THE SUPREME COURT'S judgement this week, in. those cases of
civil liberties, were well described by Mr. Alistair Cooke as 'a burial service for McCarthyism and few good words were spoken of the dead.' The judgements related to matters that took place some years ago, and it is natural to regret with The Times that 'the rulings could not have been given earlier at the height of the McCarthy campaign.' Natural but, in my view. mistaken. One does not have to go as far as Mr.
Dooley, who believed that 'the Supreme Court follows the election returns,' to think that the Supreme Court, like courts in other countries, is consciously or unconsciously influenced by the prevailing climate of opinion. And if these cases had come before the Supreme Court three or four years ago, it might well have decided them differ- ently; at the very least its judgements would have been far less strongly worded. The delay was very probably beneficial. The role of the undertaker is easier than that of the crusader, but also more final and therefore more appropriate to the Supreme Court.
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