Evening star., 1937-02-08

wi h d a wn, 1t
may start the movement that will
break up the Democratic party and
produce embarrassment for the rest
Of the Presidents second term.
Mr. Roosevelt chose to follow instead
mis- brain trust" advisers. For the
message sent to Congress by the Presi-
dent is generally reported not to have
been his own handiwork. 1t is con-
.ceded that he was assisted by small
group of advisers-identity not re-
vealed. Anybody familiar, however,
with the arguments of the brain
trusters," who have been constantly
at his elbow and who have written
enough for the public prints to dis
close their method of approach, can
not but come to the conclusion that
the whole plan was Matched by the
self-same group.
When, for example, the N r. A. was
declared unconstitutional by all the
nine justices Of the Supreme Court,
liberals and conservatives alike. Mr..
Roosevelt talked to the press corre-
spondents in that famous "horse-and-
buggy" interview with a memorandum
in front of him given to him by one
Of the same group of advisers.
Mr.. Roosevelt, of course, has right
to the same enthusiasm for the advice
Of lawyers who work out something
clever championing his cause as many
corporation executives feel when their
lawyers find a way to get around an
obnoxious law or ruling.
Personal Ambition Seen.
But unhappily Mr. Roosevelt's law
gers do not have detached minds.
Some of them want the very positions
on the Supreme Court that would be
created If the plan were adopted by
Congress. And this being the case
they will naturally make out as clever
or plausible presentation for their
side as they can.
incidentally, these advisers gave the
President a prejudiced Interpretation
of the situation with respect to grants
of review by the Supreme Court. The
rules governing Supreme Court action
as to the type of cases in which re-
views are granted are matter Of
public record. They follow definite
lines.
Reviews are granted when novel
or unsettled principle is at stake.
Refusal to grant a review has nothing
to do with the merits Of the case
itself or the facts in controversy. It
Is presumed that the District court
Judges have had their errors or judg-
ments reviewed by the United States
Circuit Courts of Appeals. That's
what these appellate courts were origl-
nally established by Congress to do.
Granted U. S. Many Reviews.
An examination of the record will
show that the Supreme Court Of the
United States granted review to the
Government or Department of Justice
in AZ out of 81 petitions filed by the
Government last year, which means
that IS per cent of the requests were
granted-a relatively high average be-
cause many new constitutional ques-
tions arose. Mr.. Roosevelt in his mes
sage did not refer to this extraordi-
4ldly PCtSCilOoSC, bbo I"SAO AAoSS<NA OAA
the fact that private litigants got so
small a number of the reviews they
asked for. This, however, is not
strange, because out Of all the many
thousands of cases in our Federal and
State courts last year, only 867 cases
Government and private combined
were deemed by their own lawyers
to be of sufficient merit to cause them
to ask for review by the Supreme
Court Of the United States.
Out of the 867 the Supreme Court
granted reviews in $50 cases. And
out of that $50 cases formally re-
viewed, AZ were reviews granted to the
Government and 10S to private liti-
gants. Thus the private petitioners
obtained 81 per cent of the reviews.
It Is not surprising that the Supreme
Court found only $50 cases out Of
867 where the established principles
of law were in doubt; that is, where
the judgment of the judges of the
Circuit Court of Appeals seemed to