Evening star., 1937-03-09

lawyers. It Is assumed that they will
be practically pledged to vote for all
New Deal measures as constitutiona1ly
binding, and it Is also suggested by in
nuendo that they will be absolutely
under the personal direction Of the
President with reference to all that
they do. These differences are wholly
without the slightest factual warrant.
The President is not likely to appoint
men Of small stature to the court: HIS
nominees will have to be approved by
the Senate. and there will be the op-
portunity for adverse public opinion
to bring up all appropriate criticisms
with regard to their Qualification.
The President has his own historical
reputation to consider. There Is moth
ing in his record to indicate that he
would appoint mere "henchmer to
high positions. The members Of his
cabinet. and the important officials
whom he has appointed, such as the
members Of the Securities Exchange
Commission, the members of the Com
munications Commission, or the mem.
bers Of the Social Security Eommis.
sion. have had just Is much inde.
pendence and autonomy - other pres.
idential appointees have had in other
administrations. No one has even
claimed that persons appointed hither.
to by President Roosevelt TO positions
in the United States District Courts,
or In the Courts of Appeal hay, been
under his personal influence. or that
the fact Of their appointment by Pres
ident Roosevelt has In any way dero-
gated from their judicial independence
and efficiency.
Different Decisions No Certainty.
OF course, it is quite possible that
Mr.. Roosevelt's appointments might
change the complexion OF the courts
sufficiently to bring about . different
course of decision with reference to
some of the New Deal measures. This
Is by no means certainty. There
are too many illustrations from our
recent history that show that no Pres
ident can be sure that q man whom
he has appointed to the Supreme
Court will vote in accordance with
the Presidents own views. The ex.
ample Of the conservative Justice
McReynolds, who was appointed by
President Wilson, and who has fought
repeatedly against legislation spon.
sored by Wilson, Is a case in point.
Again, 1t may be said that the lib
eralism Of Justice Stone with ref.
erence to the New Deal program would
have surprised the conservative Presi-
dent Coolidge who appointed him. and,
on the other hand, the attitude Of Jus.
tice Roberts, who has defeated many
Of the New Deal measures by his err
ratio marginal votes, doubtless has
been q great disappointment to many
Of the Senators who voted upon his
nomination after rejecting President
Hoover's first choice, Circuit Judge
Parker.
1t may, however, be cheerfully ad-
mitted that there is quite likely to be
q marked change in the general
climate Of the courts opinions - the
result Of so large number Of new
appointments by President Roosevelt
as are contemplated by the legislation
under discussion. But this general
modification OF the judicial climate
Is the very thing to be desired in
the present crisis in order to prevent
complete break in the relationship
Of the judiciary to the policy-making
branches of the Government.
Most conservatives do not realize
how far to the right OF the general
mass of public opinion the ma ajority