OCR Text |
Show IMC inC CTIICC The News Behind the News I IN o I D t olUrr B,paul mallon 1 recommend anything to reduce costs. Appeals, lawyers and suits would cost just as much under the reoganization ss before. Second, he based his recommendation recommen-dation for enlargement of the courts on the ground of physical Inability of courts to handle the business, but his bill would enlarge only those courts containing judges past the retirement age. In other words, the test of enlargement enlarge-ment is not to be the volume of business, but the age of the justices. jus-tices. And if all judges beyond the retirement sge would retire, there would not be a single additional addi-tional judge appointed under his plan. - Sympathetic lawyers suggested the brief he presented for his plan might be thrown out' by most courts because the grounds did not fit the case. Compromise The president followed his usual policy of ssking congress in the judicial message for twice as much as be needed. He requires only three more votes to change the lineup of the supreme court and will settle for that, acording to those insiders who usually reflect his opinion. Three additional votes would enable him to constitutional!! every ev-ery move he has made, except N R A. The court was against him on that one, nine to none. Diplomacy The judicial message Is the first important one which Mr. Roosevelt did not deliver In person. per-son. The reason is said to be that he was not sure of the reaction. The proposal was framed to be more popular with the people than the lawyers, and fully SO per cent or more of the new congressmen are lawyers. (Copyright, 1837, for The Telegram) WASHINGTON P r s s I dent dent Roosevelt's decision te repack re-pack the supreme court was msde rather hurriedly. Four weeks ago he did not Intend In-tend to move as soon as be did or In the way he did. His open, ing messags to congress, for instance, in-stance, was framed as an invitation invita-tion to the courts to correct the situation in coming decisions. He confided in several persons that, If ths Wsgner and holding company com-pany decisions failed to present the constitutional loopholes he wanted he would try some test legislation on hours and wages. After that, he figured, popular opinion might be ripe for packing pack-ing the court What caused him to revise his plans within the last two weeks was bis own growing Impatience with the trend of events snd alternative alter-native prospects. The plain, unvarnished un-varnished fact is his hand was forced by tumbling developments. Weakness A dominant consideration was the failure of labor leaders to show any ability to handle wages and hours policies themselves. That became obvious after the message to congress. The sit-down sit-down strlks turned out to be decidedly de-cidedly unpopular. In fact, the efforts of John Lewis to organize autos and steel seemed to be really unripening publio opinion for the Roosevelt purposes. Then congressional authorities got wind of the fact that he planned to move by indirection, and started an advance backfire. Powerful Senator Borah went to the radio. Subtle debate broke In both houses about tyrants who seise judicial power. Opinion was being built up against any subterfuge subter-fuge moves and in favor of a direct di-rect constitutional amendment which is what his congressional leaders really wanted. Similarly. the congressional attack en Fed- ' era! Judge Gore proved to be a rather weak failure and no help to his cause. It Is quite possible that If Mr. Rbosevelt had waited a month, the situation might have been taken beyond his control. ' He hit before the iron got cold. Ghosts The man behind the Roosevelt repacking process was New York State Supreme court Justice Samuel Sam-uel L Rosenman, a little known, but close, friend of the president presi-dent Ths basic theory was essentially Rooseveltian, the president himself him-self chose the plan. But Rosen-man Rosen-man was in almost constant attendance at-tendance at the White House while preparations were being made. He contributed the judicial character of certain phases of the proposal (the recommendation for a court proctor, etc.). He was legal counsel coun-sel for Mr. Roosevelt as governor, at Albany, and enjoys the president's presi-dent's closest confidence. Others who had a hand In drafting draft-ing the bill were RFC Legal Adviser Ad-viser Tom Corcoran, Aasistant Attorney General Robert Jackson and Ben Cohen, P W A legal adviser. ad-viser. Ex-N R A Administrator Donald Rlchberg also was consulted. con-sulted. He contributed a few ideas and at least one phrase. Congressional leaders were not generally consulted until after the plan was fully prepared. A few of them had been tipped Indefinitely as to what was coming. There were no leaks, at least no public leaks... , Technical! tie Two weaknesses In the president's presi-dent's message were obvious to his critics. First, be founded his appeal for Judicial reorganisation on ths ground that the poor cannot afford af-ford lawsuits, but he forgot to |