The Washington times., 1937-03-10
ASKS LIBERALS
TO SUPPORT
PROGRAM
Amendment Too Slow
For Nations Needs,
He Asserts
BY GEORGE r. HOLMES
International News Service


President Roosevelt burned his
bridges behind him on the Judi
ciary issue today, and went to
the country with a bold, fighting
speech in which he criticised the
Supreme Court for usurping legis-
lative power and accused certain
justices Of blindly obstructing
social and economic advance
ment for the whole people.
other Presidents, Jefferson and
Jackson and Lincoln, have diff
fered violently with the Court in
years past, but none ever deliv-
cred such a withering indictment
as Mr.. Roosevelt carried to the
nation in the second Of his
radioed appeals.
Respect For Institution
OF the court as an institution,
he said, he had as much venera-
ton and respect as anyone, but it
has, notably in the last four
years:
g.. Improperly set itself up
as q third house Of Congress
a super-legiSlature-as one Of
the justices had called tread
ing into the Constitution words
and implications which are not
there, and which were never
intended to be there"
OF the present court, which
has invalidated much New Deal
legislation by close decisions, he
had this to say:
"Our trouble with the court
today arises not from the court
as an institution, but from
human beings within it,
Nothing could have been more
pointed with reference to the
four-sometimes five or six-or
the present bench which knocked
many pillars from the New Deal,
and in so doing laid down the
dictum that Congress is without
power to legislate on such eco.
nomically vital subjects as hours,
wages, conditions of labor, and
regulation of agriculture.
Would Save Constitution
At another point, he observed
that the plan he has proposed,
and for which he proposes to
fight, will save our Constitu-
ton from hardening Of the ju-
dicial arteries" This was after
he had emphasized that judges
should retire at 10 to make way
for newer, fresher blood, more
attuned to the spirit of the
times.
Pointing out that early in its
history the Supreme Court rarely
held legislative acts unconStitu-
tional except in cases beyond rea-
sonable doubt" he continued:
"Since the rise of modern
movement for social and eco
nOmic progress through legisla-
ton, the Court has more and
more often and more boldly as
serted a power to veto laws
passed by the Congress and
State legislatures in complete
disregard of this original limi-
tatiOn.
"In the last four years the
sound rule of giving statutes the
benefit of all reasonable doubt
has been cast aside. The Court
has been acting not as judicial
body, but as q pOlicy-making
body.
.. A majority of the Court
has been assuming to pass upon
the wisdom of these acts of Con-
gresS-and approve or diSap-
prove the public policy written
into these laws.
"That is not only my accuSa-
tiOn. 1t is the accusation Of most
distinguished justices Of the pres
ent Supreme Court"
Then, Mr.. Roosevelt quoted from
some Of the dissenting opinions in
these cases:
Chief Justice Hughes saying
in the invalidation of the rail-
road retirement act that the ma.
jority opinion was "a departure
from sound principles" and ian
unwarranted limitation upon the
commerce clause" (Three other
justices agreed with him).
Justice Stone saying in the
outlaWing of the Agriculture Ad-
justment Act that the majority
had rendered "a tortured con.
struction Of the Constitution"
(Two other justices agreed with
him).
Justice Stone again in the in
valuation Of the New York mini
mum wage law saying that the
majority were actually reading
into the Constitution their own
personal economic predilec-
tionS," and that if Congress
could not legislate to solve the
problems Of poverty subsistence
and health then government is
rendered impotent."
Mr.. Roosevelt concluded with
an analysis Of the possibility OF
getting an amendment to the Con-
stitution which would give the
Federal Government the powers
the court now denies, and an ap-
peal to liberals for support.
DifferentiateS Groups
No amendment is Immediately
possible, he said, because no one
can agree upon what kind of an
amendment should be adopted,
He explained:
1.-TWO groups oppose my plan
on the ground they favor a con-
stitutiOnal amendment. The
first includes those who funda-
mentally object to social and