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Federal judges are rightly expected to meet the most stringent standards. Not only do almost all have lifetime appointments, but they also have unique powers over both the legislative and executive branches. On most matters, they have the final word. Almost none of the 98 justices who have sat on the Supreme Court have ever done anything even questionable, and the nation's highest tribunal has been uniquely free of outside influence.
The same cannot be said of the other two branches. For one thing, many political appointees go in and out of Government and acquire close friends on both sides of the fence. Some are skilled lawyers who see nothing unusual in asking large fees (reportedly up to $1,000,000 by Clark Clifford) during their out periods for discreetly pleading a client's case behind the bureaucratic façade.
It is hard to find an ex-aide of Lyndon Johnson's who has not gone to a firm that solicits work from the Government, and there is a long list of men who have served on regulatory agencies and later represented clients before those very same agencies. Last year the Civil Aeronautics Board completely reversed the recommendations of its own examiners in handing out lucrative trans-Pacific routes, largely favoring airlines whose officers or lobbyists had connections with the Democratic Party. Richard Nixon has since vetoed the deal; whether Republican-oriented airlines win the next round remains to be seen.
The 100 top defense contractors have found it prudent to hire 2,072 retired military officers, three times the number of ten years ago. General Dynamics, No. 1 in dollar contracts, employs 113; Lockheed, No. 2, no fewer than 210. The relationship is not necessarily sinister. Ex-generals have as much right to sell their expertise as anyone else. Long before he retires, though, a procurement officer may have difficulty being tough on a company that is looking him over as a possible employee. One solution would be for Congress to bar military men from working for defense contractors for at least two years after retirement.
Unhappily, Congress itself violates the most elementary rules of conduct. In the early 1960s, for example, Missouri Senator Edward Long accepted $160,000 from a lawyer who had spent most of his life representing gangsters and gamblers. Finally persuaded to look into the matter, the Senate ethics committee found nothing wrong.