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te ¥ 0-19 (Rev. 7-18-58} +o Le ; ie We ‘have a great “deal of ayn(pathy or nee Ce r opinions about rs reme <n pe opinions. There r i yi ‘ Mau Sage Oe Pe yee Be Ae FR no useful purpose to turn the judiciary into an arena of personal squabbling. . Nevertheless, it seems to us that a ' suriber of these Federal judges may “ have let their indignation cloud their * judgment. Not content with a digni- 3 fied refusal ‘to answer a magazine’s questionnaire, several of them went on “to imply an impropriety in any public . criticism of the Supreme Court or of its opinions. .” Their immediate criticism was di- rected at the poll attempted by U. S. . News & World Report but some of it was aimed not just at the poll alone but at the general fact that this maga- zine and others have been openly criti- ' cal of the Supreme Court. The critical judges, incidentally, were not so open; many declined to be named but al- lowed the opinions to be published anonymously. » _ One of these, for example, observed: . “It is a sad day in this country when the propriety or wisdom of Supreme Court decisions are to be determined ’ by referenda, whether among the gen- eral public, members of the bar. or members of the judiciary . . . When it {the Supreme Court) speaks, that is the law.” Now, no responsible person has sug- } to differ with one another, but it serves gested ‘that Supreme Court opinions — he ‘determined’ by public opinion polls, or even by majority vote of the bar or other judges. But in the broader sense, they do rest on “‘referenda” and are subject to change. ~~ The body of law we have is the cre- ation of the public, the bar and the judiciary, present and past. The influ- ence of lower judges, rad of the gen- eral.opinion of the bar, has always been large in both creating and shap- € 7 0CT 151958 nine me “ o> REVIEW. and DurLooK - - ~ .y udicial Robes . for the Federal judges who declined to | in ere vickt and oroner nlaces for judgas - We ee Lat oa y ing that law. Were even have a sin cur Constitution permitting the people to overrule the Supreme Court, and on several occasions the people have used it to that purpose. If this, sess wat the = i. Tt WEre Dot tac Case, or ever ceases to be be’. the case, we would have a nation not of laws but of rules by men who happen for the moment to be the highest judges. Right now, as we “all know, the Supreme Court is coming in for a * good deal of criticism. This is not, as the public may suppose, limited to the controversy over the school integra- tion decision, although that of course l dramatizes it, The recent Conference of Chief Justices, comprising the heads of the state judiciary, approved a re- strained, thoughtful and dignified ‘‘dis- senting ‘opinion” on Supreme Court | rulings in many fields. And it is m matter of record that the dissenters on the Supreme Court : itself are among the less restrained critics when it comes to differing with — the views of their brethren. | Federal judges, including those on the Supreme Court, would not be hu- man if this did not make them a little sensitive: it may well make them touchy about their prerogatives. But np Supreme Court decision is as likely be destructive to our values as the adoption of the idea, in the phrases of some Federal judges, that it is “im- | proper,’ “impertinent” or ‘brazen” for anyone to discuss, debate or criti- cize Supreme Court decisions. The Supreme Court, let us not for- get, is a man-made institution, as well as being inhabited by men. So are the laws it administers. It is, therefore, in the deep meaning of that phrase, a political institution. Judges ought not to be swayed by the passing emotions of the mob. But that is not the same thing as refusing to listen to other members of the judiciary, to the members of a _# al ee * or to 1 the voice or te people. — hr hme Wicd. Tele. Room __ HolHoman Gande eee Y Ae, fie (0 /- 4 KD? ' NOT RECORDED 141 OCT 15 1958 Wash. Post and Times Herald Wash, News Wash. Star N. Y. Herald _4. — Tribune N. Y. Journal-____— American N. Y. Mirror N. Y. Daily News —— N. Y. Times Daily Worker The Worker New Leader Wa “STREET Jaa #4 Date —___._-