The Supreme Court: A Southern Justice

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It is unclear how a Nixonian court, with the additions of Burger and Haynsworth, would have decided those cases. Already Nixon has weighted the court toward a moderate conservatism; for the first time since 1956 the activist, liberal coalition led by Justices Black, Douglas, Brennan and Marshall is a minority. Teaming with the centrist group of Justices Harlan, Stewart and White, Burger and Haynsworth probably will have the effect of reversing or at least slowing down the liberal impetus of the court. The actuarial likelihood is that before he leaves office, the President will be able to remake the court further to fit his image of it. Hugo Black is 83. William O. Douglas, 70, has had an electronic pacemaker implanted in his heart, and Harlan, 70, has failing eyesight.