The Supreme Court: Choosing a Justice

Lyndon Johnson is now mulling over his choice of a successor to Justice Tom C. Clark, who will soon retire from the Supreme Court. For Johnson, the task not only gives him a chance to consider the qualifications of various men; it also forces him to consider what the fate of his Administration could be at the hands of the court ten years hence. In choosing, there are precedents and unwritten rules aplenty to go by, but practically all of them have been broken in the past, and easily could be again.

One...