Evening star., 1937-09-17


admit it, but who
are more extremely reactionary thar
the Fascists of Europe and more in
tolerant than the tories whom they
so glibly condemn.
The President of the United States
who took an oath twice to preserve, to
protect and defend the Constitution
has in this year, 1887, repudiated the
very fundamental principle on which
the Constitution is based, namely, that
the people in specific and definitely
prescribed ways shall have the oppor-
tunity to alter their Constitution. IN
stead Mr.. Roosevelt has proclaimed
the new doctrine that the process of
amendment is too cumbersome and
hence that amendment must come by
a Supreme Court controlled by the
placed his first appointee, man who
joined a secret order of un-American
purpose.
Defeat Not Acknowledged.
1t is true the Senate of the United
States defeated the proposal to pack
the Supreme Court, but it is true also
that MIR. Roosevelt does not acknowl-
edge defeat and has indicated his in
tention of reviving the issue whilst his
henchmen make ready to use the Fed
eral Government machinery in 1888
to punish politically the independent
Democrats who dared to thwart the
will of the President.
The insidious campaign against the
Constitution began some years ago
among small group of so-called INTEL
lectuals in our colleges who declared
the Constitution was the bulwark of
the rich. They conveniently forgot
the many more instances in which
the Supreme Court has saved the
poor and the instances in which the
court has saved the oppressed minori-
tolerant and bigoted majorities espe-
cially in the matter of State legisla-
ton.
This undermining OF the prestige
of the Supreme Court has been car
ried on with aggressiveness among
certain professors of constitutional
law. but its destructive purpose was
carried out with even more telling
effect by the smear" group in Wash
ington, inspired by the Roosevelt ad-
ministration, who have been publicly
undertaking the justices and giving
the people an impression that the Su-
preme Court members lack integrity.
Personalities Campaign Resented.
Such bitter attack was made only
recently in a radio speech with the
tacit approval of the White House by
Senator Guffey Of Pennsylvania, Dem
ocrat. These attacks have, to be sure,
produced their own boomerang. DEM
ocrats as well as Republicans in all
parts of the country who know what
1t means to the constitutional life of
America to have popular respect for
the courts, have resented the cam
paign of personalities. Today the
Roosevelt administration is revealed
moreover, as having so little consid-
Grafton for the Importance of the
Supreme Court as TO insist upon con-
flrmation Of man publicly charged
in the Senate with membership in a
secret order which discriminates
against Catholics. Jews, Negroes and
foreign born.
Mr.. Roosevelt had ample opportu-
nifty to play fair with the American
people when he read the headlines of
the newspapers charging Senator Black
With being a member of the Ku Klux
Khan. The Evening Star printed a
seven-column headline on the first
page Of its editions of August II read
Ing, Fight on Black Confirmation
Rages in Senate on Klan Issue"
Beneath that headline was an AS
socisted Press dispatch which read
as follows:
Senator Copeland, Democrat, of
New York raised the Klan issue in the
Senate today against the nomination
OF Senator Black of Alabama" etc.
The President sees the newspapers
II he doesn't, he certainly has some
members of his staff who do. They
read also the official proceedings of
the Congress of the United States
known as the Congressional Record
Issue Raised in Senate.
While the nomination was still
pending and the Senate had not YET
confirmed it, the Khan issue was
raised, 1t i'll behooves the White
House or any members of the Sem
ate now TO say they didn't know about
the Klan issue. They did know. Anc
1t will take lot of explaining to
convince anybody who was in Wash.
ington last month that the President
was unaware of what was going on ir
the Senate. Then WAS the time te
investigate and find out whether q
member Of the Klan had been nom.
mated for the Supreme Court bench
TO hear cases involving Interpretation
OF the Constitution.
The Bill of Rights was written Il
protect minorities against the excesse
OF majorities. The Constitution wa.
designed to prevent President from
usurping the power of the courts b,
attempting TO influence its decisions
Yet IN the year 1887 a President O
the United States openly avows hi
right to influence the courts deci
sions by picking justices who conform
to his views. This is to be found Il
Mr.. Roosevelts March speech, tn
same one in which he rejected th
present method of amending the Con
stitution.
So future historians will have Il
record regredully that the l50th yea
after the signing of the Constitutio,
Was marked by deliberate attemp
10 undermine and transform our con
stituuonal system into a one-man gov
ernment and a political die
tatorship such as now throttle the lib
critics OF the people of Russia, Ger
many and italy. A sad anniversary
tcopyriGht. 1e37)