The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-01-12
ANOTHER CHIEF JUSTICE.

The queotia" Of the chief justceship of
,nN ~'-r- curt of the Uln,, / c.,,,.., H.,
prOboOly, settleu iUi a ...v.. .un.. 80 ,uinu,
ut Nast, although there is still, perhaps, a
very slight doubt as to who will be the
next incumbent, but we think that we may
take it for settled. The President has a
peculiarly of surprising his friends, the
party and the country by his nominations
and appointments. lie did not depart
from this habit, or popularity, Friday,
when he startled the Senate and country
by nominating Caleb Cushing, whilom of
of Massachusetts-but now claiming, we
believe, to be citizen of Virginia-for the
vacancy on the supreme bench. 1t GER
tainly is respectable nomination in gen
eral scholarship, legal lore and judicial
requirements, Mr.. Cushing stands second
to no man in the country, and his private
and public life are without spot or blemish,
so far as the public are informed or have
reason to believe. There are, however,
some alleged objections to him as Judge,
and Washington dispatches, from republi-
can sources and to republican newspapers,
say that he would have been rejected, at
once, but for the reason that leading re-
publican Senators feared that such course
would lead to an open warfare with the
President. We are inclined to think that
his nomination will be confirmed; we most
sincerely trust that it will, as the objec-
tons, with possible exception, are only
seeming ones, and we consider that one of
no worth We all know that the most of
his life has been divided between politics
and law, he being one of the very few per-
sons in the country who has mastered and
been successful IN both. Andrew Tracy,
one OF the most eminent and learned law
yers Vermont ever produced, after serving
one term in Congress, retired in disgust,
saying that no man could succeed at both
one must be given up for the other, and
the whole thought, attention and study of
the individual must he gwen to the course
chosen, whether it might be law or politics.
Caleb Cushing has, however, mastered
both and is, therefore, the better fitted for
the bench We do not believe politics
should he taken into account in judicial
selections as general rule-but there are
exceptions even to this.
We refer. of course, to politics in IFS
higher sense, and not as we use it in ord-
nary conversation. Politics, in this sense.
and in the sense used by Andrew Tracy
is craftsmanship and is as much science
and study, as is law, medicine or theology.
What may be an individuals political party
Affiliations, or what may be his views upon
different questions discussed in the broader
field of political study, to which we haye
referred, matters not in ordinary judicial
appointments. county, district, probate
or state Judge can administer the law as
faithfully and impartially if he is demo-
crat MS if he was republican and Uice persa.
foiitical questions do not come before such
courts for adjudication. With the supreme
court Of the United States it is otherwise.
Political questions are decided by it, To it
belongs the sole duty of constituting the con-
s'ltutlon OF the United States-whch is
nothing more or less than a political cues
tlon. In this higher and only proper sense
OF politics, there is, necessarily, something
to be taken into consideration in appointing
chief justice of our highest contour
only court that has to do with political
questions. Herein, too, is the only posi-
BILE objection to Mr.. Cushing 1t is known
that, prior to the war, he was an ultra
states rights man, as that term was under
stood at the south; and it is understood that
he does not believe in the validity of the
passage of the thirteenth, fourteenth and
fifteenth constitutional amendments. If
this is true, he ought not, it might be said
by some, at the present time, to be placed