Birthday

For weeks the Neanderthal brow of Tammany Congressman Sol Bloom had been furrowed. Now he was beaming. Only yesterday he had discovered what he had been looking for: the grave of one Brockholst Livingston (1757-1823), in Manhattan's Trinity Churchyard. Sol Bloom stumped into the marble vastness of the U. S. Supreme Court brimming with his good news: that he had spotted the grave of every last Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court--70 in all.

Inside the monumental building, Sol Bloom put on an accustomed and respectful air; his manner signalized that Congressman Bloom was walking with history. For those to whom history is anniversaries it was indeed a historic occasion: and he had done it. If it had not been for him, the Court's 150th birthday might have been completely overlooked. With patriotic satisfaction Congressman Bloom heard Attorney General Robert H. Jackson, Charles A. Beardsley of Oakland, Calif., president of the American Bar Association, and Chief Justice Charles Evans ("Zeus") Hughes extol the sesquicentenarian Court. Said Chief Justice Hughes: "It is the unique function of this Court not to dictate policy, nor to promote or oppose crusades, but to maintain the balance between States and Nation through the maintenance of the rights and duties of individuals. ... At the end of 150 years, this tribunal still stands as an embodiment of the ideal of the independence of the judicial function. . . ."

Inglorious Infancy. Although it would hurt Sol Bloom to admit it, the Supreme Court was not always the imposing body it is today. At its first meeting, in the 2 1/2-story Royal Exchange, at the foot of Manhattan's Broad Street, Feb. 1, 1790, only Chief Justice John Jay and two Associates turned up. Next day two more of the six Justices arrived from Virginia, making a quorum. In its first two years only one case came before the Supreme Court, was quickly dismissed because of an error in the writ. John Jay found plenty of time to go to England, negotiate his ill-famed treaty. His brethren spent their days cursing because they had to ride circuit. Nobody dreamed of assuming that the Supreme Court had the power to declare unconstitutional an Act of the People, as represented by Congress. If such a power existed, declared Jefferson, "then indeed is our Constitution a complete felo-de-se [suicide]." It remained for the Virginia strong man, Chief Justice John Marshall, to show that the Constitution could take it.

Coming-of-Age. Other ironhanded Presidents saw red in the rising sun of the Court. Andrew Jackson was one. "John Marshall has made his decision," he bellowed when the Court made Indians Government wards, "now let him enforce it!" Abraham Lincoln, whose election was due in no small part to Chief Justice Roger B. Taney's pro-slavery decision against old Dred Scott, ordered an Army fort commander to ignore a writ of habeas corpus issued by Chief Justice Taney. U. S. Grant packed the Court, got a 4-3 unfavorable decision reversed, 5-4.

After Reconstruction the Supreme Court waxed in authority and popularity with the ruling classes. With a long series of proBusiness, pro-Individualist decisions it paved the way for the westward expansion of the nation. Yet the best-loved Justice since the Civil War was no railroad lawyer, but brilliant, handle-bar-mustachioed Oliver Wendell Holmes, "The Great Dissenter."

In 1937 another strong-willed President grappled with the Supreme Court. Franklin D. Roosevelt, vexed that his New Deal should be hindered by judges who still lived in an expanding-continent era, proposed to pack the Court with six younger judges. He lost his battle.

But no unprejudiced observer at last week's ceremonies could deny that Franklin Roosevelt had won his war. Of the eight Justices solemnly observing their 150th birthday, four* -- Black, Reed, Frankfurter, Douglas--were virile, young New Dealers of the Roosevelt stripes.

Three others--Hughes, Roberts, Stone--were older but tinged with varying degrees of liberalism. Only one out-&-out reactionary was left--crabbed, 78-year-old James Clark McReynolds.

Future Sol Blooms should have no trouble finding the graves of Bill Douglas, Felix Frankfurter, et al. For, unlike those forgotten Justices of the Court's early days, the Olympians over whom Charles Evans Hughes presides have indeed made history.

* Pious New-Dealing Frank Murphy did not take his seat until this week.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.