Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-02-25

Neutrality-suspicious. perhaps than
ever before in our country's history,
the courts of 1.-The
The President n ation, federal
and the Court and state, are in
a jam. They are
being subjected to greater strain
than ever before and, think, the
strain is too great. for them long to
continue to bear it.
That sentence sounds sensational.
It is meant to be. In the opinion OF
many sound thinkers, men and
women of vision, there has never
been time when. wave or surge
has attacked the courts or any other
American institution with such fe-
rocity.
One of the reasons the situation is
to be regarded with so much con-
Germ is President 'Roosevelt's latest
request of congress for reorganl-
cation of the Judiciary system. He
is asking for more judges every
where which, of itself, seems en-
tirely proper, but the message
astounded observers by proposing
an increase in the membership of
the Supreme court of the United
States to fifteen. That lis to say
that if it were enacted into law, MIR.
Roosevelt's own proposal. would
give him authority to select six adj
ditional justices of the highest trib-
unal. Inasmuch as the present
membership of the court has re-
fused number of times to hold
New Deal legislation valid under
the Constitution, it takes no stretch
of the imagination at all to figure
out that Mr.. Roosevelt's proposal
would give him authority to select
sufficient number of new justices
SO that the New Deal would hold
the balance of power in the highest
court of the judiciary of the coun-
try.
There may be and probably is
merit in the Presidents proposal
that judges should retire at seventy
years of age. 1t happens that the
present membership Of the court in
cludes six men who are above that
age and a statute compelling re-
tirernent at seventy would make six
added vacancies in the court unless
the present court should find that
this law itself, is unconstitutional in
one regard. The judges are APP
pointed for life and they cannot be
removed without cause - which
means they must be .impeached by
congress and tried.
The message respecting reorgani-
zation of the judiciary system was
by far the most sensational to come
from Mr.. Roosevelt as President.
He pointed out in it that he had
proposed reorganization of the ex-
ecutive branch of the government so
that it might function more eff
GENTLY. The next step, he said,
was to reorganize the judiciary so
that it could administer justice
more speedily. But there are many
minds throughout the country which
find it difficult to believe that the
necessity for speedy justice is the
fundamental reason for the new pro-
posal.
It is too early to tell, of course,
how congress will act on the Presi-
dents suggestion, but the more as
tute observers here are quite con-
WINGED that such legislation cannot
60 through without bitter debate.
The political implications are many.
If real struggle develops in the
house or the senate, it is not out
side the range of a good guess to
predict that it could split the ire
m endous Democratic majority
asunder in either house If it did
that once, undoubtedly enmities and
factions would be created that
would continue through the remain
der of the Presidents new term and
only the passage of time can dis
close how far reaching such thing
might be. ~ ''''
But let us review for a moment
some of the background of the con-
ditions that have preceded the Pres
ident's sensational proposal; There
have been SHIPPING and bushwhack-
ing at the judiciary for a number. Of
years and this was thrown into high
speed by the President himself
when the Supreme court threw out
the MIRA. On that occasion, Mr..
Roosevelt made the well remem-
bered remark that the decision had
taken us back to "the horse and
buggy days"
There followed an uproar by a
vocal minority of radicals and per-
sons who claimed to be liberal.
They attacked the Supreme court
for throwing out New Deal meas
ures, ridiculed the justices as "the
nine old men" and, proceeded in
general to spread poison to all and
sundry about the country's judicial
system. On top of that came Mr..
Roosevelt's speech to congress last
month in which he made virtual
demand upon the Supreme court for
ga more enlightened Interpretation
of the Constitution" That was an
unprecedented thing but it was not
nearly SO sensational as the present
problem.
Much of the problem that is swirl
ing around the courts of the land re-
cI11tc from tho M.