Show 0 0 national to topics 2 acs ics interpreted by william bruckart national art press ding washington D C washington the supreme court of the united states has a new member and to that court now extent president L liberal i beral roosevelt has succeeded in reorganizing the highest court in the land with the nomination by the president of seri sen hugo L black alabama 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 kaow that senator blach the new justice justlee lust lee Is nearly per cent new dealer it Is much more important to the country as a whole to think of mr black here being fully aware of the reasons why he was selected to the lifetime job at 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 under one of the gravest handicaps that ever was set upon the shoulders of a supreme court justice because of this handicap and because ccaude of the reasons lying back of his appointment I 1 greatly fear that senator black can never be a great member of a great tribunal in the first instance his record in tho 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 1 think I 1 it cannot be disputed the new justice lacks the poise which always has been an attribute of outstanding judges I 1 hope he has the qualities that will enable him to grow and become a good justice from the legal standpoint I 1 hope this for the sake of the country as a whole and for the sake of the judicial structure of our government but after observing him as an independent writer over the last ten years I 1 think I 1 would be unfair to those who read these lines if I 1 did not characterize mr blacks as a decidedly mediocre appointment again the fact that nearly all washington observers and a very great number of als do not ex hect much legal wisdom from the new justice Is traceable more to tho the conditions under which mr black received the honor than to mr black himself let us examine the reasons that lie back of mr Roosevel ts selection of mr black in this case as in the case of many lesser appointments tho the motives the politics the underlying objectives have not been stressed anywhere in order to understand der stand the situation it is necessary to review several years of history on one line rind and it is likewise necessary to examine various incidents marking mr blacks career in the senate out of this maze of detail certain significant and more or less definite conclusions appear along the one side ot of the examination we find senator black consistently supporting president roose abose delvs new deal programs where ever rind end whenever ho he found them we note as welt well intolerance on his part for those persons and those arguments running counter to new deal policies thirdly wo we cannot overlook various senate investigations 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 0 smear arof of muckraking muck raking and in needless exposure by way of senate investigations in order that if there were flashbacks someone other than the president would be in the white light of criticism casting castang aside many of the as on mr blacks personal record and turning to the other phase of the situation that culminated in his selection for the court it must be plain to anyone knowing oil ail the facts that president roosevelt had a dennite definite purpose in selecting the alabaman this phase also requires a altof bit of review when the president suddenly demanded that congress reorganize I 1 the supreme court court split end and make provi party son sion for 01 the 0 o ap P of six new justices of his own choosing he created an enormous split in the democratic party lie ile alienated alienate many sections of the south and at the tome same time provided many old line southern bouthern ou thern democrats with ammunition which they could use to justify their positions in opposing mr air roosevelt on many other phases oi 01 legislation I 1 do not mean to say that all of the southern democrats turned against the president because that is untrue there were possibly a hall half dozen senators from the south end and on an equal proportion of representatives senta tives who are sticking slicking by the president and will continue to support him that fact however does not alleviate the condition I 1 mentioned namely the wide open split inthe n the party senator black was iacong among those who stayed with the president through thick and thin ile he never was an exceedingly popular man among his colleagues add to this the capacity of using harsh language 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 1 have bave heard observations to the effect that mr roosevelt appointed senator black with full knowledge of the facts acts I 1 have related lie he could and did slap at some members 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 ile he showed certain groups and cliques in the senate and house that he Is boss then in selecting a man from the deep south south undoubtedly the president figured it would be influential in putting pulling back to him some of the support which he certainly has lost among local politicians in the south ern states views of this test of political 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 1 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 More oever everyone recognized that it would be strict lya personal appointment as far as the president was concerned so the stage was set tor for appointment of a man of more or less radical tendencies but no one expected the choice that was made now the senate long has operated almost as a high class group every 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 tle manly fashion that senatorial courtesy would tone down the barbs and the darts and the personal attacks that would probably obtain if the name of 0 a private citizen were submitted I 1 cannot know the presidents mind obviously yet I 1 have heard these conclusions stated so many times that they cannot bo be wholly disregarded new dealers consider the appointment clever from the standpoint of senate debate and those opposed to the new deal called it a smart trick so there Is very little disagreement I 1 called attention earlier to the effect of the conditions under which mr black enters may solidify the court I 1 think court examination of them Is vital they are important for the reasons I 1 have set down and they are important from another standpoint it is pure conjecture of course but I 1 am going to mention the pos that senator blacks entry into the court membership may possibly create resentment among the other justices each of them will certainly know about all of the various undercurrents under currents the gossip and the more or less obvious facts involved in the appointment I 1 have been wondering then whether the other members member of the court even liberal members like justices stone brandeis and cardozo may not feel that mr 4 roosevelt has subjected them to undignified terms I 1 mean by that is there not a possibility of them feeling that the president Is seeking to gain decisions along his own line of reasoning rather than on the basis of justice and law As I 1 said this is pure conjecture nevertheless I 1 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 what will be the effect upon the old conservative members of the court like justices and butler and sutherland will they regard the dlack black appointment cis as a direct thrust at them personally it they do it seems to mathe me the logical result would be to make them more conservative than they now are I 1 do not mean to imply dishonesty or unfairness to any member of the court I 1 know some of them tally and I 1 respect every one ol of them thein I 1 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 but surely all conditions considered si sl it was tar far from om the best besl politically the black appointment Is likely to enter into the 1938 congressional gress lonal elections there seems no way by which the matter can be avoided as an issue it is only through those elections of senators and representatives that the people can express themselves and nearly everyone ev eryon agrees now that the name of justice black will enter into numerous state and district political battles c S western lV estern newspaper Newa paper union |