The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1868-01-31
supREME COURT AND RECON


. the Supreme Court necessary to de
eide law of Congress unconstitution
!, al. But the bill subsequently report
ed from the Reconstruction Com
mittee, and now pending in the
10 House, goes so much more directly
o to the purpose, is so much more con
elusive and clear, and is so unmistak
ably authorized by the express Ian
: guage of the Constitution, that we
I hope it may be passed as substitute
e for the one first mentioned. The
bill to which we refer reads as fol-
= lows:
= isBe it enacted, &c, That the ap
pellate jurisdiction of the Supreme
Court Of the United States shall not
extend to any act done, or which shall
be done, or to any proceeding had,
: or which shall be had. under and by
. virtue of the act entitled, "An act to
provide for the more efficient govern
ment of the lebel States" passed
March 2, 1867, or of the several acts
supplementary thereto and all such
cases now pending in said court, eli
ther by appeal or otherwise from any
decision or proceeding and in any
District or Circuit Court of the Unit
ed States, shall be dismissed by said
Supreme Court, and no record of any
proceedings had or which may be had
before either of the District Com
manders, under either of said acts,
shah be removed to or reviewed in
any other tribunal, either upon habeas
corpus, quo acarranto, or in any other
manner whatever.
The constitutionality of the bill be-
comes evident upon reference to the
Art. III, Sec. 2, Clause 2, of the Con-
stitution, which provides that sin all
cases affecting ambassadors, other
public ministers and oonsuls, and
those in which State shall be party,
the Supreme Court shall have origin
al Jurisdiction. In all the other cas-
es before mentioned, the Supreme
Court shall have appellate jurisdic-
ton, both as to the law and fact, with
such exceptions and under such reg
ulations as Congress shall make" 1t
will be seen that the new bill is drawn
very carefully so as to conform to
the language Of the Constitution. The
power is expressly conferred upon
Congress to except such cases as it
sees fit from the appellate jurisdiction
of the Supreme Court, and in pass
ing this act it exercises power which
every constitutional lawyer in the
land will admit that it clearly pos
sesses. AS the Supreme Court has
already decided that it has no oriei-
dal jurisdiction upon cases arising
under the act, it will be seen that this
bill pretty effectually prevents the
old fogies OF that Court from block
ing the path TO reconstruction.
The bill is in all respects better
adapted to the subject of preventing
! the inference of the Supreme Court
in Reconstruction than the one which
passed the House week or two ago,
and which is now pending in the SEN
ate. In the first place, no one can
pretend to doubt or deny its entire
iconstitutionality. The other bill was
also in our judgment strictly consti-
tutional, but there were many who
doubted and denied that it was so,
and there were many Republicans
who regarded its constitutionality as
at least doubtful. But there can be
no cavil against this bill from the fact
that by it Congress only proposes to
exercise power granted TO it ex-
pressly, absolutely und without res
ervation, by the Constitution itself.
Again, this bill accomplishes the
object arrived at directly, honestly
and frankly, while the other bill
sought to reach it by indirection. It
is well known that the great dangerl
to the nation at present lies in the
possibility that a bare majority of the
Supreme Court whose members are
relics Of a pro- slavery and pro- South
ern generation, should decidethe Re-
construction Acts unconstitutional,
and thus overthrow the fair fabrics /
of free government now being created
in the late rebellious States, remitting
the South and the nation to anarchy,
chaos, and perhaps renewed hostility.
Against this present peril both these
bills are intended to guard, and we
like this bill especially, because it
goes at once and without indirection
to the object intended, while the 9TH
er bill purports to be of general char
acter, while it really aimed at this
particular case
Again, this bill accomplIshes its
purpose more fully, and so to say,
inevitably, than the other. The first
made two-thirds vote of the Supreme
Court necessary to declare law of
Congress unconstitutional. But there
are other ways in which courts can
defeat the proper action of law than
simply declaring it unconstitutional.
Moreover, a contingency might arise
in which a two-thirds vote of the
court could be mustered to declare {
the Reconstruction Act unconstltu- i
tional, and some Radicals in Congress
showed that they feared Just this re-
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