Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-06-19
All Justices Face Call
To Give Feud Details
In Move 10 Gust -Four
BY the Associofsd Press

Supreme Court were coupled to
day with a proposal that al
eight justices tell the full stor,
Of the tribunals "feud."
Senator Eastland, Democrat, O.
Mississippi, announced his inten.
ton to push for an open investiga.
ton Of discord between the jurist!
which he claimed had produced
"inexcusable chaos" in the high
court.
The suggestion that all present
Justices be called on for public testi.
mony came as a followup to tn,
move by Senators Eastland ane
Bridges. Republican, of New Hamp
shire, aimed at virtual dismissa
Of half the present court.
Justices Face Quentioning.
senator Eastland told a reporte,
he will ask the Senate Judiciary
Committee to question the justice.
at hearings he insists be held or
the constitutional amendment h,
and Senator Bridges introduced latt
yesterday.
The amendment would force re.
tirement of four of the presen
justices by limiting to three the
number of court members who coule
hold appointment by any one Presi.
dent. The places of those retiring
could be filled temporarily by House
election of lower court judges unit
q new President chose successors.
The amendment faces an admit.
tedly hard road. To become effec.
tive, it must win two thirds approva
by Congress, then ratification by
three-fourths of the State legis.
latures. Most Senators doubted II
could make the grade.
If it did, however, it would leave
on the court Justices Hugo l.. Black
Stanley F. Reed, Felix Frankfurtel
and Harold H. Burton, the latter ap.
pointed by President Truman. II
would remove Justices William o
Douglas, Frank Murphy, Robert H
jackson and Wiley Rutledge, as the
final four appointees of the late
President Roosevelt.
Vinson Not Affected.
II would not affect President
Truman's appointment of Fred Vim
son as Chief Justice, a nomination
expected to receive early Senate
confirmation.
Senator Eastland said he is I'M
interested in the fact that his
amendment would leave Justice
Black on the court, while retiring
Justice jackson, who recently as
serted publicly that Justice Black
declined to disqualify himself in a
case in which his former law
partner was interested.
II don't think any President ought
to be permitted to name more than
three members of the court" the
Mississippi Senator declared.
Senator Bridges told a reporter
he Is supporting Senator Eastland's
demands for public hearings by the
committee, adding that in this way
Justice Jackson would be provided
with forum for any expansion he
cared to make of his broadside
against Justice Black.
Chairman McCarran, Democrat,
of Nevada, said it will be up to the
committee to decide whether any
hearings will be held.
Jackson to Return in July.
Justice Jackson has indicated that
he will return to the United States
about July Is from Nuremberg, Ger
many, where he has been chief
American prosecutor in the Nazi war
crimes trial. Friends here said pri-
vately they expect him to have more
to say on his return, after he has
reported to President Truman.
In one Of the bluntest speeches
Congress has yet heard on the ST.
preme Court cleavage, Seantor East
land told the Senate yesterday the
jackson Black episode made the
American people today look upon
their highest tribunal as bereft of
unity, spent by dissension and torn
by the chickering's of factions"
I'm fact" he said, they discount
its avowed high motives and judge
it with distrust and suspicion. 1t is
sad day for America that that last
great citadel of human freedom has
thus been compromised"
Senator Bridges said he wasn't
blaming individuals, as such, but
added that there are a number OF
men who now sit upon the court
who do not have the proper legal
background, judicial temperament OF
the ability to sit upon the worlds
greatest legal tribunal and to decide
fundamental questions upon which
the very system of our Government
as we know it, depends"
Picked for Beliefs,
Senator Eastland said that some
students of government have ex-
pressed the opinion that these men
were appointed because of their
economic and social ideologies and
their zest for crusading rather than
for their judicial knowledge and
legal acumen.''
Senator Pepper. Democrat, of
Florida interrupted to observe that
the court was dealing with highly
controversial matters upon which
opinion in the country was divided.
1t was only natural, Senator Pepper
contended, that the court should
have sharp differences Of opinion.
When Senator Eastland dis
agreed, Senator Pepper replied.
Some of us regret that there was
such unfortunate unanimity in the
court in the older days-in the
wrong direction"
Senator Eastland told the Senate
that Since January /, 1899, the court
has handed down Is decisions which
directly and pointedly overruled"
earlier decisions of the Supreme
Court. In all the history of the
Republic, he declared, the court has
only overturned its previous rulings
IS times.
while no one says that law
is or should be static" he added,
1T nonetheless depends upon sta
bility for its very life, and estab-
lished principles should be over