Nation: WARREN: OUT OF THE STORM CENTER

AMERICANS, enthralled by the personality of their chief executive and the power of his office, tend to talk about their political history in terms of presidential administrations. Yet last week, when it was learned that Earl Warren, the 14th Chief Justice of the United States, would soon retire from the Supreme Court, it was clear that another branch of government can define a historic period just as sharply—if not more so. For the past 15 years, the extraordinary "Warren court," spanning all but a few months of the terms of three Presidents, has had no less an impact on American life than the Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson administrations combined.

Under Warren, the court has addressed itself principally to three great areas: civil rights, reapportionment under the one-man, one-vote doctrine, and criminal justice. As earlier courts have been dominated by such concerns as property rights, the building of the central government and slavery, Warren's court confronted, in an unusual number of cases, one overriding problem—the rights of the individual. In so doing, the court guaranteed that it would spark controversy. As Oliver Wendell Holmes said of the court in one of his celebrated remarks: "We are very quiet there, but it is the quiet of the storm center."

Activist Tradition. There is no compulsory retirement for a Supreme Court Justice, and Warren, at 77, could have remained active as long as health and spirit lasted. Mr. Justice Holmes was writing lucid decisions in his 90s; Justice Hugo Black shows few signs of faltering at 82. Warren apparently wanted to retire while his physical and mental abilities were still keen. Moreover, he was eager to enable President Johnson, a personal friend, to name a new Chief Justice who would follow in the liberal, activist tradition.

The Chief Justice was also worried, according to friends, that Richard Nixon, a man he heartily dislikes, would be elected President in November and fill the spot with a conservative.* Several Republican Senators, similarly convinced that Nixon would win in the fall, insisted that Johnson permit the next President to pick his own Chief Justice. But Johnson has tradition firmly on his side—John Adams appointed John Marshall Chief Justice a month before leaving office—and he will almost certainly ignore their demand. Immediate speculation as to his choice centered on two Associate Justices: Abe Fortas, Johnson's close friend and his first appointee to the court, and William Brennan Jr., who shares Warren's philosophy on most issues.

Productive & Exciting. Last week, however, most eyes focused on the court that has been rather than the one that will be. By any accounting, the Warren court has been the most influential since the Marshall court (1801-35) established the judiciary as the true third branch of the federal system and, with its decisions, laid the legal groundwork for a strong central government in the U.S. Yet, as Fred Rodell, the Yale Law School's Supreme Court specialist, points out, "John Marshall had 34 years to do what he did. Warren did his fantastic work in only 15. The Warren years have been the most productive and exciting the court has ever had."