The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1867-04-19
The Mississippi Case before the
Smnr.eme Court.

full report OF tue proceeding "a eHe
Supreme Court prior to the decision
ruling out the Mississippi bill OF in
innction against President Johnson
and General Ord. We have only
space for the preliminary colloquy
nrior to the argument of the Attorney
General:
Mr.. Sharkey. / desire, if the court
please. to bring up to- day the apphca-
lion of the State of Mississippi for an
Injunction which / believe was set
down for to-day. The position L oc-
cupy is somewhat singular. | under
stand it to be now an application to
file bill.
The Chief Justice. Before you pro-
coed, perhaps it is well to state that
motion to file bill is usually granted
as a matter of course in this court LII,
however, it is suggested that a bill
contains scandalous or impairment
matter. or is in other respects i'm
proper and unfit to be received, the
court will either examine the bill or
refer it to a master for examination.
In this case the Attorney General OBJ
iected to the bill IN linriHe as contains
INC matter unfit to be received. That
is the only point which can now be
considered, and upon that point the
court will hear the Attorney General
and the counsel for the complainant.
AS the Attorney General takes the af-
frmative upon this point the court
| will first hear him.
Mr.. O'Conor. Ifyour honors please,
in respect to the case, spoken of yes
terday, of the bill filed by the State of
| Georgia it may be quite proper to sug-
/ gest here, what the Attorney General
made some inquiry about yesterday,
as to whether these cases, so far as they
might need any spsaial observations
/ in this initial stage, would be spoken
| together or separately. If together,
| have but to say that t am in atten-
dance on behalf of the State of Geor-
/ gia, together with associate counsel,
! for the purpose of procuring the leave
of the court to file that bill and take
out a subpoena.
The Attorney General. | will state
to my brother, O'Conor, that / am not
now advised that the point upon
which l make objection to the filing
Of this bill applies to the bill which he
proposes to file in behalf of the State
of Georgia The poirt Of my objec-
ton is that this bill seeks to make the
President of the United States, as
such President, a party defendant in
this court. / object to the bill on that
account as scandalous-I mean in the
legal sense of the term.
The Chief Justice. The court will
now consider the question relating to
the bill filed by Mississippi alone.
Mr.. Sharkey. The question suggest
ed by the Attorney General will neces-
sarily arise in the discussion of the
case, and it was one to which our
minds were of course drawn before we
fled the bill, aud if that be the only
objection, it will be answered in due
time by my colleague l presume now
the application is to file the bill; and
in order to present that l must read
the bill If the simple fact that the
President of the United States is par
ty to it is the only ground of scandal
or objection to the bill, | do not think
it amounts to anything at all, for we
expect to show that the President OF
the United States is just as amenable
to the process of this court as any
other man in the United States.
The Chief Justice. The court will
first hear the Attorney General on the
point of his objection.
Mr. Sharkey OF course, l have no
objection to hearing him /; but before he
proceeds, l will state to the court that
the manuscript bill contains a clause
which is not in the printed bill. Lest we
should be mistaken in our right to sue
the President of the United States, we
then proceed against Andrew johnson
as citizen of Tennessee e. That is
not in the printed copy, but is in the
bill as filed.
The Attorney General, (Mr. Stan.
berry, l will, if the court please,
now only argue the question whether
a bill which purports to make Andrew
Johnson defendant as President Of the
United States, and to enjoin him in the
execution of his duties as President
should be allowed to be filed in this
court / must look into the bill fal
enough to show in what relation An
drew johnson is brought upon this
record, and how it is understood, not
only by myself, but by the learned
gentlemen who appear here to sustain
the bill.
After reading various extracts from
the bill, the Attorney General pro
ceeded to discuss it at length, and was
replied to by Mr.. Walker; at the con
clusion of whose argument Mr. O'Con-
or said:
1 have permission to .interpose q
suggestion at this point / have rea-
son to believe that the common right
of party to file his bill in n case OF
which the court has cognizance as to
the parties, is not affected in the case
of the State of Georgia by the excep-
ton that has presented itself to the
mind of the gentleman. even include
the Attorney General and therefore
there can be and is no objection to the
filing of this bill. say there is no I'M
pertinence, or irrelevance, or indeco-
rum, or departure from the rules OF
order in our being admitted to file that
bill and take our subpoena of course.
The Chief Justice The court will
consider that motion.
The Attorney General Your hon
ors asked me if l wished to reply to
the argument of Mr. Walker. / am
willing to submit the matter without
further argument. As to the other
case l do not think the objection lies
to that bill which have made to this.
Mr.. O'Conor l would INQUIRE
then whether the court will retain that
question as one for consideration, be-
1 cauSe in tbat case altboucrb po+l,;,x- =