Evening star., 1940-05-01

dent to judicial supervision of ad-
ministrative procedure developed to
meet present-day needs of govern
ment and capable of opera ting efflcl-
emily and fairly to both private
and public interests
In the case in question, the court,
by to /, sustained an order of the
Secretary of Labor fixing the mini
mum wages which seven Little
Steel' companies. under the Walsh
Healey law, must pay in order to
qualify for Government contracts.
Justice Black gave the opinion Of
the court Justice McReynolds was
the lone dissenter.
Antidote for Nostalgia.
Associating themselves with the
views of the five Roosevelt judges
were three of the "old" court-Chief
Justice Hughes and Justices Stone
and RoAerts. So it may be said
again that the present direction Of
the courts thought was beginning
to be fixed before any of the Roose-
welt appointees went on the bench.
That's point for the lawyers with
nostalgia for the "old days" of the
court-by which is generally meant
the days before the Roosevelt ap-
pointments-to remember.
| But whatever the "old" court
might have decided the present
court is definitely committed to the
| theory laid down by Justice Frank
| furter in the Pottsville Broadcast
| ing case last January. namely that
court procedures and administrative
| procedures necessarily differ, and
/ that to impose upon the latter the
rigid formulas of the courts would
bring confusion and undue delay to
the functioning of government.
All the members of the court sup
| ported the Pottsville opinion ex-
cept Justice McReynolds, and he
! concurred in the result reached.
Apropos to Logan-Walter Bill.
| In view of the current controversy
over the Logan-Walter bill, the at
| titude of the court toward the ad-
ministrative agencies has special in
terest. Here is what the court said.
among other pertinent things, in the
Pottsville case:
| TO be sure, the laws under which
these agencies operate prescribe the
fundamentals of fair play They re-
qulre that interested parties be af-
forded an opportunity for hearing
and that judgment must express
reasoned conclusion. But to assimi-
late the relation of these administra-
| tive bodies and the courts to the
relationship between lower and up
per courts is to disregard the origin
and purposes of the movement for
administrative regulation and at the
same time to disregard the tradi-
tlonal scope. however far-reaching,
of the judicial process. Unless these
vital differentiations between the
functions of judicial and adminis-
trative tribunals are observed, courts
Will stray outside their province and
read the LAWS of Congress through
the distorting lenses of unapplicable
legal doctrine"
And again: Interference by the
courts is not conducive to the de-
velopment of habits of responsibility
IN administrative agencies. Anglo
American courts as we now know
them are themselves in no small
measure the product of a historic
process"
interference of Courts.
This is the line of thought that
runs through the Little Steel, de-
clslon The case before us" saws
the court, makes it fitting to re-
member tnat the interference of the
courts with the performance of the
orolnary duties of the executive de-
partments OF the Government would
De productive of nothing but mis-
CIieI, ana We are quite satisfied
tliaC such power was never in
tended to be given to Them
| our decision that the complain.
ing companies lack standing to sue
Goes not rest upon mere formalitv
we rest 1t upon reasons deeplv
rooted in the constitutional divi-
SONS OF authority In our system of
Government and the improprietv
OF judicial interpretations of laws
at the instance of those who show
no more than a mere possible in.
jury to the public"
Bill Held Badly Drawn.
How does all this bear upon the
Logan Walter bill? 0
Ihough this bill, which the House
mas passed by three-to-one
majority, has the support of the
american Bar Association and a
great number of other legal bodies
tnere is at least a respectahle
BODY OF legal opinion to the effect
that the bill is badly drawn: that n
goes altogether too far In ners
mltting appeals to the courts from
the findings of administrative
bodies and therefore would nrod,,cs
the CONFUSION and disorder" in
government against which the
supreme Court has warned: that
the cnlef result would be A field
Gay Tor the lawyers such as never
oe1ore, not even in the litigious days
| OF the N. r. A., has been seen
The purpose of the Loean-Waltsr
Dill Is splendid-to assure tn.
~ A"AA PAdy dG Tie nan0S nf
the boards, bureaus and commis-
SONS OF government. That some.
uiing OF the sort is needed, in al.
oltlon to the existing safeguards
may oe granted; there seems to be-
taclt admission of such a need In
the TACT that distinguished COM
mlttee has been set up by the At
torney General to canvass the
whole difiicult subject of adminis-
trative law and recommend i'm
proved procedures. But q suff,ctent
case has been made out against the
methods proposed by the Logan.
Walter bill tsee the reports of the
House debates3 to warrant the con-
clusion that the bill should be
scrapped and fresh start made
after the forthcoming report of
the Attorney Generals committee.