Litchfield enquirer., 1830-04-08

is to be submitted by aD AOOOtabls neS.ber from New York; (hlr. Spencer) proposes to rseOgnHe s"e P's
 The frst and sscond Circuits to remais as now eOn- stiiuled; t mia, and Delaware, to constitute the thIrd Crc.ni
 The Dislyicts of Maryland, East Virginia, and North Carolina, to constitute the te'Tsh Circuit;
 The Districts Of South Carolina and UeOFs'@ W constitute the Gf1h Circuit; ,,..
 The Districts of Ohio Indiana, Illinois and Missou- ri, to constitute the sixsh Circuits;
 The Districts of keHtucky and Tennessee to con" stitute the seventk Circuit
 The Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, now residing within the present fourth circuit, to be assigned to the third Circuit i; The present Chief Justice to the fourth clr- cult |: The Associate Justice now residing with
 in the present sixth circuit, to the fifth circuit {: The Junior Associate Justice to the sixth circuit: The Associate Justice now residing tn the present seventh circuit, to the seventh circuit.
 This amendment gives all the States. ex- cepting Mississippi. LOuisiana and Alabama. the benefit of the present Circuit Court sys- tenn, and provides for the appointment of Circuit Judge for the District of Mississippi, the Eastern District of Louisiana. and the Southern District of Alabama. with a salary adequate to ensure the acceptance of the of-
  site qualifications to an able, enlightened and faithful discharge of it's duties. As it is not in order to discuss the two latter amendments. my observations will he confined to the one offered by the honorable member from New York, (Mr. StrOng.) And I think the sys- tenn which this amendment proposes to es- tablsh, far preferable to the one which the bill as reported cOntempiates, which incrcas- es the number of the Justices of the Supreme Court.
 The objections to it all grew out Of the ne 1 cessity which it creates for the separation of ] the Justices of the Supreme Court from the circuits, and which confines them to the dis l charge of judicial duties in bank merely.- They have been presented in form most lm- posing, and urged with a power which makes l it indispensable that they should receive an answer. l will give it, as far as am capable of doing it.
 l shall not stop to inquire whether, by a l fair construction of the constitution. the Jus ) tices of the Supreme Court can be required l to perform Circuit Court duties; for the le- gisIation and the practice oft government have SO long assumed it, that it is perhaps too late now to recur to original principles.- shall. therefore, suppose the power to re- quire it given to Congress. The expediency . to be considered.
 The honorable member from Pennsylvania 1 (Mr. Buchanan) urged as an objection to any system which should make the Supreme
 Court an appellate court merely, that it had
 been tested by experience, and failrd-
 that such system was adopted at the close
 of the administration of the elder Adams that it was then stamped with the mark ol reprobatiOn by the people, and that a period of nearly thirty years had proved the correct ness of their Judgment.
 1 do not propose to enter upon defence of one of the last of the acts of what has been called the stormy and turbulent administra-
 tionof the elder Adams. am not required to vindicaie this " deed of darkness" as tt has
 been termed. the ''midnight Judiciary act ol 1901. I would have said oft, reIuiescat ] in pace." But since it has been drawn into this debate since it has been used as legiti- mate argument to prove how completely the experiment of detaching the Justices of inc Supreme Court from circuit duties has failed. it requires passing notice, and it shall | be brief one. had hoped the honorable member. when he opened the tomb which contained the ash es ofene of political family, now as fami- l lv extinct, hut which he knows once had a ! name and praise in this nation, that he 1 would have uttered one kind expression of sympathy over this relic of other days and other times. l had hoped. as he recOunted the circumstances of its birth, the time and l manner of it's death. and the generations with which it was followed to the grave, that though required to expose its defnrmitles while alive, he would have remembered, that 1 if too young to attend the interment as a mnurner. ke was Of the household in which it was born. and that filial affection demanded of him at least that he should have spared the ! suggestion. that those dcformities were inher- ited. from its parents. Bnt do not complain of this. zemporG mwtGntar. l shall not do the honorable member the injustice to apply to him the rest of the quotation. But in- quire, was this system abolished because it it was found by experience inconvenient- unfit for the country? Was the repeal Of the Judiciary act of l80l caused by a knowledge derived from experience, that it was not suited to the circumstances of the country? What experience did it have? It was strangled in the cradle. It had hardly begun to breathe, when it cane to violent death. It lived but about one year. The act was passed Febru- ary, 1901, and repealed in March, 1902. No opportunity was afforded to test its efficiency, its competency, to meet the exigencies for which it professed to provide. And why was it repealed? It is painful to allude to it. would not do it. had it not become necessary, from the use which has been made of it in