The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-02-10
ON PERFORMING" THE JUDICIARY


David Lawrence, editor of The United
States News of Washington City, is known
throughout the country as citizen OF I'M
pressive open-m indedness in his attitude to
the government and public affairs. Law
renee is not prejudiced, is not special
pleader for any group or class; and after
several decades in Washington, studying
politics, the government, and writing about
public affairs, he is one OF the best IN
formed men in the nation.
1t is very interesting and enlightenlng to
note Lawrence's reaction to President
Roosevelt's proposal to 'reorganize' the
federal courts. Few Times-News readers,
we suppose, are readers of The United
States News, and so we are pleased to sum-
Marie Lawrences full page editorial OF
Feb Sth for information for our readers
In studying the Presidents proposal
Lawrence reaches conclusion which no
other commentator, as far as our observa-
ton goes. has approached. 1t is presented
in the concluding paragraph of his article,
as follows:
s.Tbe statute which the President has proposed
Is unconstitutional on its face. II is not bill to
fix the size of the Supreme Court of the United
States-as was done in previous instances-but a
bill dealing almost entirely with the retirement IS
sue over which Congress has no power at all. The
Constitution provides life tenure for all federal
judges without interference or coercion by the
legislative body. The people alone can change the
Constitution through referendum called for that
particular purpose and for other"
In the humble judgment of The Times
News Lawrence made bullseye in this
paragraph. The reorganization proposal
is something Congress has no constitutional
authority to deal with. The Constitution
provides life tenure for Supreme Court
Judges. Roosevelt is seeking to force re-
tirement at 70 years of age; or, failing to
do that, he wants power to nullify the
opinions of certain justices by appointing
additional judges whose opinions are OPP
posed to the opinions of the judges he is
seeking to force into retirement. Congress
can fix the size of the court but has no
authority to force retirement or fix retire
ment age. Life tenure of the justices can
only be abrogated in a lawful way by the
adoption of Constitutional amendment
This must be submitted to the people.
In his lengthy article, Lawrence directs
attention to the fact that Roosevelt evaded
the Supreme Court issue in the last ma
tional campaign. The Presidents hostility
to the Court has been at white heat eve,
since it killed his pet, the NRA, by unani
NOUS decision of the nine justices, but
during the campaign his anger was con
cealed and he made it appear that he hac
abandoned his fight on the court.
David Lawrence believes millions of con
servative Democrats voted for Roosevelt
with that idea as the controlling factor
who would have voted against him had m
made known in the campaign his real In
tentions toward the Court.
Lawrence asserts that the majority givel
Rooseve cit in the election was mo mandate
to und ermine the judiciary" This is du
to the simple explanation that he refuses
throughout the campaign to be smoke'
out of his hole on this issue and the trust
ing voters were made TO believe by nj
course that he had decided to accept tn
verdicts of the Court as the final word i
determining what is law in this country.
Some striking fallacies in the argu
ment" are mentioned by Lawrence. H
quotes Charles Warren in his recognize
book on the Supreme Court, as saying:
"The real grievance felt by the Court
critics is not the number of justices VIII
Joined in Setting aside the federal statut