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The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Wednesday
June 25, 1980
Supreme Court and Carter:
ke a scene
Chance to appoint a justice would help campaign
work” atmospl
|hop where th
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on wood, and
by DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON — Jimmy Carter has the
reputation among his aides and admirers of
being a “lucky” politician, but in one respect, at
least. Lady Luck has turned her back on this
President. He is the first occupant of the White
House since Andrew Johnson, more than a cen
tury ago, not to place anyone on the Supreme
Court.
Johnson succeeded the assassinated Abra
ham Lincoln only 41 days into Lincoln’s second
term, but left office without putting anyone on
the high court. The Senate, angry at Johnson
over Reconstruction policies, voted to reduce
the size of the court by attrition from ten mem
bers to seven, and took no action on Johnson’s
one nominee in 1866.
as a chance to name someone to the Supreme
Court.
None of those involved in this game of make-
believe claims to know what Carter would do
with such a vacancy, although First Lady
Rosalynn Carter is on record as saying her hus
band covets the opportunity to be the first Pres
ident to place a woman on the court.
Since they are free to let their imaginations
roam, they can fantasize about the effect on the
coming campaign if Carter, for example, picked
ex-Rep. Barbara Jordan for the high court — a
black, a woman, a liberal and a Texan, all in one
talented, eloquent person.
Carter has gone 41 months without a vacan
cy, and some of his leading associates are now
convinced that he, like Franklin D. Roosevelt,
will have to win a second term if he is to have
the privilege most Presidents enjoy of putting
their personal stamp in the summit of the
judicial branch.
Suppose, they say, there were another
vacancy and Carter could reach into the judici
ary and elevate someone he had named to a
lower court, someone like Circuit Court of
Appeals Judge Abner J. Mivka — a Jewish ex
congressman from the key state of Illinois, with
impeccable liberal credentials and close politic
al ties to organized labor.
WHO IS
THOSE
THAT BEHI/VD
FOSTER GRA/VTS ??
Even if a vacancy were to occur in the next
four months, precedents and parliamentary
procedures would permit Senate Republicans
to delay confirmation of a Carter appointee un
til the presidential contest is decided.
Nonetheless, among Carter’s political advis
ers, there is an almost poignant yearning for just
such an opportunity. Nothing else except the
sudden release of the hostages in Iran would be
so helpful to Carter’s re-election, they believe.
As they talk, it sounds suspiciously like pat
ronage politics raised to the level of the Sup
reme Court. There are lawyers in the White
House who believe that Carter would feel con
strained to make a much more traditional
choice — thus thwarting those eager for an
“affirmative-action appointment. “He might
easily alienate more people than he would
please,” one adviser cautioned, “particularly if
he failed to appoint a woman.
But in Carter’s peculiar political position, tin*
opportunity for a Supreme Court appointment
would go much beyond patronage to the
holism of what is at stake in this electi
making the kind of choice that a Ronald
could hardly be imagined making —al
Jordan appointment, for example-
could dramatically remind the dissident!
constituencies of the Democratic party
whatever their misgivings about certain
policies, they do have a stake in his re-elf
Lacking such an opportunity, the Presi
can only assert that 'more women, hi,
Hispanics have been appointed to
judgeships during my administration thm
ing all previous administrations in
The statistics are there: 39 blacks,
12 Hispanics. But they are not so impress}
a single Supreme Court appointment
those categories might be.
Presidents can do no more than hope
opportunity to knock, in the formofam
ger from the court; any faint hintofpres!
a justice to retire could produce a
Noting that five of the nine sittingjudgej
past age 70 (Chief Justice Warren E.
and Associate Justices William]. Brennaj
Thurgood Marshall, Harry A. Blacknuit
Lewis F. Powell, Jr.), one of Carter’s
aides observed, “Somebody’s going tobj
chance to appoint a majority pretty som
That is a fact that some voters willrem
in the polling place. But it is not
motivator that a flesh-and-blood Supi
Court appointment might be — ormiglii
been, had one come Carter’s way.
(c) 1980, The Washington Post Comi
wet paint crea
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The crew o(
ists—its id
iroduce the 1:
areate myster
The work i
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real credit.
Leslie Rhoi
the cast of
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niversity an
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rho do have
lorer said.
iart or worki
Bob Wencl
in Thursday
consistt
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milt to be ui
Ginger Le
mvironment
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ihe is on the
rat not in th
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iwis said,
rork in eithe
Senator shouldn't be Global population problems becoming unmanageable
If you are
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now that 1
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hat, a coup
Today Show
Carter’s go-between The aspiration bomb keeps tickini
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ling and say
were there s
[the proud, t
by STEVE GERSTEL
United Press International
WASHINGTON — No one was more mysti
fied than Sen. Joseph Biden Jr. to find himself
aboard a jetliner headed for Germany.
No one except, perhaps, Secretary of State
Edmund Muskie and, presumably, Jimmy Car
ter, the president of the United States.
Why had the 37-year-old, two-term Demo
crat from Delaware been summoned to Bonn
by Chancellor Helmut Schmidt?
Nor is summoned too strong a word. The
West Germans had been insistent that Biden
meet with Schmidt. Twice, Biden begged off
because he had previous commitments that
could not be broken.
The West Germans then asked Biden to sug
gest two alternative days, which he did and
presumed the flirtation was over.
But Biden was wrong. The Germans tele
phoned him in his Capitol office on a Tuesday
and told him the appointment with Schmidt
was the following day.
The trip was arranged in such a hurry that
Biden, who commutes to Washington from his
home in Delaware, had to get his son a train to
bring him a clean shirt and shaving gear.
Biden himself is not sure why he was selected
and why Schmidt was so insistent.
The Delaware senator has some good creden
tials. As chairman of the Senate’s European
subcommittee, he knows almost all of the lead
ers in the area. He even claims to have engaged
in a “shouting match with Schmidt in his past.
Biden feels that one of the reasons Schmidt
wanted to meet with him is to send a message to
the Senate stressing the importance the Ger
man chancellor places on SALT II — the strate
gic arms limitation treaty with the Russians that
was shelved when the Soviets invaded Afgha
nistan.
That may well have been an influencing fac
tor. Yet, the Schmidt-Biden talks, which lasted
about an hour and a half, ranged over many
more matters that only indirectly affect the
Senate.
In fact, Biden’s written report to Muskie —
presumably relayed to Carter — has in it a
complaint that “communications between the
United States and Germany seem to be
through distorted press releases.”
If true, that is an ominous complaint.
Although it is known that Carter and Schmidt
have a poor rapport, a total breakdown in com
munications between two of the key leaders in
the Western alliance poses a danger.
The main message that Biden brought back
was that Schmidt, when he goes to the Soviet
Union at the end of the month, is not going to
break with the allies on Afghanistan or nuclear
disarmament in Europe. As Schmidt put it — in
English to Biden — the United States can “de
pend on the bloody Germans.”
That’s welcome news for the administration.
What is disquieting is that Schmidt felt forced
to relay the message through a U.S. senator
hastily summoned to Bonn.
by R.M. SORGE
United Press International
UNITED NATIONS — World fertility will
decline in the next decade. But United Nations
experts say global population problems will be
come even more unmanageable in coming de
cades.
The reason: the poorest people still prop
agate at an annual rate of more than two per
cent, and that means a scary expansion of mass
poverty.
The present world population of roughly 4.5
billion will increase by another 2 billion in the
next two decades, according to the latest esti
mate by Rafael M. Salas, Executive Director of
the U.N. Fund for Population Activities, the
world’s largest venture in the population field.
“Over 90 percent of this increase will occur in
the less developed countries, and their popula
tion alone by the year 2000 would be nearly
twice the population the world had in 1950,” he
estimates. “By the year 2000, nearly 80 percent
of the world population would be living in the
less developed countries.”
In his latest report, “The State of World
Population 1980,” Salas, a Filipino, also warns
against another new danger from human over
breeding, the “aspiration bomb. He cautions
against future upheaval stemming from the fact
that the new masses of the poor will not accept
permanent subsistence.
“While the so-called population bomb may
have been defused,” he notes in the report,
“the aspiration bomb has not. Every one of the
125 million babies born each year is a bundle of
aspirations and the drive to fulfill these will
become the most dynamic and unpredictable
force in world affairs in the years ahead.
“And the explosion of aspirations in the last
two decades and the next two is likely to be
come a tremendous problem in its impact on
limited resources, fragile ecosystems, on strug
gle against mass poverty and on the world’s
political, economic and social fabric.
The danger is compounded by an irreversible
movement of populations into the cities, parti
cularly in developing countries.
“There were only six cities with populations
of 5 million and over in 1950 and the
bined population was only 47 million,
points out. “This has already risento26citi
1980 with a combined population of®
lion. Projections indicate that this nunte
rise to approximately 60 with an
population of nearly 650 million by tlie
2000.”
Of these 60 cities, he says, 45willbeio
developed countries.
Salas quotes estimates of the U.N. Food
Agriculture Organization that the nm
undernourished people in the less develij ; y en(: act]
countries (excluding China and the sect
Asian countries) rose from 400 million
71 to 450 million in 1972-74.
b,
“They constituted about a quarter o( myone whe
population of these countries,” he says,
prospects for dramatic increases in foodo.,
appear dim unless significant technoltf lnterestec
breakthroughs in high yielding varieties Inen on
seeds for a number of crops materialize,!
considerable increase in inputs enablesaiis
agricultural productivity.”
it s Your Turn
Dishonest Ags draw readers’ wrath
The Battalion
U S P S 045 360
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Dillard Stone
City Editor Becky Swanson
Sports Editor Richard Oliver
News Editor Lynn Blanco
Staff Writers. . Uschi Michel-Howell, Debbie Nelson,
Cathy Saathoff, Scot K. Meyer, Jon Heidtke
Kurt Allen
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Photo Editor . . Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
Photographer Marsha Hoehn
LETTERS POLICY
Letters to the Editor should not exceed300 words in length, and
are subject to being cut if they are longer. The editorial staff
reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will
make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter
must also he signed, show the address and phone number of the
writer.
Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, and are not
subject to the same length constraints as letters. Address all
inquiries and correspondence to: Editor, The Battalion, 216
Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
77843.
EDITORIAL POLICY
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper op
erated as a community service to Texas A&M University and
Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are
those of the editor or the author, and do not necessarily repre
sent the opinions of Texas A&M University administrators or
faculty members, or of the Board of Regents.
Questions or comments concerning any editorial matter
should be directed to the editor.
The Battalion is published Tuesday through Thursday during
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Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald Building,
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United Press International is entitled exclusively to the use
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Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843.
Editor:
Friday afternoon I was preparing to go home for
the weekend. As I approached my car I noticed
all four of my hubcaps had “disappeared.” I
thought they were plain, simple wheel covers
until I found out how much it’s going to cost to
replace them. I don’t understand why anyone
would want my hubcaps. I just hope whoever
took them gets as much money for them as I
have to pay for new ones.
Fiona McCracken ’82
Behavior ‘shocking’
Editor:
This memo is not written in response to last
Thursday’s plea from this column for more
opinions. Rather, it is written to express my
shock at the behavior of a few “Ags” in the old
engineering building.
Last Thursday the candy machine on the first
floor was left unlocked. I found this after I
attempted to get a bag of corn chips. After a few
vain attempts at this the door swung open. I
then took my bag of chips, left my thirty cents in
a box in the machine and shut the door.
Later I was told about a couple who made this
same discovery and proceeded to remove as
much merchandise as he and she could carry.
The above male opportunist was heard to
say, as he removed the thirty cents I placed in
the machine, how he wished there was a change
purse in the machine since he needed some
weekend spending money.
Later some secretaries from the same build
ing, among others who vandalized what they
could, were seen climbing the stairs near this
machine with “goods” in both hands.
Now I do not try to be a “good-doer” and
these sort of actions would not bother me so
much if it happened in Boston, New Yort
Houston, but they did not.
They happened in College Station, on’
A&M campus, folks. This is appalling tot!
that “good Ags” could rationalize th
behavior, even to the point of taking
criminal offense. One cannot rationalizetli 1
is simply theft.
I am just sorry that it happened and hope
is an isolated case. I would think Aggies"**
be more honest than this instance
trated. Timothy W, Fu^
Warped
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by Jim Earl
I ve followed your suggestion and have scheduled my study
time and class time for a whole week at a time. Now I needs
cure for severe depression. ”
Ha
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12:0
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