Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-05-16
President Returns to
Find a Political Mess
BY OWEN L. SCOTT,

vacation to find himself in a political
mess. Life was nearly gone from his
court change plan. Congressman were
squabbling all over the place about
economy, the Supreme Court and just
plain politics. Cabinet members had
worked themselves into a other over
the fate of their pet plans in a period
of economy. What to do?
Mr.. Roosevelt is bordering an answer
that he can't yet give. The fact is
that, for one of the few times since
taking Office events have Unanswered
the President into a corner Chief
Justice Hughes, by bringing a shift in
court attitude toward State minimum
wage laws and Federal labor laws,
caught President Roosevelt OF guard.
The next move, the cards show, still
Is up to the Supreme Court.
With one decision. due on any one of
the next three Mondays, the court can:
Pump life into the Presidents plan to
add more justices, knock the Federal
Government budget further into q cooked
hat, cause acute official headaches stir
Congress into burst of activity. Or
the court can: Make probable a quiet
death for the court plan, take load of
financial worry off the Treasury, ease
administrative strains and encourage
Congress to remain definitely tired of
experiments.
The key to the immediate future Is
held not by the President or by members
of Congress, but by the "keyman" on
the Supreme Court, Justice Owen
Roberts, 81, youngest Of the Justices
How he uses the key he holds will
determine the fate of the country's
new unemployment insurance and old
age insurance systems. And the fate of
those systems will almost surely de-
termine the outcome of the. irnpasse
that now exists in Congress and in
the relationship between President
Roosevelt and Congress- History is
wrapped up in the moves expected
during the days just ahead.
An odd situation within the Supreme
Court heightens the drama Of the present
situation.
Past decisions on constitutional issues
similar to those involved in this country's
social security act suggest that four
members of the court are definitely of
the opinion that this act is in conflict
with the Constitution. Those four voted
against the New York State unemploy-
ment insurance law, as we'll as against
the railroad retirement act and the agri-
cultural adjustment act They are JUS
tices Van Devanter, Sutherland, Nc
Reynolds and Butler, constituting the
conservative group.
X X
Those past decisions suggest that three
other members of the court, Justices
Brandeis. Stone and Cardozo, will almost
certainly approve the social security
law. They voted in favor of all three
of the other acts. Chief Justice Hughes
approved two Of them, but went with
Justice Roberts in overturning the A.
A. A. Justice Roberts wrote the decisions
that ended the first old-age pension
system for railroad workers and the New
Deal farm control program, using strong
language in each. He approved the I'M
employment insurance system for New
York
This time. the decision when made
will affect 28,0OO,000 workers and en-
ployers. It will involve old-age insurance
for 26, 100000 workers and unemployment
insurance for large proportion Of those
same workers. Taxes. figured at more
than $70000O000 for the next year, are
dG SLdhc. lc COIlllIlS uSClSlOll IOuCiieS
a program that was a major issue in
the 1886 presidential campaign and re-
ceived an overwhelming Endorsement at
the hands Of the voters.
The turn that decides the fate of his
social security plan, President Roosevelt
is convinced, will be called by Justice
Roberts. Which way will it be? Nobody
outside the court knows. But:
Court approval Of the social security
system would make retreat easy from
the Presidents plan to add new justices.
Mr. Roosevelt could tell the country that
the court majority now had altered a
view point that appeared before to
block his plans. He could decide to push
ahead with the remainder of the legis-
lative program originally mapped out for
Congress that today is FESTIVE and
angered over it's enforced idleness. Many
members, who came in January full
of Zest for reform, now want nothing
more than to go home.
On the other hand, court disapproval
of old-age and unemployment insurance
you'd force the President to recast some
of his major policies and could cause
him to drive harder than ever to bring
change in the complexion of the court.
In that event, retirement of two or
more justices, now being predicted for
the Summer, might be the one develop
ment that would forestall an act of
Congress adding new members to the
court.
The relationship of Justice Roberts
to this whole complicated situation Is
most unusual.
Events of the past few years show
| that the attitude of this one court JUS
| tice has had a determining influence
| on the course of Government policy.
| His position, in this regard, grows from
| the sharp division in the court-With
| four conservative members voting as a
| unit on most important issues. The
record of decisions involving constitu-
tional questions discloses the develop
| ment that has caught the eye OF the
| President.
The official record shows that, in cases
| involving the overthrow of acts of
| Congress on the ground that they
| violate the Constitution, Justice Roberts
has been found dissenting from the
majority opinion just once during his
term on the bench. That one case
| concerned tax matter of relatively
minor Importance. In this regard, his
record is close to that of the conserva-
! tive group on the court, which shows
that Justices Butler, Sutherland and
| Van Devanter have no dissents and
| Justice McReynolds one, in cases that
involve the upset of acts Of Congress.