Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-09-18
Issue Ignored
By.RooseveI+,
PegIer Says
Lower court Packing
Left Out Of Article
BY WEsTBROOK PEGLER


DRESIDENT WELT
has dropped that other shoe
in his two-part discussion in
Golfers of the attempt TO pack,
or unpack, the federal courts
and l find. on careful study of
both pieces. that he has entirely
evaded discussion Of one of the
principal points of the original
proposal which was slyly eX-
pressed and was denounced as
iniQuitous.
So fast and confusing has been
the rush of events in these years
of the New Deal. and so super
fetal is most of our reading on
vital issues. that the court fight
left most of us with an impress
sion that only the Supreme
Court was 10 have been packed
or. if you insist, unpacked.
However, the original bill
called for the appointment of
additional circuit and district
Judges as well. who. obviously
would be chosen for their polit-
ical bias. and there was a fur
Their provision, expressed i'm Just
two words. hereafter APP
pointed. that these new men
and these men only might be
assigned to e1uty outside their
home districts.
John c. Knox, the senior Judge
Of the southern district of New
York, a New Dealer himself,
detected and denounced this
hidden-ball trick in the hearings
held by the Senate judiciary
committee and he deals with
that opposition~ of his in his
memoirs, "A Judge Comes of
Age published this year.
QUOTING from his statement
Q to the judiciary committee,
Judge Knox book reads:
Passing now to feature Of
the proposed bill that seems not
To have been stressed In the
hearings had before your COM
mittee and which. I'm my opinion,
is almost as objectionable as
that having to do with the SUI
preme Court. I call attention To
provisions of the act dealing
with the assignment OF judges
from one circuit or district to
another.
'If the new district and cir
under the plans of the President
are to he selected because of
their young blood and forward
looking ideas, the bill now under
consideration exhibits a consis-
tency Of purpose that Is OF SIMS
ter aspect to every man who.
upon principle, Is opposed to the
use OF a stacked deck Of cards. "
Judge Knox then puts finger
on the two Stealthy Wor Il {.
thereafter appointe d, and
asks:
What good reason can he adj
vanced for the exclusion from
needed service of men who, for
years. have demonstrated ability
and impartiality and who are
qualified by experience to dis
charge any judicial task that
may come before them?
GIF 7 were asked 10 answer
Il the question I should reply
that, without further lnforma
ton from the proponents of the
hill. there Is n possibility that
somewhere there Is some one
who fears that judges heretofore
appointed will not he amenable
10 suggestion as to how particu-
lar cases should he decided.
80 far as the southern dis
trict Of New York Is concerned,
I desire that il should never for
any purpose whatsoever he he
leagured by a flying squadron oi
Judges who. perhaps under some
conditions. might be CLASSIFIED n
privateers."
TIVE report Of the judiciary
committee also addressed
in similar vein this now con-
vcniently forgotten attempt 10
pack the lower courts.
The committee also put \
finger on those two words
thereafter appointed and said
that such a plan creates A fly
ing Suadron Of itinerant Judges
appointed for districts and cir
cults where they are not needed,
10 hc transferred TO other parts
Of the country for judicial serv-
ice -"
ITO greater and greater de-
gree" the committee reported.
under modern conditions, the
government Is involved I'm civil
litigation with its citizens. Are
we then through the system de-
Nised in this hill 10 make pos