Evening star., 1937-02-12
Judiciary
Continued From First Page.)

junction with the President, it was
said. had made the final study.
Literally thousands of ideas were
presented, in the wide search for q
plan to make laws like the N. R. A.
and the A. A. A. stick" Every
body in Washington. it was said, had
a happy idea. In the Spring of last
year q number of people were put to
work sorting over these ideas. BY
Summer the studies took a rather
definite direction, it was revealed
today.
Opponents of the Presidents plan
have attacked him for not bringing 1t
forward during his campaign for re-
election, and giving the voters
chance to know what he had in mind
with regard to the Supreme Court and
the Constitution before they cast their
ballots. Doubtless they will seize upon
the admission now made that studies
OF the problem were begun a year and
q half ago, and that these studies took
q rather definite trend last Summer.
The fact remains, however, that the
final decision regarding the judiciary
reorganization bill was not made un-
til after the Presidents return to this
country in December.
Suggestions Were Classified.
While the President was away the
Attorney General and the solicitor
general listed the large number Of
proposals in several categories, the
easier to study them and to arrive at
some conclusion. The process Of elm
ination began when the President re-
turned.
The first. large, general category in
cluded proposed amendments to the
Constitution. These proposals includ-
ed amendments giving Congress au-
thority to deal with industry, labor and
agriculture, amendments curtailing
the powers of the Supreme Court, etc.
The President and his advisers
turned their backs on the constitu-
tional amendment route, it was
learned, because of the time element.
In the first place the amendments
were many and different in character.
Many Of those who favored consti-
tutional amendment would have had
to be willing to waive their own pet
amendments. There would have been
also great difficulty in getting them
all to agree on the proper language in
the amendment proposed.
In the second place it takes some
times years to get constitutional
amendment acted upon by the States
AS in the case Of the child labor
amendment. still hanging fire after
q dozen years And, 1t was said, 1t Is
not a very difficult trick to prevent
the ratification Of q constitutional
amendment by 13 States-a sufficient
number to block ratification, since it
requires favorable action by three
fourth Of the 48 States, or SO, to
ratify.
Opinion Divergence Weighed.
The second large category of pro-
posals included legislation. The pro-
posed laws would have taken away
from the Supreme Court authority to
pass upon the constitutionality Of acts
Of Congress. Others would have made
a 6-to-3. or q 7-to-2, or an 8-to-1, or
. unanimous decision of the Supreme
Court necessary to invalidate an act
Of Congress.
These legislative proposals, it was
said, were of doubtful constitution
ality and II enacted into law might
well have been held invalid by the
highest court. For three or four hun
dred years or more, under English
common law, it had been that q ma
jority Of q court could decide q case
before the court. English common
law had prevailed in the American
Colonies up until the adoption of the
Constitution of the United States.
So by a process of elimination the
President and his two advisers came
down to the present judiciary reor-
ganization plan. As they studied the
question of the Supreme Court and
what could be done about it, they real
lied, it was said, that the question
became more and more one of the
whole judiciary.
Held Result Of Natural Evolution.
And finally, it is maintained, there
Is nothing mysterious about the Pres
ident's plan for dealing with the ju-
dietary, including the Supreme Court.
1t is the result Of process of evolu-
ton, arrived at over a long period of
time.
President Roosevelt at his press
conference today would not comment
upon the attacks made on his plan nor
on its probable progress through Con-
gress, nor on any compromise plan.
Asked II he were surprised at the
reaction to his recommendations, he
replied smilingly that it depended upon
which newspaper was read.
And when he, was questioned about
the conference which he Is having with
Senators and what they are saying to
him, he asked, with q laugh, "Do you
want to be here all day?"
Two more Senators were called to
the White House today, McKellar and
Bachman Of Tennessee, and presum-
ably discussed the court bill with the
President.
Plan Put Above Others.
Meanwhile. persons close to the ad-
nantstration exprssssd the beaief Presa-