Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-09-30

maintain the way of life of the white
race in America" in Chicago.
Perhaps the most important case
from Washingtonians' viewpoint is
one involving four Negro children who
were refused admission to the Sousa
Junior High School last year because
of color and race. The respondents,
members of the District of Columbia
Board of Education, were acting in
accordance with the law in requiring
segregation in the District schools.
In March this year, District Court
Judge Matthew F. Mcclure denied
their request for a ee-judge court
to review their claim that a refusal
to admit was "repugnant to the Con-
stitution," saying that " :. no SUBJ
stantial constitutional question is)
raised"
Tronsit Rodio Cose
Should the Supreme Court rule in
favor of the children and grant them
relief from Judge McGuire's decision,
it will not mean an end to segrega-
ton in Washington schools. ALI the
relief would provide would be three
judge court to hear their claim that
segregation is ''repugnant."
Other actions of varying interest to
Washington are those which will de-
termine whether or not Capital
Transit Co. can continue radio pro-
grams in its buses and trolleys;
whether the Government Services,
Inc. operator of departmental res
taurants and some recreational facil-
tiles. is charitable organization.
and as such, exempt from paying
certain District taxes, and whether
the United States District Court can
refuse to renew a bondsman's au-
thorization without telling him why.
How the individual justices will
vote on these and other cases Is as
easy to forecast as the flight of
q hummingbird. Except for the &C.
tons involving racial segregation,
and possibly the Lorain journal case,
there appears to be few issues so
sharply drawn as to provoke dis
play of clashing legal PHILOSOPHERS.
Trend Is O Gossomer Thing
Much has been written and said
recently of the courts trend toward
the right. But trend is a gossamer
thing, dependent entirely on the ma
ture of the cases before the court.
Yet if there is trend toward the
right-or conservative-it probably
had its beginning in March, 1947.
when the court upheld contempt
conviction of John L. Lewis who had
refused to obey an injunction for
bidding his miners from striking. ."
Since then, liberalism seems to
have faded when the question of
granting the Government greater
freedom in economic and social fields
has arisen. There seems to be little
inclination to make the 14th amend
ment as restrictive upon the individ-
ual States as it is upon the Federal
Government.
Moreover, the fact that each justice
Is a study in paradoxeS makes pre-
dieting hazardous. 1t would be hard
to chart the thinking pattern of JUS
tice Robert Jackson, for example. For
it is at least confusing to note that
Jackson who as Government law
yer, successfully fought for the con-
titutionality of the Public Utilities
Holding Act of 1885. has frequently
dissented when the court upheld the
Federal Power Commissions right to
fix utility rates.
Frankfurter, onetime champion Of
Sacco and Vanzetti, didn't bat an
eyelash in 1910 when he upheld an
injunction against peacefully strik-
ing milkmen in Chicago.
Liberal VS.. Conservative
Justice Sherman Minton, the 9th
man to sit on the court since it was
founded, is less Of broken-field
runner than some of his colleagues.
With the Chief Justice, from whom
he has voted differently only six
times in lot cases, Minton plays them
right down the center, usually with
Reed and Burton.
If loose division of the court were
to be made today it would probably
line up this way: Justices Douglas,
Black and possibly Frankfurter on
the liberal side; Justices Burton,
Jackson and Reed on the conserva-
tive side, and Justices Vinson, Clark
and Minton in the middle.
But such division is entirely
hypothetical. If there is any single
trend that can be nailed fast to fact
it is that this court, more than any
Of its predecessors, is likely to decide
each case on its peculiar merits.
With such a temperament. the out
come of any case, action, writ or pc
tition to be disposed of between now
and the first week of June, 1852, is
largely a flip -the-coin matter.