Evening star., 1949-12-04
By George Kennedy

Supreme Court Justice Robert
H. Jackson is having trouble with
his ghost writer
MY ghost writer is mad at me
this week; something I said must
have offended him." Justice jack
son said last night IN apologizing
for the brevity Of his talk-the
principal one-before the annual
dinner Of the Bar Association Of
the District of Columbia last night
+at the Hotel Mayflower.
The remark brought a roar Of
laughter because it was only last
week that Justice Jackson at
tracted national attention by say
ing in a dissenting opinion.
"Ghost-writing has debased the
intellectual currency here and is
O. type of counterfeiting that In
vites no defense"
But he got a bigger laugh a few
minutes later when he was talking
about the country courts as q law
school. The justice is the only
member Of the court who did not
graduate from law school and he
Is proud Of the fact that most Of
his legal education was In law
Offices and the courts.
Tells Of early days. -.
IT used to think I'd like to be
a Judge in those days" hs said.
"but I never would have made it.
I had to come q long way from
home to be a judge. Judges are
elected where I come from"
Then. after looking up and
down the long dais where sat
Chief Justice Vinson. three other
associate justices Of the Supreme
Court and judges Of the Court Of
Appeals, the District Court, the
Tax Court and the inferior courts.
he said: @
"And I am not alone IN that
respect"
That caused the biggest laugh
Of the evening. In fairness to
Justice jackson, there was .
circumstance he did not mention.
He was a Democrat in jamestown
on the shores Of Lake Chautauqua
in the westernmost county Of New
York. in the States 8th judicial
district which has not elected q
Democrat to the bench since the
Bull Moose campaign.
Law Schools Praised.
In the product Of our modern
law schools, Justice Jackson said.
I'VE see better rounded men-bet-
ter trained men. But I sometimes
wish they could be taught to
prove the signature on . promis-
sorry note"
That dig brought applause from
the older lawyers among the more
than 1000 at the dinner. Then
he said:
THE apprentice gets little guild
ance in our big law Offices. They
resemble sweat shops more than
law schools.
That brought applause from the
younger men at the tables.
Then he gave them an argu-
ment he said they could use
whenever they got a case before
the Supreme Court. It was the
reply country lawyer made to q
Judge who cut short his argument.
Listen, your honor" the law
yer said. 1--WE been working on
this case for six weeks and you've
only heard about it for 20 min
utes. You're lot smarter man
than I am, but there's not that
much difference between U.s."
Bar Vital to Liberty.
In a brief ending to his talk,
Justice Jackson said that II the
man from Mars arrived looking
for justice. he should not 60 to
the Supreme Court where only $50
cases a year are settled on their
merits, but to one of the law
Offices, the vestibules Of the. court.
Liberty, he said, has been lost in
this world only after the disap-
pearance of an independent and
courageous bar.
Other speakers were Jerome F.
Barnard, president OF the Bar As
sociation. and John r. Hillyard,
chairman of the dinner commit