Freund Hits New Supreme Court Plan

Paul A. Freund, Loeb University Professor, said yesterday that a plan to create a new court that would help the Supreme Court rule on more cases "might add to the court's case load."

Under the plan, proposed by former Law School dean and U.S. Solicitor-General Erwin N. Griswold last week at the Cornell Law School, the Supreme Court would continue to rule on about 150 cases of its yearly docket of 4000, but then would select another 150 cases to be reviewed by the new court.

The Supreme Court would continue to rule on the most important constitutional questions. Decisions of the new court would be subject to Supreme Court review.

Freund--who headed a panel appointed by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger two years ago to find ways to ease the court's workload--said the plan "would help in getting more cases decided," but that the workload would be increased. "The court would have to screen all the cases, review its own allocations, then review the lower court's decisions," he said.

The Freund panel recommended creating a screening court that would limit the cases going before the Supreme Court, while the Griswold plan would have the screening authority remain in the high court.

Where It Belongs

William L. Bruce, vice-dean of the Law School, said yesterday that the Griswold plan was the "Key to maintaining jurisdiction in the high court, where it belongs, but still making sure that a large number of cases are reviewed."

Taking the case selection authority away from the Supreme Court was "the defect in the Freund plan," Bruce said.

David L. Shapiro, associate dean of the Law School, also said the Griswold plan is "more attractive than the Freund proposal."

John H. Ely, visiting professor of Law, said he did not think that too few cases were being decided. "The Griswold plan deserves looking at, but I'm not convinced of the problem," Ely added.