◆ SpookStack

that his social gadding does not detract from the dignity af hiz [thse “tors, he feels ty of position, “There isn’t a friendlier: man in Washington.” aays capital re- porter El Folliard, who knows the Chief Justice well. Warren is known to have been Jenocked and dismayed by the FBI decision that the threats against him were serious enough to war- rant a round-the-clock guard. Until his appointment to the high bench the oniv enmity he aroused was political and impersonal. “Wha wanld take a potshot at a furtge?” he caked, wondering!y, then Re aes told of the security wWeagitres, The threatening letters have not curtailed Warren’s frequent attendance at Washington galas, where he usually can be found off ina corner talking polities—his favertte topic—-with old friends and fellow veterans of the politi- cal wars, Las. oar Somé Wonder if Warren fs Eyeing White House His pax-ion for polities, un- diminished even after five years of isolation from the hustings, bar caused some observers to wonder if he secretly harbors White Tetse ambitions despite his very definite disclaimer back in 1952 . But those who know him best kre convinced his interest in politic: ts now purely converaa- tional and that his true love ig that of a lawyer for the court. Anyway, he is 6'1—a Httle old for the Presideney, Next ts politics, Warren's | chief outside interest {fs sports. He is said to have put the court on a five-day week in 1955 so that he would he frea for Satur- day's fonthall rames. For the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia that year, the Chief Justice hired a private railroad car, arranged for lunch and din- ner to he served on it, and in- vited his eight court colleagues and their wives*te attend the in- fer-service classic as his guests. He even picked up the tab for the fickels, if thera was a tab. (The servieos are secretive about / their Free list to the big game.} Warren's “football special* wee ano apnual junket untll this bast fall, when it wax cancelled “for undisclosed reasons. Mra. Tom Clark ventured the explana. tion that perhaps the host “couldn't Ferre," but this who the host is. An explanation wearer the mark might be that the FBI was reluctant to permit the nine jus- tices to afford a bunched target for a crackpot who could post himself along the track with a homemade bom Athletically inclined himself, Warren keeps in tip-top shape with frequent exercises and hand ball games in the basement of the Supreme Court Buildi Like most hig men—-he’s 6 feet and normally weighs over 200 pounds—-the Chief Justice wages a constant battle with fat. In less than a year after he traded a vigorous outdoor life in California for the sedentary rou- tine of the court, Warren learned to his horror that he was gaining weight at an alarming rate. He immediately went on a sugarless and starchlesa diet and trimmed off 20 pounds, The Warrens live niodestiy in a hotcl-apartment with their un- married danaghter Virginia, ove of the reigning heltes of the ‘capi- [whe t hardly likely considering tal, Mra. Warren uaually coola the meala when they dine at honie, and her hushand has his food gent tip from the hotel kitchen when she in in California visiting her grandehitdy PR, * « A’ the foot of the long confer- ence table that Chief Justice Warren presides over in the! Supreme Court's “inner sanc- | tum,” where decisions are some- times hotly argued, stts the rank ing associate justice, courtly bu quick-tempered Hugo . Lafayette . Tack, 72. 3 h Appointed from the Senate tn $937, Alahama-born Black took his seat on the court amid a hit- hter controversy over the disclo- rsure that he had once held a card in the bigotry-peddling Ku Klux 1 . an. . Though he explained that the KEK ecard was issued to him un- solicited (in the South in the 1920s it was a rare politician who could escape a Klan card), Black’s swearing-in was held up almost two months while the- argument raged, Like Warren, he has the true 4 politician's genuine liking for people. His easy manner and Old South charm, pha arent tatent for mimicking pontifical public speakers and TV commentators, made him a sought-after rucst until the death of his wife six years ago, whea he disappeared from the social scene. For almost four years Black Pa. shuttled — “disconsoletety~—between the court and his acresand- -a- -half 4%. Th..2.. - VG FCUMALLAY actnia ed a ee Tyee OVErGG Ring in nearby Alexandria, where, he turned to planting roses, eamel- lias and pyracantha, Then, two years ago, he wre prised Washington by marrying his buxom brunette secretary, Elizabeth Seay DeMerritte, @ divorcee 20 years his junior, who came here from Birmingham, Ala, to join his staff on the recommendations of his family, it is said. Now the Blacks are back in the social whirl, Black’s vigor is that of a man 20 years younger. A tennis player of near professional skill, the justice is up at the crack: of dawn, and, weather permitting, hounces balls off the tence of his tennis court for a half-hour or BO, On weekends he is said to play four or five sets a day, usually with neighbors or his Jaw clerks or friends from the Army- Navy Club, where competition. he has plaged in it . % Tennis, Anyone?" Fetches Black A story is that when Black was in his 40s he was cautioned by his doctor against playing singles, “Singles aren't good for men in their 40s,” the doctor warned, “Well, then, * Black replied, “{ can't wait until I'm 50.” Black's drive carries over into the court, where his readiness to argue his convictions and ex- pound his knowledge of law is said to touch off some heated ex+. changes with Justice Felix Frank- furter, no man to withRold _ bis point of view on any subject. Relations betwee the two are said to be rigidly formal, since Black is believed ta have never orgiven Frankfurter for siding with the late Justice Robert Igck- son in a feud that began when Black refused to disqualify kimn- self in a case invelving ., his former law pariner. . * 8 © FRANKFURTER is by far the most disputatious—and con- troversial—-member of the court. A professor at Harvard -Law School from 1914 to 1939, when he was aeppointed to the ceurt, Frank(Curter's knowledge. of the flaw is unchalleaged but his, in- lerprelations of it frequently come under fire, “Feiix Was Bf great iw profes- gor.” says an expert on the fee ty “and he knows 4 Pare ————— eS aE ERE I el 9 ee oe OR NS cme Kin pias = oat aK aig FES Fe pe Fag ~