Evening star., 1937-02-14
Roosevelt Determined to
Liberalize Courts.
BY OVEN L. SCOTT.

was uIlOOSlng tAe 1urleS.
Judged by his appearance at the time,
nothing that he previously had proposed
gave President Roosevelt quite the salts
faction that he derived from his decision
to move out to do battle with the court.
Judged by his appearance since, none
of the assaults on his motives, his
methods. his objectives. or his purposes,
has surprised or Influenced the Presi-
dent.
He is going into the battle of his
political lifetime with his eyes wide
open.
But as for the average citizen: His
perspective on the most vital issue yet
raised by the New Deal is influenced
by a maximum of heat and minimum
of light. Cries of dictatorship. of court
packing, of lust for power, of trickery
and of an overdose of cleverness are
obscuring the Presidents proposal and
making difficult an understanding of it.
Questions like these remain unan-
swered: What exactly does the President
seek? Why Is he taking his present
tack? Is this really move toward
dictatorship? What is the chance Of
his getting what he wants?
To view the situation with perspective,
1t is necessary to consider the experience
of the last few years-the Supreme Court
overturn of one New Deal experiment
after another. the campaign promises,
the 1886 election.
Essentially President Roosevelt was
confronted with these facts: He prom
ised the people to move forward with
his New Deal. To workers he promised
protection against sweatshop labor
standards To farmers he promised con-
tinued Federal controls as guarantee
against another collapse of their in
duStry. To economic royalists" he
promised master"
Those promises could have little mean
ing under the existing Constitution as
interpreted by the majority of five
justices on the Supreme Court.
That raised the question: Would Mr..
Roosevelt seek in his second term to
change the Constitution? Would he seek
to bring changes in the courts, or would
he be content to let recovery satisfy
followers who would quickly forget
promises once they were contented with
a returned prosperity?
What the President now offers is an
answer to that question. He determined
upon a new New Deal He then ex-
plored the methods of giving the coun-
try this new New Deal and decided that
the first step called for a change in
the courts. Every other proposed method
required a change in the Constitution,
which would be slow, uncertain of ap-
proval owing to the requirement of ap-
proval by three-fourths of the States
and onen tn other objections o..
Then Mr.. Roosevelt hit upon this con-
stitutional fact:
Under the American form of govern
ment, with its checks and balances.
one house of Congress checks the other
house; either house or both houses
check the President; the President,
through his veto power checks the Con-
gress; the courts check both the Presi-
dent and the Congress; but apparently
nobody checks the courts However, the
founding fathers provided for a check
on the courts by giving Congress and
the President broad implied power over
their creation, their size and their rules.
But why the strange method Of seek
ing to enlarge the court to give the
President a chance to change its COL
lective attitude?
The reason is that three and some
times four of the nine justices think
that the Constitution means what the
President thinks that it means. But
five-a majority-feel otherwise. and
hold appointments for life. Why not
compel them to retire at a specified age
as most business and governmental in
stitutions now do? For the reason that
the Constitution prohibits such move.
Then who thought Of the idea Of
giving the President power to appoint
additional judges when sitting judges
reach an advanced age and do not re-
tire? Is it a new idea?
Rather, its birth is set at time before
1912 and its early advocate was the pres
ent Supreme Court Justice James Nc
Reynolds. then Attorney General. Justice
McReynolds. 100 per cent objector to
President Roosevelt's experiments, urged
this method for meeting the problem Of
age among District Court and Circuit
Court Judges. Mr.. Roosevelt now car
ries the idea to the Supreme Court
But why was this method of solving
an age problem in the Supreme Court
tied in with a complicated plan for
IGIuOQ6llIlS lllc W1lOiC yu0aSAdAJ
&&* 4
That is the big mystery of the whole
proceeding. Every one knew that the
President was aiming at the Supreme
Court. Yet he went around Robin
Hoods barn to hide that fact. He might
have let Congress in on his secret. He
might have told the country what his
problem was and how and why he in
tended to deal with it. He might then
have quoted Chief Justice Hughes.
Justice Stone and Justice Cardozo to
show why action was considered neces-
sary. Each of those members of the
court has been far more critical of its
actions than has the President.
Instead, just about everybody in WASH
ington now is agreed, President Roose-
welt created a mystery where there need
have been none and gave his opponents
the weapon they wanted.
Is this a concealed move toward die
tatorship?
In answer, the following facts must be
considered: Courts still could hold acts
Of Congress unconstitutional; all Su-
preme Court justices still would need to
be confirmed by the Senate; the Presi-
dent still would need to face election
and the same is true Of Congress; judges
still would serve for life. free from presi-
Dental dictation. The Constitution would
remain unchanged and unviolated.
|. Then what is the President after?
Principally, he is after broader def