Evening star., 1950-09-29
Politics and Federal Judges

4lC DUAL was LII c1IOI III 1tS ICCClL cOItOI ld4
conclusion, expressed on this page, that while
politics of appointees Ito the Federal judiciary
always has been factor in selection, it never had
seemed to be controlling factor until recent
years" The error lay in the implication that
the Democratic administration in the past II
years has been the chief offender in this sort of
partisanship. That is not the case.
friend has supplied The Star with copy
of speech made in 1914 by the late Judge Evan
A. Evans, in which he gave some interesting sta
tistics the result of personal research, on parti
sanship in appointments to the judiciary. Judge
Evans began with President Cleveland, who had
been credited by popular impression with the
selection of leading members of the bar for the
bench regardless of politics. He found that Of
the 81 judges appointed by Cleveland, S6 were
Democrats. The exception was wryly described
by Judge Evans as a "mugwump," an inde-
pendent who had voted for Cleveland. OF Cleye-
lands appointments, then 97.S per cent were
Democrats. Here are subsequent records, as as
sembled by Judge Evans:
Benjamin Harrison, 20 appointments, rs Re-
publicanS and Democrats. His Score-87.9 per
cent Republicans
William Mckinley % appointments. % Pc
publicans and Democrat. His score-95.7 per
cent Republicans.
Theodore Roosevelt, u appointments 50 Re-
score-95.8 per cent Republicans.
William Taft Is appointments 81 Republicans,
Democrats. His score-s22 per cent Republi-
cans.
woodrow wilson. 70 appointments, II Demo-
Gratis, Republican. His score-98.6 per cent
Democrats
Warren Harding, "A appointments, 43 Republic
cans. Democrat His score-977 Republicans.
Calvin Coolidge SO appointments 64 Republic
cans, Democrats His score-94.1 per cent
Republicans.
Herbert Hoover 80 appointments. 42 Republi-
cans, Democrats His score-85.7 per cent
Republicans.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (an incomplete record
106 appointments, 1o4 Democrats Independents.
His score-9S1 per cent Democrats.
President Truman, 119 appointments (accord--
ing to the Department of Justce), 109 Democrats,
10 Republicans. His score to date-916 per cent
Democrats
The Stars editorial had commented with
approval on speech before the American Bar
Association by its president, Harold j. Gallagher,
who said that in the past II years e6 per cent
Q92 out Of 200) Of the appointees to the judici-
ary had been Democrats. This in Mr.. Gallaghers
opinion. indicated political considerations which
could only be harmful to the prestige of the
judiciary. That may be true. But 1t was ever
thus. Woodrow Wilson, percentagewise showed
the greatest partisanship, william Howard Taft
the least And Mr.. Taft explained his choice
OF several Democrats in the South by pointing
out that at that time there were no Republicans
In that region to choose from.
One explanation Of such political preferment,
Of course, is that an incoming administration
finds the judiciary overloaded with appointments
of the preceding administration Cleveland
found the Federal judiciary 95 per cent Re-
publican, but he managed to reduce this to IS
per cent when Harrison took over. Mr.. Hoover
turned over to Mr.. Roosevelt a judiciary that
was 80 percent Republican. After II years, this
probably has been reversed, though The Star
does not have the statistics.
The fact that both parties emphasize politi-
cal considerations, however, does not make the
practice desirable one The longer an admins
tration remains in office, the deeper becomes
the political complexion of the bench. It may
be too much to hope that the practice viii
change in advance Of the millennium But it is
to the credit Of the judiciary that the tradition
OF Its independence grows stronger with the
years; that good Judge forgets his politics
when he puts on his robes.