Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1854-07-31
our supreme Court.

way of an eagle IL the an, the way u q
serpent on a rock; the way OF afshlp IN
the sea, and the way Of a man with maid.
Though we could solve all these problems
to the satisfaction of Solomon any day, yet
there are some things too hard for us to
even Davy Crockett
might grin at from June to Texas without
raising blister on the bark,-we mean
the inexplicable track of Courts in the u
nited States, and of our own Supreme
Court in particular. For several days our
Supreme Court was engaged in hearing
discussions on the great negro seizing law
of 1850. Finally, that Court, with due
gravity and unanswerable arguments, de
clared that law to be unconstitutional !
The same conclusion has been arrived at,
without any cost to the State, by at least
one thousand debating clubs and lyceums,
the Argus thinks by large majority Of
the people.
From all we can see, the decision of the
Supreme Court against said negro law has
no more force than the platforms Of the
late Baltimore Caucus Conventions. Il
but aggrayates the wrongs Of any people
to hear law is void, that is no laws at all,
if Federal Court enforces that law and
imprisons white men for disobeying it.
''The law is nullity," says our Supreme
Court, but if the Federal Judges are such
scoundrels as to kidnap and imprison citi-
zens of Wisconsin under it, the State
Courts cannot help it. We never could
understand the cross-eyed, obliquity Of Jul
dietary decisions, but in the case under con-
sideration the two positions taken lately by
the Supreme Court are in strange contrast
with each other; this is our opinion. We
don't believe there is a lawyer in the land,
from one end of the State to the other,
but what is ashamed in his very soul Of
the two decisions. They first decide the
1850 negro law to be unconstitutional /;
they discharge s. M. Booth when commit
ted by warrant from r. S. Commits
sioner, on the ground that this act denies
the right Of trial by Jury, and because it
confers judicial powers on mere Commits
sioners. But, when the same individual
is taken under a warrant issued by Fed
eral Court, to answer an Indictment for the
same pretended offence, our Court is terri
fed at the broad seal of the United States ;
it fears and trembles at the ghostly tho't
Of collision! Its first decision against the
authority Of United States Commission
er, did however challenge collision. The
Federal Judges sustain the negro law, and
he authority Of these Commissioners. If
'ur State Supreme Court has the right to
pronounce said law void, the consequence
lecessarily follows, that they mast de7iger
I'll persons seized under that act, or held
o answer for violating it, no difference by
whose warrant arrested. The right to de-
,lare an act Of Congress, or State Legisla-
ure, void, absolutely carries with it the
light Of arresting the execution of proceed
ngs under that void act. Any man, with
u without eyes, Or even much brains, can
zee that!
The position Of the Federal Judges is,
hat they are the sole interpreters of the
Constitution Of the United States-the
ole Judges Of the Constitutionality of any
aw of Congress. Our Supreme Court
would, by habeos corpus, compel Mar
hall to release a runaway negro, arrested
y virtue Of Commissioners warrant on
y; but the sheriff who compels the Mar
hall to release his prize, is liable to indict-
nent in the Federal Courts. IF indicted,
'ur Supreme Court would afford the State
officers no relief, though sent TO the States
Prison for obeying State writ. The
State Court must protect It's own ministe-
ial officers or it viii not be obeyed.
We hope our Supreme Court will yet
see the logical necessity of taking the on
y ground on which the States can everse-
cure their independence, or protect the lib
arty Of their citizens-the ground of Mad
son and Jefferson. Are the Federal judo
es the ultimate and potential Interpreters
Of the Constitution, and can they alone Ii
nit the powers Of the Federal Government?
No, never. Gar nor Sultan ever claimed
more than the right to limit and
adjust his own authority, which is the true
definition of absolutism. Suppose Con
gress should pass an act making it punish
able IN the penitentiary, to speak or write
against the Nebraska Bill, an outrage that
would not be more strange than the Bill
ITSELF Well. the Federal Court of tba TT