Evening star., 1949-07-29
An OverboIunced Court

There NAV be some criticism OF the
Presidents choice of his Attorney General
Tn succeed the late Frank Murphy on the
Supreme Court which runs to Mr.. Cla1k
personal qualifications for that post. "
seems to The Star, however, that more
valid criticism arises from the tendency 10
overload the court with appointees drawn
from the executive branch OF the Govern
ment.
If Mr.. Clark is confirmed, five OF the
nresent members of the court WILL nave
come directly from the executive eStao-
rshment. And only one OF the nVe mas
had any appreciable judicial experience.
of the four others, only one had hao pre-
vious judicial experience worthy OF NEIL
ton.
This is not a trend that is conducive 10
strong competent court. Nor is 1t con-
ducive to public respect for the court. In
the past twelve years eleven men nave
heen named to the supreme bench. or
these only two had signihcant previous
judicial experience. On this recoro' IL
not at all surprising that more ana more
people are coming around to the view tiia'
nolitics rather than merit is the governing
consideration in Supreme Court selectlonS
AS for Mr.. Clark, The Star believes that
he will be a conscientious member OF tne
court: that he will not take partlsah
nolitics with him to the bench. HIS NOM
ination may be attacked, for to take TWO
illustrations. there are those who oelleVe'
nm the one hand, that he was not SUM-
ciently Jealous in the investigation OF the
Kansas City vote frauds, while, at tne
other extreme, there have been complaints
of overzealousness on his part IN tne Iioe-
lands oil issue. There may be some queS-
ton. too, of Mr.. Clark's views on tne
subject of presidential power. He was tne
author, during the Taft-Hartley deoate, OF
the opinion that the President has IN
herent powers, without benefit OF statute
to cope with a national emergency arising
from strike, and, presumably, with any
national emergency. That Is a mover
view, not widely shared. Judging from the
opinions of the court in the contempt case
against the United Mine Workers. 1t Is
view that is not shared by any OF the
present justices.
These are matters, however, which are
not likely to have any important bearing
on the Senates attitude toward Mr.. Clarks
nomination. It also should be remembered
that many judges have lived to con1ouno
their critics. For example, there was
severe criticism of the selection OF Mr.
Hughes and Mr.. Brandeis, but 1t would
be hard to find any one today who would
deny that they proved to be splendid
Judges And so, in Mr.. Clark's case, the
real test of his fitness must await the
event. His stature as Judge will be de-
termined after, and not before, he goes
to the bench.
The selection of Senator McGrath to
take over the Attorney Generalship is
greater surprise than the choice OF Mr..
Clark for the court. There may have been
several reasons for the Presidents pref
erence Perhaps Mr.. Truman was thinking
of this as a sort of compensation for the
fact that for the first time in more than
half century there will not be Catholic
on the court. Or it may be that he
wanted to clear up the curious political
situation which prevails in the Democratic
National Committee, with Mr. McGrath as
chairman and the Presidents fellow Mis-
sourian, william Boyle, in the apparent
role of the man behind the scenes. Still
another, and perhaps more probable, ex-
planation may be that the President simply
wanted to reward Senator McGrath for
past services. Certainly, during the po-
litical dark days, Mr.. Truman had no more
loyal or more competent supporter than
the Rhode Island Senator, and if the Presi-
dent feels that this should be recognized
by the award of a cabinet post, and if
Mr. McGrath wants the post, it would be
ridiculous for any one to raise an objection.
IT, EDI --l 6~1..'