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Show Natidnal Topics Interpreted jt by William Bruckart fliLT " National Presa Building Washington. D, C. r-J-p-TTJ Washington. The Supreme court of the United States has a new member, mem-ber, and to that Court Now extent, President Liberal Roosevelt has succeeded suc-ceeded in reorganizing reorgan-izing the highest court in the land. With the nomination by the President Presi-dent of Sen. Hugo L. Black, Alabama Ala-bama Democrat, and confirmation of that nomination by the senate, we find a Supreme court that stands for liberal interpretations of the Constitution by a vote of six to three on most questions. While it is important, of course, to know that Senator Black, the new justice, is nearly X00 per cent New Dealer, it is much more important im-portant to the country as a whole to think of Mr. Black hereafter as being be-ing fully aware of the reasons why he was selected to the lifetime job at $20,000 per year. It is likewise important to remember the reasons why Mr. Black was selected when one examines the so-called balance of power in the Supreme court. It seems to me that Mr. Black will enter upon his duties next October Oc-tober under one of the gravest handicaps that ever was set upon the shoulders of a Supreme court justice. Because of this handicap, and because of the reasons lying back of his appointment, I greatly fear that Senator Black can never be a great member of a great tribunal. In the first instance, his record in the senate, covering a period of ten years, has demonstrated to most everyone that he has a keen mind, but the fact remains, and I think it cannot be disputed, the new justice lacks the poise which always has been an attribute of outstanding judges. I hope he has the qualities that will enable him to grow and become a good justice from the legal le-gal standpoint; I hope this for the sake of the country as a whole and for the sake of the judicial structure struc-ture of our government. But after observing him as an independent writer over the last ten years I '.link I would be unfair to those who read these lines if I did not characterize charac-terize Mr. Black's as a decidedly mediocre appointment. Again, the fact that nearly all Washington observers and a very great number of officials do not expect ex-pect much legal wisdom from the new justice is traceable more to the conditions under which Mr. Black received the honor than to Mr. Black himself. Let us examine the reasons that lie back of Mr. Roosevelt's selection selec-tion of Mr. Black. In this case, as in the case of many lesser appointments, appoint-ments, the motives, the politics, the underlying objectives have not been stressed anywhere. In order to understand un-derstand the situation, it is necessary neces-sary to review several years of history his-tory on one line and it is likewise necessary to examine various incidents inci-dents marking Mr. Black's career in the senate. Out of this maze of detail, certain significant and more or less definite conclusions appear. Along the one side of the examination examina-tion we find Senator Black consistently consist-ently supporting President Roosevelt's Roose-velt's New Deal programs where-ever where-ever and whenever he found them. We note as well intolerance on his part for those persons and those arguments running counter to New Deal policies. Thirdly, we cannot overlook various senate investigations investiga-tions conducted by Senator Black for we know that in most of these he was carrying out orders from the White House. That is, Senator Black was engaged in expeditions of smear, of muckraking, and in needless need-less exposure by way of senate investigations, in-vestigations, in order that if there were flashbacks someone other than the President would be in the white light of criticism. Casting aside many of the assaults as-saults on Mr. Black's personal record, rec-ord, and turning to the other phase of the situation that culminated in his selection for the court, it must be plain to anyone knowing all the facts that President Roosevelt had a definite purpose in selecting the Alabaman. This phase also requires a bit of review. When the President suddenly demanded de-manded that congress reorganize the Supreme court Court Split and make provi-Party provi-Party sion r the appointment ap-pointment of six new justices of his own choosing, he created an enormous split in the Democratic party. He alienated many sections of the South and at the same time provided many old-line old-line southern Democrats with ammunition am-munition which they could use to justify their positions in opposing oppos-ing Mr. Roosevelt on many other phases of legislation. I do not mean to say that all of the southern Democrats turned against the President because that is untrue. There were possibly a half dozen senators from the South and an equal proportion of representatives repre-sentatives who are sticking by the President and will continue to support sup-port him. That fact, however, does not alleviate the condition I mentioned, men-tioned, namely, the wide-open split in the party. Senator Black was among those who stayed with the President through thick and thin. He never was an exceedingly popular man among his colleagues. Add to this the capacity of using harsh language lan-guage in the extreme and one finds that he was not the most popular choice among the senators for the job to which he has been elevated. From various quarters, therefore, I have heard observations to the effect ef-fect that Mr. Roosevelt appointed Senator Black with full knowledge of the facts I have related. He could and did slap at some members mem-bers of his own party for failing to go along with him on the court packing plan and some other New Deal legislation like the wages and hours program. He showed certain groups and cliques in the senate and house that he is boss. Then, in selecting a man from the deep South undoubtedly the President Presi-dent figured it would be influential in pulling back to him some of the support which he certainly has lost among local politicians in the southern south-ern states. Views of this test of political po-litical strategy differ greatly, but whether he gains or whether he loses on that score, there certainly is ground for belief that the reasons were as I have given them. There is also another reason for the appointment of Mr. Black. Of course, everyone realized that Mr. Roosevelt would name a man of New Deal leaning. Moreoever, everyone ev-eryone recognized that it would be strictly a personal appointment as far as the President was concerned. So the stage was set for appointment appoint-ment of a man of more or less radical tendencies but no one expected ex-pected the choice that was made. Now, the senate long has operated almost as a high class group. Every Ev-ery senator considers his colleagues with great deference and respect. This is senatorial courtesy. Does it not seem quite reasonable then, to consider that Mr. Roosevelt went into the senate to pick a new justice with the full realization that the nomination would be debated in gentlemanly gen-tlemanly fashion; that senatorial courtesy would tone down the barbs and the darts and the personal attacks at-tacks that would probably obtain if the name of a private citizen were submitted? I cannot know the President's Pres-ident's mind, obviously, yet I ha-ie heard these conclusions stated so many times that they cannot be wholly disregarded. New Dealers consider the appointment clever from the standpoint of senate debate, de-bate, and those opposed to the New Deal called it a smart trick. So there is very little disagreement. I called attention earlier to the effect ef-fect of the conditions under which Mr. Black enters May Solidify the court. I think Court examination of them is vital. They are important for the reasons I have set down and they are important im-portant from another standpoint. It is pure conjecture, of course, but I am going to mention the possibility pos-sibility that Senator Black's entry into the court membership may possibly pos-sibly create resentment among the other justices. Each of them will certainly know about all of the various va-rious undercurrents, the gossip, and the more or less obvious facts involved in-volved in the appointment. I have been wondering then whether the other members of the court, even liberal members like Justices Stone, Brandeis, and Car-dozo, Car-dozo, may not feel that Mr. Roosevelt Roose-velt has subjected them to undignified undigni-fied terms. I mean by that, is there not a possibility of them feeling that the President is seeking to gain decisions de-cisions along his own line of reasoning reason-ing rather than on the basis of justice jus-tice and law? As I said, this is pure conjecture. Nevertheless, I think it will be agreed that it is a logical thought, because the Supreme court justices, after all, are just as human as you and anyone else. Carrying this thought a little further, fur-ther, what will be the effect upon the old conservative members of the court like Justices McReynolds and Butler and Sutherland? Will they regard re-gard the Black appointment as a direct di-rect thrust at them personally? If they do, it seems to me the logical result would be to make them more conservative than they now are. I do not mean to imply dishonesty dishon-esty or unfairness to any member of the court. I know some of them personally and I respect every one of them. I merely call attention to these things as among the possible results in the appointment of a man to the Supreme court who may have been not the worst appointment possible pos-sible but surely, all conditions considered, con-sidered, it was far from the best Politically, the Black appointment is likely to enter into the 1938 congressional con-gressional elections. There seems no way by which the matter can be avoided as an issue. It is only through these elections of senators and representatives that the people can express themselves, and nearly everyone agrees now that the name of Justice Black will enter into numerous nu-merous state and district political battles. Western Newspaper Union. |
