Evening star., 1944-02-27
Congress Revolts
Once Again
By John H. Cline.

BY John H. Cline.
As the reverberations of the clash be-
tween the President and his majority
leader in the Senate begin to subside 1t
is important, in taking the long-range
view Of the incident and its implica-
tions, to understand that the reaction
of Congress to the tax bill veto was not
an exclusive product OF the injudicious
language which Mr.. Roosevelt used on
that occasion. The tone of the message
was the immediate cause of the legisla-
tive revolt. It's harsh words and its in
nuendos were the last straw which
broke the patient loyalty of Senator
Barkley, aud they were Immediately re-
sponsible for the overwhelming rejec-
ton Of the veto in both the Senate and
the House. But we need to 60 back
nearly seven years-over the whole of
the period that Majority Leader Bark
ley carried the flag Of Franklin D.
Roosevelt"-to obtain q comprehensive
view Of the factors which eliminated
in last weeks upheaval on Capitol Hill.
During his first administration the
President fell into serious disagreement
with the Supreme Court. As one New
Deal program after another succumbed
to constitutional views Of the justices
the President made public disclosure of
his displeasure. He charged at a press
conference that the court was taking
the country back to 'horse and buggy
days" and later he remarked sarcastic
cally that the justices seemed deter
mined to set out no mans land" in
which the Government could not gov
ern. Plans for dealing with what were
regarded as the unwarranted obstruc-
tionism of the court were discussed
among the Presidents advisers, but the
1886 elections were close At hand and
the matter was not brought before the
country as campaign issue.
When the votes were counted, how
ever, the President had been reelected
by \ huge majority, and this, under
standably enough, was interpreted by
those who had no patience with the
court as q sort of popular mandate to
do something" about the unwillingness
of some OF the judges to accept the ad-
ministration's interpretations of the
Constitution.
On February S, 1887, the plunge was
taken. The bill to "reorganize" the
Supreme Court was put before Congress,
and the President, supremely confident
of the potency of the mandate" which
he felt he had received from the people
waded into a battle with the judicial
and the legislative branches of our
Governments battle in which he was
to taste major defeat for the first time
since entering the White House.
There is no purpose to be served in
reviewing now the details and the cross
currents Of the historic struggle which
followed on the Senate floor. Per-
sonalities and unworthy motives figured
here and there but the central question
upon which the issue finally was decided
was whether Congress would join with
the President in bending the Supreme
Court to the will OF the legislative and
executive branches of our Government.
The final answer, of course, was an
emphatic rebuff to the President, and
because they seem at this time to have
had certain prophetic quality 1t may
be worth while to turn back to few
sentences from the adverse report of
the Senate Judiciary Committee, which
did much to kill the court bill This
report was prepared by Senator OMa-
honey, and he minced no words.
To-day" he wrote, lit may be the
court which is charged with forgetting
its constitutional duties Tomorrow it
may be the Congress. The next day
1t may be the Executive. If we yield
to the temptation now to lay the lash
upon the court we are only teaching
others how to apply it to ourselves and
to the people when the occasion seems
to warrant"
Unfortunately, as events have shown,
the defeat of the court bill planted the
seed Of bad feeling between the Presi-
dent and Congress. Senator Barkley,
who succeeded to the majority leader
ship when Senator Robinson of Arkansas
died during the heat of the struggle, has
testified that his lot has not been a
happy one. The elections of 1898 brought
the ill-advised and unsuccessful attempt
to purge" Democratic Senators who
had asserted an independence of the
White House. The split between the ad-
ministration and the House on certain
issues, notably that pertaining to labor
legislation, was even more pronounced.
The following year brought the war in
Europe, with new strains on the rela-
tionship between the President and
some Of his party members in Congress
This was followed by the third-term
controversy, and it, too, left its scars.
For some months after Pearl Harbor
the Presidents relations with Congress
improved, but in September 1912, the
President called upon Congress to enact
the stabilization program without fur
ther delay, placing the request upon a
you act or I will'' basis. Congress
acted, but from that time until last
weeks explosion the relationship be-
tween the President and Congress went
steadily from bad to worse.
\ X
Happily, there are indications today
that the revolt against the veto mes
sage has cleared the atmosphere. But
1t Is too early to say this with any GER
tainty. Much depends on how the Presi-
dent takes his defeat and how his op-
ponents in Congress take their victory.
Their have been those who believed,