Evening star., 1937-06-04
Supreme Court Vacancy.

"a 'AiS AAASo tAllC NIIlNc IICSlNtIlu
Roosevelt entered the White House a
vacancy exists in the Supreme Court
The most recent appointment made to
the highest court was that of Associate
Justice Cardozo. by President Hoover
With the retirement Wednesday of As
sOciate Justice Van Devanter, President
Roosevelt now has an opportunity to
nominate q man to fill his place. The
interest in the expected appointment is
more than normal. The attacks which
the President has leveled at the present
personnel of the court-on the ground of
their advanced age and their lack of
lberality in constituting the Constitution
would subject any new appOintee to the
kecneSt scrutiny. In addition, the de-
Imand of the President for the passage
0f his court reorganization bill has TO-
cuSed attention on the Supreme Court to
a degree sarely if ever before attained.
The Supreme Court has adjourned for
Its Summer recess, incidentally having
kept up with its work. 1t will not con-
yVene again until October. Presumably,
appointment of new associate justice
feXiStS. 1t must be remembered, however,
tthat the members of the Supreme Court
fare not idle during the Summer yaCa-
Etion. 1t has been the practice of the
tuStces to give much study to petitions
4Submitted to the court for review OF
leases decided in lower courts. The lack
Eof single justice may, after all, if per-
Emitted to continue for several months,
handicap the court in its work. When
1.-THE President sent his court bill to Con-
,,gress last February he laid great en-
IphaSiS on the need Of additional justices
lin order to permit the court to do its
work eXpeditiouSly. To leave the court
all Summer with only eight members
would scarcely be consistent with this
Ssolicitude on the part of the President
for prompt justice.
1t has been suggested in some quarters
ahat the President will not hurry to fill
Abe Van Deyanter vacancy; that he may
hold it up until after the Senate and the
House have disposed of his court reor-
ganization bill. If that be his intention,
the vacancy may exist for a long time.
The reorganization bill has not yet
reached the Senate calendar, or that of
the House. 1t has been ordered adversely
reported by the Senate judiciary Com
mttee, it is true, but the majority report
has yet TO be filed.
The appointment of a new justice to
fill the place of Justice Van Devanter,
accompanied by withdrawal OF the
Presidents court bill, would be happy
solution of the whole controversy over
the Supreme Court. Only the will of the
Chief Executive stands in the way. 1t
has been proved conclusiVely that the
charges made by the President and the
Attorney General that the Supreme Court
was not keeping abreast of its work were
entirely unfounded. They were merely
red herring drawn across the path. The
real intention and purpose OF the bill,
as revealed more than once by the Presl-
dent himself in later statements, is to
give him an opportunity to place on the
bench men who are sympathetic to the
legislation he hopes to get from Congress.
What that legislation is has not yet been
wholly disclosed. His most recent de-
mand is for a Labor Standards Board to
deal with minimum wages and maximum
hours of labor, and to exclude from in
terState commerce all goods produced in
violation of the standards set up, includ-
Ing prohibition of child labor.
The reaction in the country against
the Presidents court packing bill has
been strong-so strong, that despite all
the efforts of the greatest political ma
rhine ever built up nationally, the Presi-
dent has been checkmated so far in his
efforts to drive the bill through the
Senate Many persons who believe in the
detectives of social and economic better
ment espoused by the President are
against him in his effort to dominate the
court. Yet the President has been un-
willing to relinquish his demand for the
court bill.