Evening star., 1937-09-27
COURT IMPER|LED,
j. s. BAR IS TOLD
Reed and StinChfieId Defend
Constitution in Talks at
Convention.
Py the Associated Press.

tnelne Oh tHe american Bar hSSOcl-
atoms convention, two noted lawyers
declaring the court is threatened
with serious impairment, even de-
struction.
James A. Reed, former United States
Senator from Missouri, greeted the
delegates at the opening session as
"protagonists of the Constitution" and
said destruction of the court would
mean "the death Of constitutional
liberty"
ut is useless to deny that we have
arrived at tragic period in our his
tory" said Reed, Democrat, when
the serpent of religious intolerance,
emerging from the caverns of igno-
rance and hate, can drag its shiny
folds across the centuries and, in the
city of Washington, thrust its forked
tongue into the face of justice"
Attack by Stinchfield. 8.
Frederick H. Stinchfield of Minne-
apolis, president Of the bar, said the
Roosevelt administrators apparent
determination is to destroy the court
as it is known today, and the people OF
the Nation may have to choose "be-
tween the President and the lawyers
of the United States"
Reed. emphasizing that the oath Of
Office taken by every President is
without mental reservation" asked:
What then shall be said of those
who would ravish that solemn obliga-
ton of its purpose and make it read:
I take this oath with mental reserva-
tions and with purpose of evasion and
if the Supreme Court does not approve
my illegal act 1 will help get hand
picked court TO ratify and approve the
violation of the Constitution which I
have perpetrated.
Reed said the trainers Of the Con-
stitution knew that an honest fanatic,
whether of church or state, is the
most dangerous beast ever turned
loose to curse the earth, all the more
dangerous if shis cruel purposes are
masked by gentle Smiles and friendly
protestations Circulated to lull the
intended victim into security"
Apparent Hatred.
Stinchfield, who said in the annual
presidents address, he disagreed with
President Roosevelt over the lawyers
place in the framing of the Constitu-
ton, previously attributed to Roose-
velt an apparent hatred" Of the
legal profession.
You know what the President has
said of the QegaD profession" Stinch-
field said. Il remind you Of this
so that you may realize how unequal
in weaons for the battle is a strug-
gle between the President and the
lawyers of the United States.
I'VE have no chance of survival
in the struggle whatever. except
one: 1t is that the people of the
United States have faith in our
claims of wishing the best for the
country.
You may have to choose between
US"
Backs Supreme Court.
Stinchfield closed his talk with a
plea for aid "in opposin- the present
administration and particularly its
apparent determination to destroy the
Supreme Court"
President Roosevelt's recent Cpn-
stitution day address. in which he
said the basic law was laynans
document, not a lawyers contract"
drew fire from Stinchfeld in his con-
vention address. He asserted the
presence of 80 lawyers among the 55
trainers of the Constitution illustrated
the continuing high destiny of their
profession in affairs of the Nation.
Lawyers may have been the rea-
son for defeating schemes proposed
by some, but not the destiny of
America" Stinchfield said They have
made America whatever America is"
Earlier Stinchfield told interviewers
he did not believe the convention
would touch on the controversy arising
from published reports that President
Roosevelt's Supreme Court appointee,
Justice Hugo Black, was a member
of the Ku Klux Klan.
Reference to Black.
In his annual address, Stinchheld
made quoted reference both to Black
and the Hiram Evans, the Klan's i'm
perial wizard.
Asking that the lawyer of today be
judged by what he has done, Stinch-
field noted in an annexation to his
remarks that Justice Black recently
was quoted;
Show me the kind of steps a man
made in the sand five years ago and
/ will show you the kind of steps he is
likely to make in the same sand five
years hence"
Evans was quoted as saying no
statesman has been able to suggest
"a single improvement upon the
Government laid down by our fore
fathers
1T isn't suggested" Stinchfeld
added, that this statement is to be
given equal weight with the other
evidence adduced herein: but this
speaker. too, has had concern with
the Supreme Court of the United
States and with the Constitution"
Stinchfield contended history dis
agreed with President Roosevelt,s view
point that the Constitution is a lay
mans document and Madison, most
responsible for it, was not lawyer"
Rights Are Cited.
Noting that Madison studied law.
Stinchfield said:
1T may be agreed that LAWYERS
themselves may doubt whether one
who enters politics Immediately after
graduation and thereafter spends his
life asa holder of public Office in his
State and at Washington can be called
a lawyer as the profession uses the
word. But whoever answers that
description has always assumed the
right to tell the world what the Con-
stitution of the United States means,
lawyer or nolawyer"
Willis Van Devanter, whose re-
tirement from the Supreme Court was
followed by the appointment of Senator
Black of Alabama, is scheduled to
address the convention Wednesday
night