Montana labor news., 1937-02-18
President R00Sevelt's
Reorganization Plan
Endorsed by Unions

The Central Labor Council unani-
mously endorsed President Roose-
velt's plan to %reorganize the Supreme
Court and other phases of the ma
tional government.
The decisions of the supreme
court in~validating NRA and AAA
and other new deal measures were
bitterly condemned. Senator Wheeler
was brought in to the discussion and
his proposal to submit a constitu-
tional amendment to the American
people was also approved. How
ever, the %concensus of opinion among
the delegates was that both Presi-
dent Roosevelt and Wheeler are cor
rect except that the proposal of the
President is essential at this time
in order to get quick and favorable
action upon measures that may be
passed by the present Congress,
while the constitutional proposal of
Senator Wheeler may take some years
to effect.
All labor organizations are re-
quested to take up in their unions
this endorsement of the Trades and
Labor Council and to notify both
Congressman and Senators of Mon
tana to urge the adoption of the
Supreme Court reforms.
4 y
Most people do not know that the
number of Supreme Court judges
has been changed several times. The
court was founded with six, changed
in 1901 to five, increased to seven
in 1907, increased to nine in 1887,
to ten in 1863, reduced to seven in
1866 and increased to nine in 1869,
where it has remained since. So you
see that its numbers have not been
Sacred" though its decisions have.
There is very little doubt as to
why Roosevelt made this move. Not
wanting to make the issue that the
Court should not be permitted to
interfere in any way with legisla-
ton, nevertheless he wanted his New
Deal legislation to stand, and so he
adopts this method of increasing the
Court in order to place on the Roost,
if he considers it necessary, six more
judges, who believe that the eco
nomic world does move" and that
new times demand new measures.
Naturally the Tories are raising
the howl that he is packing the
Court to carry out his views. Which
is true. Well the Court has always
ben packed to carry out ultra-Tory
views. It's the views and not the
packing that the Tories object to.
The Court as it exists today was
packed not by increasing its num-
bers, but by choosing a majority of
judges who could be depended upon
to protect the property interests of
the country against human interests.
The Age Issue
The "age issue" is just an excuse
On the record it wouldn't hold, as
the Oldest member of the Court,
Brandeis, has shown more social
vision than the younger members
and a judge who sat on the bench
until nearly 80, Holmes, had inf
nitely more social vision than his
younger colleagues. This is not tc
say that either of these men were ir
any radical" They JUS
simply showed more native intelli.
gence, outside of their legal lore
than most of the justices, irrespective
of their ages.
The justices of the Court, how
ever, cannot find much fault witt
Roosevelt with stressing the agt
issue of 70 and over as he quoted
from Chief Justice Hughes himsel
on this question of age limit fol
judges. The President in his mes
sage talked of those judges who wer,
often unable to perceive their owl
infirmities' and followed with thi
quotation: ''They seem to be tena
cious of the appearance of ade
quacy." This was taken from a state
ment of Chief Justice Hughes
though the President did not men
ton Hughes name when quoting il
The correspondents were told tina
they could look up the quotation TO
themselves.
American Guardian.