European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 22, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes july 1985 columns James Kilpatrick High court again Drifting in philosophical doldrums one year at the end of its 198384 it looked As if the supreme court finally had found a sense of after years of aimless tacking in the philosophical the court had taken a reasonably conservative liberals were but conservatives were Well this july finds the High court with its sails flapping it is at the end of the 198485 sentiments arc this summer finds the Ameri can civil lib Craties Union filled with Good Over in my we arc wondering what in the Devil happened to our old Friend Lewis he missed 56 cases because of a prostate but the surgery  account for some of the swing votes that jus Tice Powell the scholarly virginian will be 78 in in his 13th year on the court he has become its most influential during the term just the court handed Down 16 decisions on totes of Powell was on the prevailing Side in 12 of the he dissented Only seven times during the entire looking More closely at those 54 we find that Powell sided with court conservatives in six in with court liberals in in the 12th involving an Alabama tax it was hard to conservatives were especially pained by his swing votes with the liberals in cases identified As Aguilar and Dun the Aguilar Case saw the High court strike Down an arrangement in new York by which the poor est of poor children received remedial instruction in parochial in a concurring Powell acknowledged that the program had done much Good and if detectable but he found regrettably that the arrangement involved excessive entanglement Between state and he also saw a considerable risk of continuing political strife Over the propriety of direct Aid to religious in Dun Powell took a springboard leap from a 1983 Case involving the free speech rights of a discharged Public employee in new this time the question was whether Dun Bradstreet had lib eled a builder by mistakenly distributing a false credit report about by holding that the credit report was not a matter of Public Powell created a new and troublesome doctrine of libel but perhaps those of us in the conservative Camp should not be Overly distressed at powells key votes in Aguilar and Dun and also in his vote to strike Down Ala Hamas minute of silence Law for prayer or meditation at the Start of a school Powell stood with the losing conservatives on the Only major Case of the term involving the Flora Lewis Ethan news specs on Bank chief Larai justices Issue of states rights in a scathing he denounced his Liberal colleagues for rejecting almost 200 years of the understanding of the constitutional status of Powell was sound on questions of copyright prison the Miranda and the admissibility of Evi in two unrelated he took a Cool View of peace Niks who plead first amendment rights to justify violations of in any powells ambivalence to one it was not an altogether bad term for the courts four most consistent liberals mar Blackmun and Stevens dissented 139 the other five justices dissented Only 84 that would suggest that conservatives Rehnquist and Oconnor generally were not too unhappy with the course of this judicial the court continues to enjoy a period of relative stability in its since Powell and Rehnquist were confirmed in december Only two More justices have come aboard John Paul succeed ing William Douglas in and Sandra Day replacing Potter Stewart in As it Hap this stability has not encouraged alliances it seems rather to have encouraged a Maverick ind Epen Brennan and Marshall still retain a glue All Bond in 145 cases in which they both they disagreed Only five but the old firm of Burger Blackmun Long since and the recent term saw Rehnquist and Oconnor splitting in l7 Overall the term has been described in the conservative View As a but president reagans second term still has three and a half years to there May be improvement c Universal press Syndicate straightforward talk concerning Ronald Reagan the spokesmen have told me More than i really wanted to know about president reagans it is obviously important to keep the and thus the so Well informed about the health of the Man at americas Helm that there is no room for Rumor or invidious that custom of american Candor developed thanks to president Eisenhowe the revealing demands of television As Well As the nuclear responsibility make it inevitable that any weakness or absence from office would be noticed and provoke great fear if not and it is reassuring that the 25th providing for a temporary Transfer of has been tested and seen to it is disconcerting to have to pay so much attention to the innards of a Man who has always seemed so the diagrams of his intestines dont make him seem More human but somehow Dilembo less people outside the United states have tended to Admire the forthrightness of the but with some it is another example of their american car Frank to the Point of confident to the Point of Friendly to the Point of disregard for Pri not the which practices a cult of mystery about the everyday life and health of its Dis closed a certain sense of Moscow reports said that a who was asked whether reagans illness might affect soviet expectations of the november Summit answered it would be unethical to discuss the ailment of a Lead that is right in the russian tradition of wrapping the powerful in the bet Ter to preserve their influence and display their these Are cultural Dif not just due to ideology and political although the american political system certainly includes the Peoples right to know about their govern perhaps the troubling Factor comes from feeling there has been All along a Gap Between Ronald Reagan the Man and Ronald Reagan the what is the which no medical tests can Dis close the Hospital details serve As a reminder of How unclear that still there int yet a sense of what the presi Dent really wants to do in his last what kind of record he would most like to sometimes it seems to be primarily Ide a reassertion that government should be kept to a minimum and the Market Enterprise system expanded to a without concern for social con sometimes it seems to be Pri Marily an attempt to reverse the Long dominance of Roosevelt Ian populist democrats and install an enduring Liber tarian Republican the two Are incompatible at certain As mounting criticism of Rea Gans policies from his party right has in International sometimes reagans purpose seems to be bulging an intransigent determination to make the world accept an american View of what is Good for the absolute Primacy of the military in his spending program seems to have less to do with assuring defense in Concrete strategic Matching Means with mis than with creating an impression or illusion of overwhelming he seems to seek the role of the great the Man who holds together the alliances of like minded helps protect their Freedom even to and to relaunch the momentum of open Trade and eco nomic which is the foundation of Western there Are incompatibilities in these two compounded by a rhetoric that stops Little Short of Bellico sity and an actual restraint in the use if not the show of even a president cannot always carry out his he must trim and accommodate to the facts of the there should be no More shame or Reti Cence about admitting that than there is about admitting a medical and it is at least As important to know his Basic intentions so that his plans can be debated and while he is recuperating with his Admi Rable buoyancy and the sympathy of Reagan will have time and distance from Day today affairs to Muse about the essential guidelines of his it is to be hoped that when the time comes to resume full he will explain his thoughts with the unflinching straight for the sobriety and care for Preci Sion that have been used to Tell about his c new York times the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page 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