The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-04-17

WaSilulBtOn ApGu lt-Ine Su- preme courts about face in the Wagner act decisions has given both sides new arguments in the historic battle over the Roosevelt judiciary scheme, without appreciably affect ing the outlook as to the plans fate
 The first cry of the opposition that. the last excuse for the plan was gone, echoed by a few senators who looked hopefully toward avoid ing the issue, has been counter balanced by a prompt White House effort to turn on the heat. The ad- ministration urges now that the court has weakened the position oi its supporters by proving its will ingness to play politics.
 Certain democratic fence -sitters in the senate are seeking to jump of in any direction, just so 1t will enable them to escape voting on
 the presidents proposal. The ad-
 mil;istration forces say privately
 they won't let the fence -sltters
 jump. At the same time, attempts
 are being made to find . method
 which would make the medicine for the group easier to take.
 Belief that the presidents hand has been strengthened by the Wag- ner decisions is shared by some, al- though by no means all, of the op- position strategists. They fear it is widely felt that the swing of 8 court majority to more liberal opinions is a personal victory for Roosevelt achieved by the presidents war on the court.
 Sanctity Theory Abandoned
 The two fundamental factors in the court fight have been:
 l. Roosevelt's great popular fol- lowing, largely favorable to the proposal because Roosevelt was for it, whether understanding the plan or not.
 2. Strongest opposition card traditional popular reverence for
 the court and g theory as to its Sanctity, based on the supposition that it always interpreted the con- stituted as 8 sacred formula, with no other consideration in mind.
 The opposition now tactily aban- dons the latter theory in order to assert that the court is responsive to public opinion and hence needs no reorganization. To which new dealers, emphasizing the 5 to 4 de- ciSions and the reversal of Justice Roberts position on the interstate commerce clause, retort in phara- phrase of Chief Justice Hughes.
 We are under constitution, but the constitution is what Justice Rob- erts says it is-until the next time he changes his mind"
 If the decisions had been unani- nous instead of demonstrating that four justices over 70 still stood grimly against liberal constitutions interpretation, the administration would have no excuse for arguing that the future welfare of 130,000,- 900 persons mustn't be left in the hands of one vacillating man."
 The actual extent to which the court may have rubbed off some of its own sanctity or diminished its prestige by Roberts bow to outside agitation is blurred by partisan de- bate. It is demonstratable, however, that the court hasn't made any new friends by the Wagner act decision, except among democratic senators reluctant to take stand on the reorganization proposal.
 Many Are Pained
 Roosevelt has begun a new drive to jam his program through. John Lewis, outstanding leader of the la bor legions benefiting from valida- ton of the Wagner act, scoffs at the court as variable unstable 2 Bill Green of the A. F. of L., in- sistS the. Roosevelt plan must go through. Many economic royalists'' who have preached the gospel of the courts sanctity and confidently expected it to smack down the Wagner act are now soured or at least pained.
 Few trouble to deny that the
 courts Washington minimum wage
 and Wagner reversals were in-
 fiuenced by the agitation which
 began with the adverse AAA de-
 ciSion, which boiled after the
 New York minimum wage decision
 and which boiled over with
 R0osevelt's direct public attack.
 One public utilities mogul, pri-
 vately confessing that the courts
 recent reasoning as to interstate commerce made likely valida-
 ton of the holding company act,
 complains bitterly that the court
 'sOld t. utilities business down
 the riyer."
 Liberals and others who have respected the court as future pro- IGs -A..4r T