sheM t t an Ratn Eighty-one years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan The success of Nixon's manipulations A 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. News Phone: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted-in all reprints. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1971 NIGHT EDITOR: W. E. SCHROCK The Court nominations.. . LEWIS POWELL and William Rehnquist are names to be remembered, Presi- dent Nixon told the nation Thursday night. He stressed that "judicial conser- vatives" Powell and Rehnquist graduated at the top of their college classes and are superbly qualified, both academically and legally. Powell and Rehnquist, who will prob- ably receive confirmation in the Senate, will mark the final closing of the liberal era of the court and stamp it with a con- servative brand. This court will likely be reluctant to overturn convictions and wary of judicial innovation and could retain this character into the 1980's. Both nominees are educated, intelli- gent men. Therefore, assuming that no scandal arises around either of them, the Senate liberals who were preparing to do battle over the nominations of Herschel Friday and Mildred Lillie have had their arguments defused. Despite the campaign that may be mounted by Sen. Birch Bayh (D-Ind.), it would be virtually unprecedented to reject a Su- preme Court nominee solely on the basis of political and legal viewpoint. REHNQUIST is a protege of both Deputy Atty. Gen. Richard Klein- deinst, the strongest law and order man in the Justice Department, and Sen. Barry Goldwater, a fellow Arizonian. He has told college students that it would not be "unreasonable" for the govern- ment to ask the Supreme Court to re- verse its Miranda vs. Arizona decision- where the court declared that criminal suspects must be informed of their rights to remain silent and to legal counsel. Rehnquist has been the spokesman since 1969 of the Justice Department in promoting the legalization and legisla- tively unrestricted use of political sur- veillance of those the government con- siders suspicious individuals. He has said that "self discipline" on the part of the government is all that is needed to pro- tect the innocent. Though the term sur- veillance may become increasingly bland with widespread media usage, to the in- dividual under surveillance it will con- tinue to mean being tailed and bugged- all the time. POWELL, a wealthy, sophisticated Vir- ginia lawyer and a past American Bar Association president, is considered a racial moderate. But his attitude to- ward the First Amendment is no more promising than Rehnquist's. In a recent article he claimed allegations that dis- sent is suppressed and free speech denied in the United States were -"sheer non- sense" and "standard leftist propagan- da." He too has supported governmental wiretapping of, the "radical left" even without warrants. Powell has accurately noted that "wealth, social position, and the race of clients may affect the standards of jus- tice available." But it is hardly encour- aging when a nominee for the Supreme Court, a friend and political ally for years of right wing Sen. Harry Byrd Jr. of Virginia, observes the obvious and is con- sequently lauded for his understanding, legal impartiality and acumen. THE COURT has awaiting it important cases on such questions as the legal rights of defendants, the busing of stu- dents, school integration, voting district reapportionment, the rights of welfare recipients, the preservation of free speech and press, and the legality of the draft. The appointment of Rehnquist and Powell would not bode well for either the First Amendment or the progres- sive forces in American society. Nixon noted Thursday night that "Presidents come and go, but the Su- preme Court goes on forever." He is right about presidents coming and going- and hopefully, he will be gone soon-but the President has wanted to stick around in one way or another, and in one way he probably will. The Supreme Court used to be known as the "Warren Court." Today, few ob- servers talk about the "Burger Court," but more and more people are talking about the "Nixon Court." --ARTHUR LERNER By TONY SCHWARTZ RICHARD NIXON, ever the pol- itician, still possessed of a life-time memory of bad press, one-upped his old adversaries Thursday night. The curious game of cat-and- mouse over the potential Su- preme Court nominees appears just part of a more elaborate game Nixon has taken to play- ing. Unlike the past, Nixon ap- pears to be winning by shutout. No one in an embarrassed corps of Washington pressmen is quite sure how the Supreme Court fias- co was bungled. All they know is that they missed the boat. It started when Justices Black and Harlan resigned suddenly and Nixon was faced with a luscious opportunity he wasn't about to miss exploiting. . Simultaneously, a host of "in- formed sources" began to leak possible candidates for the High Court. Whether these ethereal fi- gures were members of the Amer- ican Bar Association (AB.A.) or of the Nixon administration is unclear. One thing is certain. Nix- on managed apparent political mileage by titillating the egos of the early court prospects whose names graced front pages across the nation for two weeks. Richard Poff, a Virginia con- gressman was the first name to spring into contention. Poff with- drew his name hurriedly when it became apparent that the in- tense public scrutiny of his re- cord was going to hit him right where it hurt.y NEXT CAME Robert Byrd, a superbly popular West Virginia Senator and coincidentally, the Democratic Party Whip. Byrd's staunchly conservative b a c k- ground combined with his wide- spread popularity among Demo- crats made him a prime candi- date for Nixon's flattery. Byrd's name remained in con- His choices are judically dis- tinguished if rather reactionary. They are almost sure to win re- sounding approval from the Sen- ate. The Supreme Court affair, how- ever, is only part of a policy Nix- on is following with considerable success. THE GAME is to give the press coffee and doughnuts, act buddy- buddy to avoid giving any inkling as to future plans., First it was the China an- nouncements. Liberal democratE had been carping about a thaw in relations with China for years. Bang. Nixon came on television. his newest and increasingly more comfortable medium, and told the nation he was going to Commun- ist China. He stuck a big fat ap- ple in Ed Muskie's mouth when he announced dramatic wage- -and price freeze and economic reversals. Pulled the carpet out from under. This week, he found time to capture headlines by announcing surprise plans to conduct. a sum- mit conference with Russian lead- ers. ALL OF THIS prompted the outspoken, half-bemused, half en- raged Lester Maddox to say, when asked whether he would support Nixon's reelection, "No sir, he's more liberal than McGovern. Ei- ther that or he's a liar and I can't quite make out which." Nixon has learned some lessons and, at least for the moment, he' is in command of his press. He has come a long way from his acrimonious accusations after his 1962 defeat in the California gub- ernatorial race. 1960 taught him that the work- ing press couldn't be trusted. And 1968 brought us a newly tailored 4 Al 4 WITH THE DEPARTURE of Associate Justices John Harlao and Hugo Black (front row, first and second from left), the Supreme Court will now gain two more Nixon nominees. Chief Justice War- ren Burger (to the right of Black) and Associate Justice Harry Blackmun (back row, far right) were Nixon's first two picks.J tention until the magic moment and even though he wasn't chosen, little offense could be taken. Aft- er all, as a former Ku Klux Klan- ner and a man who has never practiced law, he wasn't exactly "eminently qualified." Prior to the submission of the "final" six candidates to the ABA a few more names laced the air, including Michigan's own Robert Griffin, the minority whip. Grif- fin is a man Nixon likes to count on his side consistently. J - ..- P ti4 ,i Y I . j 44 sY" ~ x e t Itil.ThM n- Whatever become of the pillars? "Informed sources" leaked more news last week spreading six faces across the front pages. Three of the six were partic- ularly notable. THE FIRST TWO were women. Although one, Mildred Lillie of Los Angeles was a favorite going into the final day, neither one was very impressive. Lillie was "not approved" by the ABA in an 11-1 vote. The third notable was Judge Herschel Friday of Arkansas. Fri- day was the number one favorite until 10 minutes before Nixon's announcement. Nevertheless, his civil rights record incorporated a lifetime of opposition to integration. Worse, he found himself quickly pinned with the depressing "mediocre" tag that previously burdened Judges G. Harrold, Carswell and Clement HaynswortharThe ABA found him only slightly less un- desirable than Lillie. At 7:20 Eastern Daylight Time. 10 minutes before Nixon's an- nouncement. a frantic Associated Press story brought news that Nixon has chosen Arlen Adams, a federal appeals court judge from, Philadelphia. Adams' heart skip- ped. a beat and he choked on his milk, but eight minutes later he was no longer an Associate Su- preme Court judge. A hasty cor- rection leaped across the wire and A.P. had determined that the actual nominee was Louis Powell, a Virginia lawyer. A misunder- stood phone call to a Washing- ton source 'was the explanation given. NIXON CAME ON television re- Nevertheless, the clever Nixon appeared to have won two battles. He has dispensed with the increasingly unpleasant need to submit potential nominees to the ABA. Simultaneously he has closed the mouths of critics who claimed he was settling for mediocrity on the nation's highest court. .*. . . laxed and confident. For 12 min- utes he outlined his judicial phi- losophy before finally letting loose with the bomb. Rehnquist and Powell. Two names that had not even been on the list sent to the A.B.A. But the affront to the A.B.A. was yet to come. A few minutes later, John Mitchell released a letter denying the ABA the op- portunity to review presidential Supreme Court nominations be- fore they ,are sent to the Senate. Ironically, Mitchell cited "pre- mature publication of informa- tion" as the reason for the action. ABA officials denied the leak- age and attributed it to the ad- ministration. Nevertheless, the clever Nixon appeared to have won two battles. He has dispensed with the in- creasingly unpleasant need to submit potential nominees to the A.B.A. Simultaneously he has closed the mouths of critics who claimed he was settling for medio- crity on the nation's highest court. Nixon, one well attuned to the marketing of an image so aptly described in McGinnis' The Sell- ing of the President, SO THE CONFIDENT NIXON flattered a host of egos, raised a few hopes, threw the critics arms in the.air and then diffused them. He has learned the art of sur- prise. For now it seems to be working. Whether the slickness will survive the rigors of an- other presidential campaign has piqued interest among a group of Washington writers with a vested interest. . . an insult to women BEFORE PRESIDENT Nixon announced his nominations to the Supreme Court, he expressed a desire that the court "should in the broadest sense be representative of the entire nation." It is obvious that Mr. Nixon's statement is just rhetoric, due to the conspicuous ab- sence of a woman among his six nomi- nees over the past three years. Nixon is thus in the narrowest sense denying jus- tice to a majority of Americans. Justifying his actions on the basis of "strict constructionism"-i.e. that no qualified woman shares what he calls "his basically conservative philosophy,"- Nixon is simply 'perpetuating the dis- crimination against women in the legal field. First, there is the stark fact that women just do not occupy the high posi- tions from which Supreme Court nomi- nees are drawn. And secondly, even if there were such women, the majority of them would not hold the views Mr. Nixon seems to think are necessary to sit on the nation's highest court. THE ABSENCE of any women on the Supreme Court is representative of the discrimination against women at all levels of employment. Doris Sassower, a noted New York lawyer and authority on womens' rights, points out that "of al- most 10,000 judges in the U.S. less than 200 of them are women and all but an elite few sit on inferior courts of limited jurisdiction." On the federal level, there is only one woman appellate court judge out of 97 circuit courts and four women district court judges out of 369 district courts. Judgeships are not the only area of the legal profession where this discrimi- nation is blatant, however. Studies by various legal organizations have reveal- ed that there are very few women who are ever accepted as partners in a law firm and few women are hired as law professors. Out of 2500 law faculty in the country, only 53 are women. "There is a lack of incentive for wom- ers, can't be -partners in law firms, and can't get on the bench." BUT EVEN IF there were women in high places, the likelihood of Nixon ap- pointing one is fairly slim. Nixon claims he has based his nomination on a pledge to "nominate to the Supreme Court indi- viduals who shared my judicial philoso- phy, which is basically a conservative philosophy." Nixon's definition of "strict construc- tion" means that a judge "should got twist or bend the constitution in order to perpetuate his personal, political or social views." But in reality, judges who have pre- sided under the guise of strict construc- tion have only served to perpetuate the personal, political and social views of the rich and powerful rulers, who exclude women and minority groups. Most women in the legal profession, working for i any period of time, face discrimination in most every step they take. They would therefore have little reason to hold strict ' constructionist views -_which may very well keep them in the same position they have been struggling in. It is through their strug- gle in the profession that women learn the way to get ahead is through what Mr. Nixon might call "bending and twisting the constitution" but what is in fact interpreting the constitution to rec- tify injustices which have been thrust upon the woman and minority groups by an oppressive ruling class-made up pri- marily of men. 'THUS the absence of any qualified women strict constructionists is quite understandable. But on the other hand, is Mr. Nixon's criterion of strict construction justifi- able? As Sassower puts it, "in this mo- ment of history, this criteria (strict con- struction) must be sacrificed before women are sacrificed. To set up such cri- teria is wholly wrong and unjust." If Mr. Nixon is indeed seeking representa- * Two young men go astray By ROBSRT SCHREINER DON AND I walked out of the store. We were in East Lan- sing the night of the day that Michigan States lost a football game to Michigan. We had all been feeling good ever since the morning and all through the game, and in order to keep feel-' ing good we went to the store and Don bought three bottles of some cheap red wine and I bought one of those boxes containing 12 Old Milwaukee beers, not that I par- ticular care for it, but because it was on special and had a handle. We walked across the street and headed across a gas station. "Watch it," Don said. "There's a cop over there." "Where?" "Over there in the station wa- gon, at the gas pump." "Christhdon't worry about it. He's got better things to do than bother us. There are people be- ing murdered and stores being robbed. Don't worry." WE WALKED ACROSS a field in the dark and came out in front of the dormitory. The party was in several rooms inside the dormi- tory. "Watch it," Don said. The cop's over there." It was the samecpo- liceman in the station wagon. He must have coipe the long way down the road that wraps around the field. He was between us and the dormitory and we kept walk- ing. He drove up to us. "What do you have in that bag, son"? "Alcoholic beverages, sir." "How old are you"? "Twenty, sir." "And you"? "Twenty, sir." "Alright, fellas." He jumped out of the car. "You two minors are in violation of the state li- quor laws. Don't give me any trouble. Let's get in the car." WE GOT IN the car. Officer Burns was talking on the radio. He had just apprehended two minors in violation of the state liquor laws, section 316. He would now proceed to obtain proper identification of said minors and determine where the goods had been purchased. Officer Burns -drove around the side of the dormitory. Were we aware, he asked, that we were in violation of the state li- quor laws which prohibit the sale of intoxicating beverages to mi- nors? I answered while Don was transferring his bogus Missouri drivers license from his wallet to his shoe. "Yes," I said to officer Burns. I was unable tovadd2"sir"because it appeared he was 23 or 24 years old. He had a blue jacket on with an insignia, and a gun. "We are aware of the law, but in view of the new state law to become oper- ative in January and the fact that we're almost 21 ..." I let the words linger for effect. Officer Burns closed his eyes. "The present law is the present law," he said. "The sooner you kids find that out, the better-off we'll all be. Now get out of the ca., Officer Burns stopped at the loading dock at the side of the referred to the county prosecutor. He could, if he so chose, prose- cute us at a later date for viola- tion of the state liquor laws. Meanwhile, Officer Burns should proceed with the two minors to the place of purchase for identi- fication of seller to be forwarded, to the Secretary of State. On the way to the store, Of- ficer Burns asked if we could identify the seller. "It was pretty dark in there," Don said. "Well, we'll see how you can do," Officer Burns said. We went inside the store, which also sold groceries. It was fairly dark inside the store. Don could not remember who had sold him the intoxicating beverages. The guy who had sold it to us with- out asking for any ID said he had never seen us before. The manager came out of the back room and informed Officer Burns that the policy of his store is not to sell alcoholic beverages to any- one under the age prescribed by the state liquor laws, and his employes were all aware of that fact. In fact, they would lose their jobs if they did not adhere to the policy. WE GOT BACK in the car and drove back to the dormitory. Of- ficer Burns told us he was let- ting us go, that the county pro- secutor would contact us if we were going to be prosecuted. "According to federal law, I should haul you in for not having a draft card on your person," he told me. "But I'm going to give you a break. Now go on." "Officer, at the risk of sound- ing ludicrous," Don said, "Would you mind letting us take the bev- erages with us?" Officer Burns closed his eyes. "You two." he pointed, "get the hp1 rntof hisca." -Daily-Robert wargo dormitory. We got out in the dark. "Lean up against the car and spread those legs," Officer Burns said. Don was first to be frisked. First, Officer Burns kicked Don's legs farther apart, then ran his hands down the length of his body, stopping just short of his ankles. "Alright, back in the car. Now you, spread your legs." I was clean and we got back into the car. ALRIGHT, let's have some ID fellas." Don handed over his Mich- igan drivers license and Officers Burns wrote on a piece of white paper, "Do you live at this address now, Donald"? Donald said that right. now he did, but that Mon- day he would be going back to school in Boston. Officer Burns looked at 'me. "Let's see your license." "I don't have it with me," I said. "Then your draft card." "I don't have that either." "Are you aware." Officer Burns addressed me, that it is a federal crime to not have your draft card with you at all times"? I did not answer. "You don't have any ID at all?" he asked. "Not when I travel," I said. "Where do you come from?" "Ann Arbor." Letters to the Editor