Session: 1234567891011121314         Page 408409410411412413414415416417418419420421422423424425426427428429430431432433434435436437438439440441442443444445446447448449450451452453454455456457458459460461462463464465466467468469470471472473474475476477478479480481482483484485486487488489490 of 763

government toward equity in economic ability. Now I'm looking at the executive branch of government as a very powerful force toward inequities and inequalities, and making this a virtue.

You mentioned that you felt there was more conservatism in the courts now. Do you see this as a result of additional appointments that Reagan has already been able to make? Or possibly some of the aspirants seeing that before this Reagan second term is out, he probably will have appointed more federal judges than any president since Roosevelt, and it's necessary for them to be more conservative?

And that judges, like other citizens in our democracy, read election results.

As the famous cartoonist Dooley wrote.

Up until recently the courts, the federal courts, seemed stable in terms of interpretation of civil rights laws and remedies, and I thought that they were going to continue until I saw otherwise. Before we talked last, I gave a talk in '69, and I thought that Mr. [Warren S.] Burger's handwritten note to me was going to be-- by the way, I should say that as far as I can see Burger has attempted to maintain some sort of balance on civil rights issues. Not quite as much as Blackmun.