"One Law for All"

At high noon one day this week, an invisible hand parted the red velvet draperies at the front of the U.S. Supreme Court's magnificently plain chamber. Through openings in the draperies and past the gleaming marble Ionic columns stepped nine men robed in black. Eight seated themselves in the black leather chairs at the long mahogany bench; the ninth went with the clerk of the court to a desk beside the bench. After a brief opening ceremony, Clerk Harold B. Willey turned to the man at his side and administered an oath: "I, Earl Warren, do solemnly swear that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich..."

Then, in a borrowed robe (his new robe was not ready), Earl Warren stepped up to the bench and seated himself in the high-backed chair in its center. The U.S. had a new Chief Justice, and the U.S. Supreme Court was beginning a new era.

One End to Serve. Chief Justice Warren's first official duty was to "meet" a man he knew well indeed: U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr. was formally introduced to the court. The same Herbert Brownell had recommended the appointment of Warren to President Eisenhower and had been the first to tell Warren that he would be appointed. The President had assigned Brownell to the task of searching for a new Chief Justice soon after the death of Fred M. Vinson (TIME, Sept. 21). Brownell immediately began seeking a man with judicial experience. He did not find one who, in his opinion, fitted the job.

Less than two weeks before the Warren appointment was announced, Brownell had a list of six final prospects. Then Supreme Court Associate Justice Robert Jackson was dropped from the list because, among other things, he had been a left-of-center Democrat and an ardent supporter of Franklin Roosevelt's Supreme Court packing plan. Associate Justice Harold Burton, the only Republican on the court but not its senior member, was eliminated because jumping him over the others might have started a new round of bickering among the Justices. Federal Circuit Judges Orie L. Phillips of Colorado and John J. Parker of Virginia were considered too old--both will be 68 on the same day, next Nov. 20. New Jersey's Chief Justice Arthur Vanderbilt, 65, was known to be a hard driver, and might have serious trouble with the prima donnas on the high court. That left one name.

When that point was reached, Brownell requisitioned an Air Force plane and flew to California. Dwight Eisenhower and Herbert Brownell already knew that Warren would like a Supreme Court post. But they wanted to find out specifically how the 62-year-old Californian felt about the Chief Justiceship, and whether he could take over right away. After an hour's talk with Warren at McClellan Field outside Sacramento. Brownell had his answers. He flew back to Washington, made his recommendation. President Eisenhower accepted it on the spot.

That night, Brownell leaked the story to some old friends of the press (and thereby caused an uproar--see PRESS), and two days later Dwight Eisenhower made it official at his news conference. Said the President: "I certainly wanted a man whose reputation for integrity, honesty, middle-of-the-road philosophy, experience in government, experience in the law, were all such as to convince the U.S. that here was a man who had no ends to serve except the U.S.... He is a man who will make a great Chief Justice..."

No Debt to Pay. Public reaction, from both Republicans and Democrats, was almost unanimously favorable. Beneath the surface, some conservative Republicans grumbled that a Republican closer to the right should have been named, and some lawyers professed themselves appalled at Warren's total lack of judicial experience. But there were others who felt that Warren's long experience in government (see box) far outweighed his lack of experience on the bench. /-

To the President and the Attorney General, Earl Warren seemed to be far & away the best man available. In addition to his administrative duties on the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice presides over the Judicial Conference of the U.S. (comprised of chief judges of the U.S. circuit courts), and thus has an administrative function over all of the nation's federal courts. Warren's knowledge of the problems of government and his administrative ability would serve him well in that phase of his work. In addition, his knack for pulling opposing forces together would help to prevent discord on the often-divided court.

Part of the press asserted, with an air of tolerant wisdom, that Eisenhower was paying a political debt incurred in the 1952 campaign. Actually, any debt that Ike owed Warren could have been paid by a third-class postmastership. At the G.O.P. convention in Chicago last year, Warren's California delegates did cast their votes for the Eisenhower side in the battle of the contested delegations, but that was the proper strategy for Candidate Warren, who was then hoping for a deadlock. When the balloting for President came, California voted for Warren and never switched. In the campaign, Warren made only late, routine efforts for Ike, and he conspicuously snubbed his fellow Californian, Richard Nixon. Some Administration bigwigs were disappointed that they had not been able to choose a man who was more of a legal heavyweight. Said one White House aide: "Sure, we wanted a Charles Evans Hughes. But where the hell do you find one?"

A Position Made Clear. Within five days after the announcement, Warren flew to Washington, arriving just 14 hours before he was sworn in. This week he was digging into his new job, facing one of the busiest and most important terms in the court's history. Before the court's next recess, it will probably have to dispose of more than 1,200 cases. Most explosive on the list: five cases challenging the constitutionality of segregation in public schools. Warren is known to be against race discrimination, but he also is known to be a guardian of states' rights.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice Warren had made his general position quite clear. Said he: "If through the years [the court's] work is well done, the home of every American will always be his castle, every human life will have dignity, and there will forever be one law for all."

/- All of the five Chief Justices appointed in this century have had previous judicial experience, but five of the eight who came before (including the great John Marshall) had none.

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