Evening star., 1937-02-10

the I6CSQI CALI
paign an outline of his program.
Did the President have the plan in
mind before election last November?
Was 1t decided upon only after the
election? Was there any discussion
about it among the members of the
Platform Committee of the Democratic
National Convention?
These questions are being asked
now, and one Democratic Senator is
authority for the statement that Mr..
Roosevelt discussed the whole plan
with advisers last Spring and that the
scheme was shelved because of belief
that it would be misunderstood during
the campaign.
Landon FOresaw Possibility.
Gov. Landon, the Republican nomi-
nee, in his Madison Square Garden
speech just before the close of the
campaign, raised the following ques-
ton:
And what are the intentions of the
President with respect to the Consti-
tuition? Does he believe an amend
nent will be submitted to the people,
or will he attempt to get around the
Constitution by tampering with the
Supreme Court? The answer is No
one can be sure"
Mr.. Roosevelt made no comment on
Mr.. Landon's statement nor was
there any mention by the President at
any other time during the campaign
Of any plan to enlarge the Supreme
Court membership. Does this consti-
tute a breach of contract with the
voters who believed that his silence
on the issue meant that he would not
touch it, or were they who voted for
him wrong in their assumption that
Mr.. Roosevelt would be confined in
his second term only to issues he
had discussed in the campaign or to
that which had been covered in the
Democratic platform adopted in Phia-
delphia?
Indications in Newspapers.
There is much more merit in the
contention that the people who be-
lieved Mr.. Roosevelt .Iould not tamper
with the Supreme Court overlooked
many significant items in the news
papers, for there were many plain
indications of Mr.. Roosevelt's desires
to circumvent the Constitution. His
interview with the press just after
the N. r. A. was invalidated by a
unanimous decision of the Supreme
Court, coupled with the general senti-
ment among his brain trust advisers,
was such that the Presidents move
can hardly be called a surprise ex-
cept in the exact form in which he
presented 1t.
Thus this correspondent on January
IS. 1886, reported the way the ad-
ministration advisers were working
toward the making out of case
about alleged congestion of the busi-
ness of the Supreme Court as an ex-
cuse for enlarging the court. Here is
an excerpt from that particular dis
patch, year ago January, referring
to various attacks on the Supreme
Court by the administration:
THE proposal to take away from
the lower Federal courts any rights
to pass on the validity of acts Of
Congress is different sort of attack
on the Supreme Court, but not so
discernible to the naked eye The
obvious purpose of the New Dealers
is to load on the Supreme Court so
much work through granting appellate
jurisdiction to the highest court that
it might be necessary to increase the
court by three or even nine more
Justices to take care of the work done
by about ninety Federal &C :.
Contingency Seen as Welcome.
ut is being said in many quarters
that the New Deal would welcome
such contingency because it would
give Mr.. Roosevelt an opportunity to
appoint justices who agreed with
his philosophy Of politics and gov
ernment. Perhaps flank attack on
the high court by depriving lower
courts of jurisdiction is the real rea-
son for the abandonment of the idea
Of modifying the Constitution.
ITO reverse the decisions of the Su-
preme Court by packing its member
ship is, of course, theoretically an
easier thing to accomplish than to
amend the Constitution. Usurpation
Is a quicker method than revision by
amendment. But unfortunately pack