his second choice is a per-
feet teammate for his first; man of
much the same character and caliber,
with the same kind of legal training,
judicial temperament and political af-
iliations-to-wit, Senator Sherman
Minton, of Indiana.
***
1t has been contended by friends of
the President that his appointment of
Senator Black was not only a smart
piece of politics but great joke on the
Senate, which, in unanimously recon-
mending the late Senator Robinson,
had tried to force on him a conserva-
tive who would not have pulled"
with him. Instead, tied up in its own
silly traditions, the President has COM
PEELED the Senate to swallow an ex-
IRENE labor radical whose attacks upon
the court have been unsurpassed in vi
olence and virulence. No secret is
made of the Presidents great enjoy
ment over the discontinue of the
court-defending Senators in being I'M
able to get away from accepting Sen
ator Black.
If this accurately represents the
Presidents feeling-and there seems
no doubt about that-then the tempta-
ton to repeat the dose is very strong.
What makes it practically irresistible
is that in Senator Minton he has ex-
actly the man to enable him to do ex-
actly that. In other words, SO long as it
permits the so-called Senatorial cour-
tesy custom to cramp it's freedom, the
President can reduce the Senate to a
state of complete helplessness by the
simple expedient of naming another
of its members. By adroitly taking adj
vantage of that custom, Mr.. Roosevelt
has been able to put on the Supreme
Bench one man who concededly would
not have had chance of confirmation
had he not been in the Senate. There
is very good chance that he may put
on another for the same reason.
49,
1t is known that more than sixty
names for Supreme Bench appoint
ment were submitted and considered
by the President between the day of
Justice Van Devanter's retirement and
the Black announcement. The day be-
fore the latter's name went to the
Senate, through a process of elimina-
ton, the list had been reduced to
three-Mr. Stanley Reed, the able
Solicitor General, Senator Black and
Senator Minton. Mr.. Reeds stands high
as lawyer and as man. His record is
fine and his ability unquestlcned. He
would have been confirmed by the
Senate and he would have been ac-
ceptable to the court. Perhaps the
latter was the reason for his elmina-
ton, despite the genuine nature OF
his New Dealism. At any rate, those
in position to know, assert that on the
final day the Presidential choice was
narrowed to Senators Black and Min
ton.
Personally, it was difficult for him
to choose between them. They were
violent New Dealers, equally
devoted to Mr.. Roosevelt and had sup
ported his court-packing plan-and
everything else on his program-with
equal ardor. And if put on the court
they could be depended upon equally
to pull" with the President. Moreover
they would be equally obnoxious to the
anti-court-packing Democrats in the
Senate. The decision finally went to
Mr.. Black, it was said, solely because
it was represented that his identified
ton with the Wage and Hour Control
bill-it is known as the Black Connery
bill-among other things had made
him so many enemies in Alabama
that there was real danger of his de-
feat for denomination next year. If
this happened he would be lost entire
ly to the New Deal. The way to pre-
serve him to the cause, it was pointed
out-and even to enhance his useful
ness-was to name him for the Van
Devanter vacancy. And so he was ap-
pointed.
That is the story of his election