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Supreme Court — Part 26

116 pages · May 11, 2026 · Broad topic: Politics & Activism · Topic: Supreme Court · 108 pages OCR'd
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O-19 (Rew, 10-26-57) bait os . oavy tar ae ge AN ae eae ae ws ” attorney General William PB. Rogers has his basebatl - ie bills being considered in Congress to curb the excesses the upreme Co are the result o sort tators at a baseball game who shout, “kU! the umpire!” ~ Supreme Court really want fs for the “umpire” | to stick ‘co his job of watching the ball and abiding by the rules. ‘pire’s duty to make new rules ‘or to tell the manager of the ‘club, for instance, Just when ‘he can put in pitcher. They don’t like: to - when 8 ball drops outside the foul line, it is a foul for one ‘team. but, when the other tearm hits the ball into exactly ‘at all. In other words, "the ‘fans don’t want to see the sround to sult himself. _ ; That’ 5 essentially what the dispute is about a5 the Bu- of the game repeatedly and makes, up its own rules that are then proclaimed as bind- ing on everybody—even to the point of telling Conorasa in formal hearings through get Information to guide them in. writing new laws.*. umpire is. He appears in full book to go by. In the Supreme possible’ t6 know who the umpire happens to be: ‘ Thus every justice has two Yaw clerks, and the Chief Justice has four. These as-. ‘ sistarits don’t have to be con- Sirmed by the Senate. They ara not supposed to be be judges. * "Yet they perform some of the ' PS ae el ee. "work of the Supreme Court Justices, especially in connes- ~ Déitib: LAWRENCE?) “Tr ln visible Hig we e~ icc we weer - Method. of Choosing Justices’ Clerks, ',o Their Fitness and Power Questioned " - metaphors mixed up. He sayz . of outcry heard from spec-_ But what the critics of the | They don’t think it’s the um- - different | .6¢e an umbire deciding that, - the same spot, ft isn’t a foul: ‘umpire moving the foul line preme Court ignores the rules : what questions may be asked | which its committes seek ta Also, in a, baseball game, ° everybody knows who the - uniform and Ke has a rule - Court's work, it isn’t always: are petitions to the Supreme Court to grant an appes} from the lower courts. If-the writ - is denjed, there's no appeal. tt, means a cfinal judicial de- cision so far as the citizen is concerned. The Justice him- self signs the denial of the writ, but the basic fudgment which has preceded it. often comes from a young law clerk imbued with all sorts of ideas as to | the role of the Suprema Court it the Nation today, | Just a week ago, the New York Times, in its Sunday magazine, had an. article by a former law clerk to a Su-: preme Court Justice who dis- cussed very, frankly the ‘role played by the “law clerks, many of whom come from the law schools imbued with the viewpoint of the so-called “tntellectuals,” The atticle sald:: . , “Law clerks, then, gener- ‘ally assist their’ respective justices {n searching the law books and other sources for material relevant to the de- cision . of cases before the “court. . a . “The ‘clerks ‘often présent ‘the fruits of their searches to ‘their Justices along with thelr recommendations. ‘They | ‘go over drafts of ‘opinions and may suggest changes. They tend to see, a lot of their justices," and talk a great deal with them. And the talk Is mostly about law : and cases: ~ “What i more important, the way to the “Justice's mind was always open. There was always someone-—fresh from . the immersion in ideas that marks a law-achool and law- | reylew career—polsed at the ' Justice’s elbow, willing and able to do intellectual ‘come . bate: In haseball, anybody ‘ak- ; ‘ing decisions on the field of play must appear in uniform . a3 an umpire and has to be seen. Th There are RO. _lnviatble pires. Certainly “when . lawyer . ‘tion with what are known has argued his case and sub- as “writs of certiorari.” These . mitted it to tha Supreme a I et he te, a Se ade hl a 2 oe Bae, al 0 MAY 13 1958 7223 REGO Hee Belmont _ 42% atinla Mohr have — "right of rebuttal ” arsons against | any new points raised”. Rosen by “law. clerks,” especially ‘. Tamm some of thosn remarkahia " Trotter _* “footnotes” in Supreme. Clayton Court opinions whith ‘have- introduced new material of a . controversial. nature rere Tele. Room — brought. up When the Gandy itself. was argued. . former to breme Gourd Yustioe, ast” btoremse Court Fines, in Uni Btates News && World Yy, Report, said. “atter conceding & wide. diversity | of opinion among * Pl the clerks themselves, arid | further. conceding the difl-{ . : culties, and possible inaccu-.' Oey facies inherent in political | —~ cataloguing of people, it is nonetheless fair to say that. | Wy) the political cast of the clerks [| L/ / as & group wae to the ‘left’ of either the Nation, or the j/ < Aj court.) “Some ot the: tenets of the ‘liberal’ point of ' view which commanded the syin- pathy of 4 . majority c of the Mb . clerks J knew were: Extreme - solicitude for the claims of A Communists and other crimli- IREG- 50 nal defendants, expansion of * . [ 4 2 79 a4 ‘Ss. Federa] power at the expense * of State power, great eym- NOT JOT RECORDED pathy toward any Gove ment regulation of , une in short, the polit = 44 MAY 12 1958 losophy now espoused by Oe : court under Chief Justice a _ Hl WRTcd, , Surely the Senate of ‘the United States ought to ex-" amine the whole law-clerk system to determine whether. perhaps these “clerks” should . be given “umpire status.” or: - - at least classified as “as-'- Wash, Post and Times Herald Wash, News > aad Wash. Star Ais. $ sistant tustices-" Perhaps, in- N. Y. Herald __ stead of letting them change Tribune from year to year, Congress should provide permanent as- N. ¥. Journal-____. slstants to the Justices and | American réquire that among their qualifications should be actual N. Y. Mirror experience on the bench in N.Y. Daily News —— trial courts, For if the “law; N” Y. Times clerks" play such a vital part - .ot in the making of the “su-. Daily Worker preme aw of the land, td somes - - aes . thing more ought to be known a ihe Worker by the Senate Judiciary Com- New Leader mittee as to the methed of: their selection and the limita of their “judicial” a (Reproduction Rights ‘Ranerved ad Pa" es “en Ve te he dle Schein a Date MAY 5 1958
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