Salt Lake Telegram | 1939-03-21 | Page 6 | President Names Douglas

! President Names Douglas 1 S his fourth nominee to the supreme court, i President Roosevelt yesterday tent to the senate for confirmation the name of William O. Douglas, chairman of the securities and ex- ; change commission. He was selected to take the post vacated by Louis Dembiti Brandeis. His ! other appointees, confirmed by the senate, were j Senator Hugo Black, Solicitor General Stanley Reed and Professor Felix Frankfurter. J For some months it has been generally j agreed that western representation in the high l court was desirable, and certain to coma in this i vacancy. The appointment of Mr. Douglas ig-) ig-) none this claim, a reflection upon' weitern con-l con-l greasional influence, rather than upon Mr. Douglas. Either western claims for representation represen-tation were inadequately presented or the bid rt" asx I ii in el I etn aiantatiirn was fuU'e from the , outset . I In Washington, informed opinion is that ! - Douglas will face no serious opposition. Sena-' Sena-' tor Henry F. Ashurst chairman of the senate judiciary ju-diciary committee, has appointed a sub-commit-tee consisting of Senators Hatch of New Mexico, Xing of Utah, McCarran of Nevada, Borah of Idaho and Danaher of Connecticut to act on the nomination and report to the whole committee, which will report to the senate. Confirmation of the nomination will not change the complexion of the court Brandeis was the outstanding libera on the bench. The president's other three appointees succeeded Justices Jus-tices Van Devanter, Sutherland and Cardozo, the first two regularly listed as conservatives, while Cardozo was a pronounced liberal All of the new members are liberals. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes is usually on the liberal tide, with whom Justices Stone and Roberts have often joined in the court's rulings. This leaves only Justices Butler and McReynolds as survivors of the old conservatives. When Van Devanter and Sutherland sat with them and a "swing" justice joined them, S-to-4 decisions on the conservative side were frequently handed down. Now, or when Douglas is confirmed, if the chief justice is counted on the side of the liberals, the 5-to-4 majority may be the expected ex-pected thing, with the possibility of either or , both Justice. Stone or Justice Roberta assenting, on the liberal interpretation of the law. If by any chance another vacancy should occur during the Roosevelt administration and another liberal be appointed to till it regardless of the stand ot ." the three older members, there would be a solid five justices ordinarily to be counted on to sus-- gain liberal legislation. Since Washington, only presidents to name five justices have been Jackson, Lincoln and Taft From his heavy-handed administration of the security and exchange commission, Doug-las' Doug-las' nam hag been almost constantly before the public. As he has stated it all he has tried to do it to compel honesty in dealings. He hat, nevertheless, played the role of the reformer. re-former. Friends and enemies agreed that he .had the virtue of brutal frankness. Douglas' full name is William Orville Douglas. To a group of newspaper men in Washington he Mid, "Call me Bill - To them also he described him- - self thus: "To tell you the truth, I think that I am a pretty conservative sort of fellow from the old school, perhaps a school too old to be remembered. I think that from the point of view of investors, the one safe, controlling and guiding stand should be conservative standards . of finance no monkey business. I am the kind of conservative who can't get away from the idea that simple honesty ought to prevail in the financial world." He grew up in near poverty, gained his education educa-tion the hard way, has been a successful lawyer, was a professor at Yale law school.