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Show court MBit mm mmm Justice Is Given Clear Title By Bench's Action Petitioner Indicates He May Launch Mew Move to Unseat Former Senator; Interest Held Insufficient WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 (AP) The supreme court refused today to permit Albert Levitt, former federal Judge in the Virgin, islands, and Patrick Henry Kelly, Boston attorney, to contest Justice Hugo L. Black's right to seat on the bench. This action gave Black dear title te his Judicial post a far aa prevent challengers are cenooraea, Levitt has Indicated, however, that he might start other proceedings. proceed-ings. "This fight win net be eve If my petition is denied,' ha asssrted. Whsa Levitt emerged from the) courtroom bo said: 1 am not surprised at ths art's action, becsuse it was ens at the possibilities for which X was pro pared. My only official comment la contained In the Blbls, Job 11: IS. "I don't know which of possibly four or sis steps will bs taken, but I am certain that another step will he taksn. It will dspend an sny fur-jar fur-jar sssitsratlna otitis opinion. -Biblical Reference Ths Biblical reference ts which Levitt referred was: "Though ha slay sna, yet wffl I trust la him; bat I will maintain mine awa ways before aim." Pstrlck Henry Kslly termed the spurt's action in his case "aa evasion eva-sion of ths issue." "I wish to answer the hlef Jus. tics's decision that ths petitions could not bs maintained because neither Mr. Levitt nor myself had sny intsrest beyond that of any other cttlsens by saying that that decision was an evasion of ths lee us brought to ths attsntioa af ths court "If a privsts citlsen should inform ths court that any lawyer of ths court has been guilty of misconduct, ths court is bound to investigate the charge. If it does not do so it is a violation of its oath to kssp ths court purs." Solicitor General Stanley Reed said hs would not oommsnt on the court's action "for a million dollars." Ths court refused to permit Levitt Le-vitt to fils his petition, which eon-; eon-; tended Black was constitutionally lnsllgibls for ths position. Mads Claim Levitt claimed Black was barred becsuse he wss a member of the sen-sts sen-sts which voted to Increase ths "emoluments" of Justices by permitting permit-ting them to retire at full pay after reaching TO and serving 10 years. He added that ths retirement of. Justice Vsa De venter did not create cre-ate a vacancy on the eourt and hence there was no place for Black to fill. Hs contended that Vaa Do-vanter Do-vanter still technically is a member 1 of the tribunal. Will Interfere Service by Black, ths petition said, "will Interfere with and prevent pre-vent the due, proper and lawful ' administration of Justice in ths supreme su-preme court of ths United States." I The action at JuaUee Black's colleagues was announced ts a packed courtroom by Chief Justice -Hughes, who said Levitt did trat hava sufficient interest In the litigation liti-gation to Justify him la proceeding proceed-ing with it Ths Kelly motion was denied on the basis of ths sction on Levitt s petition. The text of the court's order regarding re-garding the Levitt motion follows: 'The grounds of this motion are that the appointment of Mr. Justice Black by the president and ths confirmation con-firmation thereof by the senate of the United States wers null snd void by reason of his Ineligibility under article one, section six, clauss two, of ths constitution of ths United States, and because there was no vacancy for which the appointment could lawfully be made. "The motion papers disclose no interest upon ths psrt of the petitioner pe-titioner other than that of a citlsen (Oontltiiwft on Two) iColumu Two) 1 COURT REJECTS BLACKCONTEST frnittlmied f mm Psgs Oil) and a member of the bar of this court. 'That is sufficient. It Is an established es-tablished principle that to entitle a a private Individual to Invoke the Judicial Ju-dicial power to determine the validity valid-ity of executive, or legislative, action ac-tion ha must show that he haa sustained, sus-tained, or la Immediately In danger of sustaining, a direct Injury as the result of that action and It is not sufficient that ha haa merely a general gen-eral Intareat common to all mem-be mem-be ra of tha public. As far aa tha number of caaea acted on waa concerned, this was tha biggest day of ths court year. Most of tha petitions that accumulated accumu-lated during the summer recess were affected. Both Levitt and Kelly presented their motions to the court last Monday a few mlnutea after Black had taken his seat. Since then, tha new Jurist has kept In seclusion. There was speculation specu-lation aa to whether he had tajked with President Roosevelt after telling tell-ing the nation ha had Joined tha Ku Klux Klan. but had resigned. The klan waa not mentioned la the petition peti-tion before the court. |