Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-02-08
THE SUPREME COURT vs. THE
PEOPLE.

That the Supreme Court of the United
States should be aboTs tbs atmosphere Of
partisan politics aud, ditested Of political
rancof, should Judge calmly and fairly the
cases brought beforei it for decision, IS the
ardent desire 6feyery good citizen. Its Off |
ees and duties, as wen as the manner of ITS !
constitution and the tenure by which it con-
sists, make it an euitaently conservative !
body. But that it should cverstsp its law
full bounds and undertake to dictate laws for
the country is usurpation of its powers |
that the spirit of the country and the pro
gress Of tha age will not tolerate. Neither |
can any body, whether Judicial or legislative,
bong command the respect of the people or
maintain its integrity before the world, that
ignores the results cf revolutions, refuses to
recognize the moral progress Of the nation,
defes the win of the people as expressed at
the baliot.box and denies the right Of a
people or the power Of a government to save
itself from destruction in a sudden emer
gency, unless special laws to suit the most
unexpected and unnatural circumstances
have been enacted beforehand. There is
no more fruitful source of revolution in the
body polite, than that dead conservatism |
that ignores progress and change and plants
itself as barrier in the pathway of the
spirit of advancement that cbaraeterl2es
all living organizations. As in the physical
body these clogs are forcibly expelled or the
body dies, 50 in the social or political organ
ization, the conditions of life must be con
formed to or life itself must cease. While
the Supreme Court can not be allowed TO
ignore these facts with impunity, neither
win it be permitted to usurp the legislative
power. The power that holds other de
bartments to a strict obedience to che letter
of the law, must not so far forget its duty as
TO become itself violater of that law. This
Is the crime Of the Supreme Court in the
Milligan case and crime which seems to
have become chronic in the court. The
6biter dictuR by Judge fancy In the Dred
Scott case by which slavery, in defiance of
cur declaration of Independence, ius spite of
our cherished traditions, ignoring the Tsoral
sentiment of the people, and spurning the
voice of the country, was declared to exist
wherever the boasted Flag of the Free, max
iugof that glorious banner cruelburlesque,
should wave was the first departure Of thai
once august body from the path of duty.
That crime bore it's legitimate fruit in the
most bloody and, on the part Of the rebels,
the most cruel war that ever was waged by
a civilized people. The decision of the
Court at present in the case of Milligan, as
far as properly before it, is acquiesced in by
the whole Court an well BY AL good citi-
zens, but its Obiter dictuna, by which large
majority undertakes to enter the arena Of
politics and pronounce upon the authority
of Congress to authorize and determine
wheu and where military commissioners
shall sitin time of war, is an act Of usurpa-
!. ton and departure from its Judicial charac-
ter even more atrocious than that Of Ia
ney, and one that calls loudly for prompt
and thorough reform in the laws regulating
the powers of the Supreme Court In the
Milligan case three questions were certified
to the Supreme Court for its decision,
which were
l. Whether, on the facts stated in Milli-
gan's petition and exhibits, writ of hdbeqS
coIpaS ought to have issued.
3. Whether, on the petition and exhibits,
Milligau was entitled to be discharged, as in
the petition prayed.
g. Whether, upon the facts stated in the
petition and exhibits, the Military Commis-
sion had juEisdisti9n legally to try and sem
The entire Court agreed in answering the
first and second questions in the afirmati tive
and the third in the negative.
Riye Of the judges, not content with the
simple discharge of their Judicial duty but,
anxious to figure as dictators to the Con-
gress of the United States, overstep the
bounds of their judicial Office and in an
obiter dictupa declare that, not only, was the
military commission not authorized by Con-
gress and therefore had no jurisdiction to
legally try and sentence Milligan, but that
Congress had not the power to authorize it..
In ordinary times the atroeity of this inia-
uitous deliyerance of conclave of political
HH'SASahS AuAEhb HOb nave BGGu 50 GicaEtY
evident I; but in the unsettled condition of
the lately rebellious States a practical Illus
tration of its banefpl tendencies, promptly
followed its PRONUNCIATION. There being no
courts in existence in those States, outside
Of the military courts instituted by the Civ
il Rights Bill, except such as we're complete
ly in the control Of the rebels, and this in
famous decision having emaseulated the
biz By declaring Congress powerless to es-
tablish such courts, except in the existence
of actual war, there was no protection left
for loyal men in the South whether white
or black. In the language of Thaddeus
Stevens that decision has unsheathed the
dagger Of tie assassin and placed the knife
of the rebel at the throat Of every man,
who dares proclaim himself to be now. or
to have been heretofore a aloyal man. - Prac-
teal demonstrations of the truth Of this
declaration, not only in the deliberate and
cold bloOded murder by Watson, but in
numberless other instances, are daily occur
ring throughout the whole section ofcountrv
lately in rebellion. Under such circum-
stauvvs the people demand the prompt
adoption Of decisive measures BY Congress.
Tor the remedying of this evil, and the pre-