Evening star., 1937-02-05
PRESIDENT SEEKS
ENLARGED COURT
Asks Legislation to Increase
Supreme Tribunal
to Fifteen.
Continued From First Page)
Of judges now authorized for any dis
trict.
Continued From First Page.)

(COntlnued From First Page.)
Of judges now authorized for any dis
trict.
IS on Supreme Bench.
Six Of the nine members Of the
present Supreme Court are over 70.
Chief Justice Hughes is "a, Justice
Brandeis 80, Justice Van Devanter II,
Justice McReynolds "a. Justice Suth-
erland "a and Justice Butler nearly II.
Justice Stone Is 81. Justice Roberts
81 and Justice Cardozo 66.
1t is apparent that II none Of the
present court should resign or retire
in accordance with the proposed law,
the President could appoint six addi-
tional members, which would bring the
Supreme Court membership up to IS,
the limit mentioned in the bill.
All the justices who have helped to
invalidate most OF the New Deal
measures-except the N. r. A., in
which the decision was unanimous
are over 70 years old, except Justice
Roberts.
Crowded DOckets Cited.
The President buttressed his de-
mand for reorganization of the ju-
dietary with a detailed statement of
the overcrowded dockets of the Fed
eral courts.
Delay in any court results in in
Justice" he said.
Attorney General Cummings letter
to the President declared: Delay in
the administration of justice is the
outstanding defect of our Federal
judicial system" The Attorney Gen
eral went on to say the evil was a
growing one. He showed that on June
80. 1913. the total number Of district
judges was 90 and that the number
had increased by June 80, 1886, to l54.
In 1913 the number of criminal and
civil cases filed in the District Courts
was 25,372. In 1886. however. the
number Of such cases filed had in
creased three-fold. to 75,040 These
figures do not include bankruptcy
cases, Of which there we're 2o,7ss in
1913 and 6o.624 in 1896.
In his message to Congress Mr..
Roosevelt said he dealt with four pres
ent needs:
First, to eliminate congestion of
calendars and to make the judiciary
as whole less static by the constant
and systematic addition of new blood
to its personnel; second, to make the
judiciary more elastic by providing for
temporary transfers of circuit and
district judges to those places where
Federal courts are most in arrears
third. to furnish the Supreme Court
practical assistance in supervising the
conduct of business in the lower
courts; fourth, TO eliminate inequality,
uncertainty and delay now existing in
the determination of constitutional
questions involving Federal statutes"
Judiciary Handicapped.
The judiciary, the President pointed
out. has often found itself handi-
capped by insufficient personnel with
which to meet growing and more
complex business. 1t was for this
reason he was exercising the right
given him by the Constitution to
make his present recommendations in
regard to the judiciary.
The Constitution, Mr.. Roosevelt
said. vests in Congress direct re-
sponsibility in the creation Of courts
lation Of rules Of practice and pro-
cedure Since the earliest days Of the
Republic. he continued. the problem
of the personnel of the courts has
needed the attention Of the Congress.
For example" the President said,
from the beginning. over repeated
protest of President Washington. the
justices of the Supreme Court were
required to ride circuit and. as cir
cult justices. to hold trials through
out the length and breadth of the
land-a practice which endured over
a century"
At his press conference, the Presi-
dent said the justices in those days
were compelled to ride circuit on
horseback and he added that might
be called the pre-horse and buggy
era"
IS Judges Over 20.
In the Federal Courts today, the
President said. there are 237 life
tenure permanent judgships. Twenty
five of these are now held by judges
over 70 and eligible to leave the bench
on full pay.
In exceptional cases. of course"
said the President, Judges, like other
men, attain to an advanced age full
mental and physical vigor. Those
not so fortunate are often unable to
perceive their own inflrmitieS. Here
the President quoted an unnamed Fed
eral judge whose identity he would not
reveal. as follows: They seem to be
tenacious of the appearance Of ade-
quacy."
The President pointed to the
burdensome duties that rest on a
judge and he added modern COM
pleXities call also for a constant in
fusion Of new blood in the courts just
as 1t is needed in executive functions
of the Government and in private
business. A lowered mental or
physical vigor leads men to avoid an
examination Of complicated and
changed conditions.
Little by little. new facts become
blurred through old glasses. fitted as
it were, for the needs Of another gen.
Grafton: older men assuming that the
scene is the same as 1t was in the
past cease to explore or inquire into
the present or the future"
Notify Attorney General.
With regard to the need for more
speedy determination of cases involv-
ing the constitutionality Of laws, the
President recommended, as an imme-
diate step. that the Congress provide
that no decision injunction, judgment
or decree on any constitutional ques-
ton be promulgated by any Federal
court without previous ample notice
to the Attorney General and an op-
l.