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Lawyers and judges believe that the court's prestige has been damaged by the Fortas affair, particularly as it affects a sizable segment of the electorate that is already disgruntled by liberal court decisions in the fields of desegregation, reapportionment, school prayers, the rights of the accused and obscenity.
"All these things have an adverse effect on the prestige of the court," says Chicago Attorney Albert Tenner, who heads the A.B.A.'s standing committee on the federal judiciary. "The personal lives of the Justices reflect on the court itself." Los Angeles Lawyer Edmund G. Brown Jr., son of California's ex-Governor, maintains: "The court has neither the purse nor the sword, and depends in the final analysis on public confidence." Monroe E. Price, law professor at U.C.L.A., says: "It does affect the prestige of the court, particularly with those people who are worrying about 'law and order.' It gives them just another little hammer to pound away with."
Some observers are concerned that the Fortas case may be used as a pretext for further attacks on the court by its enemies. It could also affect the court's liberal-conservative composition if the disclosures increase pressure on President Nixon to appoint conservatives to fill as many as five vacancies expected to open up in the next few years —including the seats of the Chief Justice and possibly Fortas.
Below the Surface. The LIFE disclosures brought to light other tangential investigations concerning Fortas. The Justice Department began a grand-jury investigation in Cleveland of Fortas' old law firm, Arnold & Porter, in connection with the conviction of an official of one of the firm's client companies for conspiracy to obstruct justice. The offense took place after Fortas left the firm, and the department said that there was no connection with Fortas. The Attorney General's office also began looking into Fortas' outside interests, as did Chief Justice Earl Warren and the House Judiciary Committee. Senator Robert Griffin, spearhead of the successful opposition to deny Fortas' appointment as Chief Justice, hinted LIFE'S story was only the tip of the iceberg. At week's end, Griffin, who stands to reap considerable gain from Fortas' discomfiture, claimed that his office had received a telephoned threat on his life.