The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-06-18
Merry-GO-ROu

WAsHINGTON-Some people seem to be labor ing under the impression that wrangles are neW on the Supreme Court Actually, wrangling began soon after the Court was formed, with the attempted impeachment of Justice Samuel Chase continued vigorously under John Marshall and has flared-up intermittently ever since.
 Latest wrangle prior to the Jackson blow-up was between amiable Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone l and austere Justice Owen J. Roberts. Although Re- publicans and Hoover appointees, they did not get along well in recent years, and there was one hot though private argument between them over the question of sitting case involving Stones former law firm.
 Before that, however, the most virulent feud on the Supreme Court revolved around cranky, crlsty Justice James C. McFeynolds the only justice credited with driving associate off the Court For six years Justice John H. Clarke sat beside him, and for six years McReynolds never spoke. Finally Clarke re- signed.
 McReynolds also tried to drive the late Justice Louis D. Brandeis off the bench He would rattle his papers or even leave the bench when Brandeis rem dered an opinion. And, when the jurtsts adjourned for their customary sandwich or soup and crackers at the noon recess, Mc1eynolds turned up his nose at lunching at a table with Brandeis. Instead, he duffed his robe, drove downtown and lunched by himself
 Another bittIe battle inside the Supreme Court took place during the Grant Administration over the Legal Tender Act Justice Robert O. Grier then senile was induced by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase to change his vote, thereby helping to make the Legal Tender Act unconstitutional This was a great en- barrassment to the Republicans, who needed the Legal Tender Act to support their fiscal policies dur ing and after the Civil War Republican members of the Court therefore charged Chief Justice Chase Democrat, with deliberately influencing the Court majority because of his desire to run for President on the Democratic Ticket.
 "The Chief Justice" charged Justice Samuel F. Miller, "resorted to all sorts of strategems of the lowest trickery."
 Inner court feeling bitter that the minority wrote private memo, vigorously critical of the Chief Justice. It read in part:
 "An attempt was made to convince an aged and infrm member of the Court (Justice Grier) that he had not understood the question on which he voted In 8 week from that day, every judge on the bench authorized committee of their number to to the judge who had reoonsidered his vote that 1t was their unanimous opinion that he ought to re- sign. ."
 There also the Court feud over Justice stephen J. Field at the time the Supreme Court aS95. Field then nearly 30 years old led the attack against the income tax Senile and frequently asleep in court committee of his colleagues suggested his retirement but he only flew into tantrum His vote against the income tax made it necessary to pass a constitutional amendment to make the income tax legal which took 18 years It was the only way Fields opposition could be overcome.
 Charles Evans Hughes after retiring as associate justice and before he was appointed Chief Justice uelVered series of lectures on the Supreme Court before the Columbia Law School in which he described the efforts to get Justice Field off the bench