Evening star., 1946-10-07

1nere is no "
evidence that the Chief Justice has
not made progress along these lines
and there is no evidence that he
has. Mr.. Jackson has returned from
Nuremberg, where he should never
have been asked to go, but the court
is in recess and the relations be-
tween him and Mr.. Black obviously
will permit both to remain on the
bench without flying at each others
throat. At any rate, neither appears
to have the remoteSt idea of resign
ing. In the course of time, the Chief
Justice may evolve Smooth-Work-
ing arrangement for all the belllger-
ents. of which the Messrs. jackson
and Black are only two.
However, in one direction certain
" no progress has been made at all.
This is toward eliminating or lessen
ing the public advertising of MEM
bers of the court as candidates for
the political office.
Promotion Cheapens Court.
Many believe that this promotion
of individual justices for nomina-
ton for the Presidency or Vice
Presidency, which has been more or
less intermittently continued during
the past six years, has done more
to cheaper the court as a whole
than anything else. For one thing,
1t strikes directly at the traditional
aloofness of the supreme bench
from politics. For another, it de-
tracts from the nonpartisan char
acter of the court.
LargelN this political promotion is
centered around one man-Justice
William o. Douglas, though quite re-
Gently some silly publicity has been
given Chief Justice Vinson for the
1948 presidential nomination. How
ever, for nearly eight years now. or
ever since he was named by Mr..
Roosevelt. Justice Douglas has been
doomed first for one of these posi-
tions, then for the other. He has
had a vast amount of publicity along
these lines. Whenever there is any
speculation about candidates, his
radical friends push forward his
name.
In both the 1910 and 1914 Demo-
cratic conventions he was much dis
cussed for Vice President. And now,
in 1916, the Douglas for President
publicity has broken out again in
big way.
A short time ago two national ra-
dio broa6casters dealt with the sub
ject on the same night. One de-
clared that Chairman Hannegan's
real choice for 1948 is Mr.. Douglas: |
the other asserted that the CIO and
liberal elements" now prefer Doug
las to Wallace. Comments of a
similar nature have appeared re-
Gently in number of papers. The
latest came last Sunday when ra-
dio commentator declared that while
Mr.. Douglas did not want to run, the
movement for him was so strong he
would have to.
When, seven years ago, this Douglas
political publicity first started, the
judicial colleagues of Mr.. Douglas
earnestly deplored it and were dis
posed to put the blame partly on the
politicians and partly on the press.
More Publicity Expected.
At that time their belief was that
this publicity was even more dis
tasteful to Mr.. Douglas than it was
to them-but that there was moth
ing he could do about it.
Long ago that idea was dropped.
At least one of the justices who used
to defend him has come to the con-
elusion, held by most informed re-
porters, that so far from not liking
this publicity Justice Douglas likes
1t very much-even, it has been sug-
gested, encourages it. Certainly, he
has taken no real step to discourage
u
As things are now, it is clear that
between now and the 1948 conven-
ton there will be lot more of this
Douglas for President or Vice Presi-
dent publicity. Apparently, it is
just getting started.
There is no prospect whatever,
of Mr.. Douglas being nominated.
His friends are all among the ex-
treme left-wing element. He has
no political assets. The only chance
he ever had in a Democratic con-
vention was if Mr.. Roosevelt, who
was his friend, had insisted on him
as his running mate.
All MI Roosevelt did after he
ditched Mr.. Wallace in 1914, was