Weekly Calaveras chronicle., 1867-01-19
The United States Supreme Court

my III IdVOr OF lne lQea, DuL rather SIouHu
for objection TO it yet this is still free
country, and we know of no legal penalties
for advocating any new proposition which
may come into the head of writer for
country newspaper; and, as we are not like
ly to revolutionize the Government by any
thing we may say in six-by-nine weekly,
we see no harm in picking our flint and fir
ing away and giving our pet whole leader
to itself. The idea we refer to is the amend
ment of the Constitution in such manner
as to give an appeal from the Supreme Court
to the Senate of the United States, at least
il all cases coming before that Court involv-
ing political and Constitutional questlons.-
We think upon a weeks reflection, that this
proposition has sufficient merit to entitle it
to some discussion. Our Government is pop
ularly supposed to be divided into three dis
tlnct and independent branches--the Execu-
tive, Legislative and Judicial Departments
that the President of the United States is
the head of the Executive, the Legisla-
lA'C - SOLH pOoSN VI liAC lNO lOdSSo VI OOAi-
gress and the Supreme Court is the head of
the Judicial system, and that the three sep
arate parts form harmonious whole in which
no discord can arise. The truth is that Con-
gress, which represents and is most directly
responsible to the people. is the least indie
pendent of any of the departments. Alllaws
passed by it have to run the gauntlet of the
Executive veto, and the will of the President
IN legislative matters is equal to the voices
of any number of the members of Congress
less than two thirds of both houses. Should
the President disapprove a bill and Congress
pass it over his veto, it has again to run the
gauntlet of the Supreme Court, where ma
jority of the Judges can nulify the unanim-
Gus act of both houses of Congress. In fact,
Congress has only the power to initiate or
propose laws for the sanction of the other
Department. The President may veto them
for no cause at all but his dislike to them,
and the Supreme Court can declare them
void by saying they are unconstitutional or
against good morals ; and there is nothing
to prevent the Court from nulifying law
because it thinks the law inexpedent, or con-
trary to what the Court thinks is sound pol
icy. All the Court has to do is to say the
law is void, and there is an end of the mat
ter, and the Judges need not give any reason
at all for their action, their giving reason
4 haiy Of t1n;r
for which re should be profoundly thankful.
There is no check upon the action of the Su-
preme Court but impeachment of its mem
bers and the very men who will contend most
strongly for the suficiency of that check
would be the loudest. should it be applied
in denouncing 1t as an encroachment upon
the Independence of the Court. We are told
that the Supreme Court is the guardian of our
Constitution but why should the Judges of
that Court take any deeper interest IN that
sacred instrument than any other body of
respectable men They are the least respon-
sible to the people of any of the officers of
the Government. The people have no voice
in their appointment, and their Office lasts
for life. There is nothing in the manner of
their appointment which points them out as
persons in whom the people repose particu-
lar confidence for integrity and legal knowl-
edge. They are not selected because they
are supposed to be above the wiles of poll
tics, but because they are politicians, and
seat upon the Supreme Bench is their reward
for political work. They are not even the
4 choice of their party, but receive their nom
! nations through the President, often from
important cliques or kitchen cabinets who
have their private interests to serve by the
/ appointment Why Court thus constitut-
ed should have any peculiar fitness for guard
ing the Constitution, we can not see. You
can not keep politics out the Court, for the
4 Judges are men and politicians, and the kind
| of politics we get from the Court is not al
ways the most desirable. The Constitution
is made to say anything which suits the pur-
poses of the party which can control ma
jority the Supreme Judges, and the amount
and kind of knowledge to be got out of that
short instrument is really astonishing to any
but legal mind. There is a mistaken idea
abroad as to what should constitute the in
dependence of the Supreme Court. The
Judges should be independent in their posi-
tions on the Bench and not removable at
the pleasure of the President, like other off,
GERS, but they should not be independent of
of all law but their own will; and the only
method of restraining them and keeping
them subject to the laws, is to make their
rulings and decisions subject to review by
one of the branches of the law-making pow
er. We think the Senate the most fit branch
of Congress to make our highest court of
appeal. 1t is more select, and its members
are usually more aged and experienced than
those of the lower House. Its members cer-
tainly receive their positions from as respec-
table a source as the Supreme Judges; for
however low may be the tone of the legisla-
tive caucuses which nominate Senators, they
can not be less responsible than the kitchen
cabinets which have so large share in the
nomination of the Judges for the legislative
caucus is composed of members of the State
Legislature, and are elected by the people :;
but the members of the Presidents kitchen
cabinet have no constituency but make and
represent themselves. No evil is likely to result
to the Government from making the highest
branch of the National Legislature the high
est court of appeal. The experiment has
been tried in England and has worked well
for centuries. while our present political sys-