13 JANUARY 1939, Page 6

The appointment of Professor Felix Frankfurter to fill the vacancy

on the Supreme Court of the United States created by Justice Cardozo's resignation will have surprised only those who doubted whether Mr. Roosevelt would have the courage to nominate a man who is a Jew and a strong Liberal ; but as the retiring Justice is both, the new appoint- ment leaves the Court's general balance unchanged. There is one other Jew and Liberal on the Bench, the distinguished veteran Justice Brandeis, who is a close friend of Dr. Frank- furter's. The new Associate Justice (all members of the Court are Associate Justices except the Chief Justice) is well known in this country, partly—but by no means wholly— because of the period he spent at Oxford in 1934 as visiting professor. * * * *