Montana labor news., 1937-09-30
The President and the Supreme Court


1t is amusing to read the editorials in what
Charles Edward Russell called the Kept
Press" on the settlement of the s~o-called
Court Issue. "The President was badly
licked" say the most subservient Of the big
dailies. Others are more polite in their eX-
pressions, but no less jubilant.
Many months ago we said in the Herald
that the President would lose many of the
skirmishes on the Court issue, but that he
would win on the main issue. What was the
main issue? Was it the number Of judges
to constitute the personnel of the Supreme
Court? Was it personal power which the
President sought?
Or was it to break the control of the Court
by reactionary Capitalists, and thus make
possible the enactment of legislation in con-
formity with the Presidents programmed
promises? And be it understood that when
we say the Presidents program, we mean the
program of the liberals and progressives
whose votes and influence made the s~o-called
new deal possible.
If it was to get a Court of fifteen judges
or to gain personal control of the Court, then
the President lost.
But who is so foolish as to really believe
that the President was concerned about the
number of judges, or that personal control
Of the Court merely for personal ends could
mean anything to an executive who, if prece-
dent is followed, is to retire at the end of
the present term?
Manifestly, what the President wanted was
to stop the Supreme Court from interfering
with the Constitutional right of the Congress
to legislate for the general welfare, and to
stop the Court from enthroning an obligarchy
Of wealth in this supposedly land of the free
and home Of the brave.
In the battle over the Court issue, the Presi-
dent has won four rounds. The first three
rounds were decisions by the Court validating
new deal laws.
We now have an old age pension system
for industrial workers, unemployment insur-
ance, and the Wagner labor act. The Su-
preme Court under fire from the President,
reversed its r%eactionary position in validat-
ing these measures.
The fourth round was a resignation of one
of the r%eactionary judges, and there are ru-
mors that more designations are to follow.
The President lost a battle but he is Win
ming the war.
Another thing Of importance was to find
out just who in the Democratic party is really
reliably liberal and who is %reactionary, To
use a biblical illustration, the sheep are on
one side of the President now, and the goats
on the other.
We have supported the President on the
Court issue because it is perfectly plain that
in order to do anything for those who, to use
Edward Bellamy's illustration, have been
showed off the economic coach, and are being
ground beneath its wheels, and to curb those
who are riding at the expense of those who
are walking, it was necessary to scare, or
force, six of the mine Old Men" to interpret
the Constitution in terms Of human welfare
rather than for the benefit of those who have
become economic masters of the people.
Liberty is a fine ideal, but there can be no
real liberty here or anywhere else on earth
in an economic society which sentences the
masses to servitude and misery.
The Court issue was fought in behalf of
those at the bottom of the economic pyra-
mid" And speaking of the economic pyra-
mid, just what class, numerically speaking,