Montana labor news., 1937-03-18
Tories Rally Behind Supreme Court

Liberals had often cited the United
States Supreme Court as the last bulWdrk
of the entrenched system. Events ere
proving thQt true. There is forming
against the Presidents plan to reorgon-
ize the court the some crust OF stdnd-pdt
defenders as have gathered about every
move ever made to liberdlize q tradition
ridden land and to hdsten the evolution
ury movements toward greater democrd-
cY and greater progress.
Every agency hot can ot all make it
self heard is out with all its hammers,
sturdy defenders of the court as is. Let
tiers and telegrdms. we ore told. suppos-
edly from constituents, ore bombdTding
congressmen from every state. All op-
pose any change in the Supreme Court.
State legislators throughout the coun-
try are considering resolutions concern
ing the Presidents pldn on the Supreme
Court. The Konsas House hos dlreadY
voted to oppose any proposal for change.
A resolution opposing dnY change
went into the legislature Of Maryland.
Pennsylvania. Arkansas. Ohio. New
Hampshire dnd Tennessee also have
resolutions.
So also Indidnd, Delaware, Connect
cut, Texas and Mdine of course. Luckily.
in not all of these legislatures hos the
resolution yet been passed.
In Wisconsin, the Federation Of Won
ems Clubs alreddY hos written Sen. La
Toilette opposing the change. And in
Milwaukee suddenly the Republican
women Of the fourth and fifth congress
siondl districts come to life with q pur-
pose, we ore told. to mop q united
front" dgdinst the Presidents Judiciary
reorganization plan. Think of It'll Even
borrowing the phrase united 'front.'"
And the press. The local pdllddid have
alreddy been heard from. They oppose.
And, Of course, the bar. Members of the
Wisconsin Bdr Association at once
reused themselves into activity and
started q movement Of protest against
hdsty dnd illconsidered Reorganization"
Of the Supreme Court und letters were
directed to oil the presidents Of all the
county bdr associations to do likewise.
Meetings ore to be called. Opinions
ore to be registered dnd presumably in
diqndtion shown. Also meetings ore to
be inflicted in the service clubs, those
luncheon organizations. dnd wherever
audiences con be reached.
And the radio. No less q person thdn
the president emeritus OF Harvard, A.
Lawrence Lowell, takes to the cir de-
nouncing the proposed court reform ds
an evil practice" and asks Are we
~1rr - r1+,-rx, H. Tho 11~iyoo ~ The C+,~xr+
kings?"
Well the forces ore beginning to gath
or, and the bottle impends. But the voices
are strangely fdmilidr. They have arisen
to oppose every proposal ever made to
make easy the Transition hot not only is
inevitable but which is to the greater
advantage Of those interests whose en-
trenchment these forces seek TO protect.
1t is not the court they ore defending.
What they Gre defending is the unde-
served protection from progressive legis-
lution thdt the court hos afforded them.
They won't to p~erpetudte the 5-to4
methods by which the constitution has
been congedled and frozen into q gran
ite-like structure unmoved by and un-
Yielding to dnY change in the times.
What the proposal intends to dccom-
plish the opponents Of it tuke no time to
explain, MOI do they e any reason for
doing it.
What the proposal seeks to do is to
liberdlize the personnel Of that tribunal
SO as to make it more aware Of the rapid
ly changing industriulism. dndt 10 prevent
it once dnd for eli, if function it must,
from hdmstringing every move in the
direction Of the progress that perforce
must be made. This, q Typical Roose-
veltiun holt measure, may be the means
of sowing the court entirely. An ulternd-
tive some years later might mean no
court at all.
But opponents fail to see thut just as
they failed to see their own advantage
in the courtdestroYed MIRA dnd the now
bitterly fought ld~bor-reldtions measure.