Show rice T 1 X wo FA I 1 IRS AT washington WAS national topics interpreted by WILLIAM BRUCKART washington the supreme court coun of the united states has a new member and to that court now extent president liberal roosevelt has succeeded in reorganizing the highest court in the land with the nomination by the president of 0 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 know that senator black the new justice is nearly per cent new dealer it is much more important to the country as a whole to think of mr black hereafter as 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 eer 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 1 greatly tear 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 1 think 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 foi the sake of the country as a whole and tor 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 tact fact that nearly all washington observers and a very great number of officials do not expect 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 Roosevel ts selection of mr black in this case as in the case of many lesser appoint ments 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 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 of the examination we find senator black consistently supporting president roose belts ne new deal programs where ever and whenever he found them we note as well intolerance on his part tor for those persons and those arguments running counter to new deal policies thirdly 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 muckraking muck raking casting aside many of the assaults on mr blacks personal record and turning to the other phase of the situation that culminated in his bis selection tor 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 that congress reorganize the supreme court court sp split 1 it and make brov proal party sion for the SP ap 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 southern democrats with ammunition which they could use to justify their positions in opposing mr roosevelt on many other phases of 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 half dozen senators from the south and an equal proportion of representatives senta tives who are sticking 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 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 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 I 1 have related 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 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 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 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 now the senate long has hal operated almost as a high class group every senator considers his colleagues with great deference and respect tills is senatorial courtesy does it t 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 fashion that senatorial courtesy would tone down the barbs and the darts and the personal attacks that would probably obtain if the name of a private citizen were submitted I 1 cannot know the presidents mind obviously yet I 1 have heard these conclusions conclusions stated so many times that they cannot 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 t trick rick so there is very little disagreement I 1 called attention earlier to the et ef feet of the conditions under which mr black enters may solidify the court I 1 think court examination of 0 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 possibility lity 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 fic facts involved in the appointment I 1 have been wondering then whether the other members of 0 the court even liberal members like justices stone brandeis brandeis and cardozo may not feel that mr roose velt 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 black appo appointment as a direct 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 1 do not mean to imply dishonesty or unfairness to any member of the court I 1 know some of them personally and I 1 respect every one of them 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 it was far from the best western newspaper union |