The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1939-11-30
(By Staff Writer)

WASHINGTON, November 81
The Washington prognostica'
tors, who usually come closest tt
guessing right, picked Attorney
General Frank Murphy as the
Presidents most likely choice fol
the supreme Court as soon as the
news came out that Associate
Justice Pierce Butler had passed
on.
The choice of Mr.. Murphy
seems logical for several reasons
For one thing, it is geographical
ly right; Mr.. Murphy halls from
Michigan, which is in the same
section of the nation as Justice
Buffers home in Minnesota, as
Washington looks at the political
map. Then Mr.. Murphy is a Ro'
man Catholic and so was Justice
Butler. Not that the question Of
religious beliefs has ever counted
for much in picking Supreme
Court nominees, but as the court
is now constituted it contains one
Jew and seven Protestants and
not single Catholic. Justice But
Ter was the only one of that faith
to sit on the high bench after the
late Chief Justice White died.
Senate Would Approve
The prophets pointed out that
Mr.. Murphy could hardly fail OF
confirmation by the Senate. He
has achieved high standing in
general esteem since he came to
Washington, and his attainments
as a lawyer are unquestionable.
Moreover his experience as an
administrator in the Philippines
and as Governor of Michigan
have given him points of view on
Far Eastern affairs, which may
easily give rise to questions COM
ing before the Supreme Court, as
well as of the relations OF the
state to the Federal government.
The most compelling reason. as
the foecasters saw it, for the Sc
lection of Mr.. Murphy, is that his
political philosophy runs closely
parallel to that of the President.
He is definitely Liberal, though
he does not lean so far to the
Left as to justify the appelation
of Radical. He is definitely less
radical than some of the other
Justices, but much more on the
radical side than some of the 9TH
erS.
A staunch unholder of the Bill
of Rights in many public utter
ances, Mr.. Murphy is held by
some competent lawyers to be
much more a strict construction
ist of the Constitution in general
than the public gives him credit
for being. 1t is predicted that
once on the Supreme Bench he
would be found more often lined
I'D with the actually Liberal
Chief Justice Hughes than with
either the extremely Conserva-
tive Justice McReynolds or the
decidedly Leftist Justice Black.
Fifth Appointment
In any event, the death of JUS
tice Butler gives the Presi-
dent his fifth chance to fill a va
cancy on the Court with a man
of his own choosing, which IS
what he was aiming at when he
proposed his Inflated Court Re-
organization Bill, on which his
own party split more definitely
than on any other New Deal pro-
posa1.
A clear majority of the Court
will bear the Democratic label,
not to count Justice McReynolds,
who was President Wilson's At
torney General politically is more
akin to Vice-President Garner
than to President Roosevelt. II
party politics played any impor-
tant part in influencing Supreme
Court decisions, the three lone
Republicans on the bench would
be in a hopeless minority. But
with very few notable excep-
tons, justices of the Supreme
Court have uniformly been cho-
sen because of their high personal
character and legal ability and it
cannot be fairly said that the
Court follows the election re-
turns.
Another reason which cynical
commentators put forward as q
sound one for Mr.. Roosevelt's no
mination of Attorney Genera
Murphy to the Court is that il
would remove from the Presiden-
tial race a man who is credited
with ambitions to live in the
White House. The likelihood Of
Mr.. Murphy's Presidential nomi'
nation, however, is considered
remote.
So, too, is the likelihood that
either he or any other justice will
L