New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-03-03
7HE NEJg DECISIONS or THE SUPREME
COURT


COURT
The Supreme Court of the United States, 10y
series Of decisions in cases arising under the
various enforcement laws, is gradually laying
down system Of constitutional interpIeta-
ton which viii prove to be of great political
Importance. Tie rulings of the Court with
respect to the scope of the recent amendments
are clear and consistent and they will put an
end to certain misconceptions of the powers Of
Congress which prevailed extensively for
many wears after the war; 1t must be ac-
cepted now as a wcll-dcfned principle that
Congress may pass laws to prevent State
from discriminating between blacks and whites
i'm comforting the franchise and other rights
and privileges, but that the Constitutional
Amendments give it no power to undertake
the suppression Of illegal combinations Of in
dlviduals to effect the same result. 1t can do
something indeed for the protection OF colored
voters but it derives this right from the con-
stitutional authority to "make or alter " regu-
lations for choosing Senators and Representa-
tives, and not from the amendments.
The decisions just announced in the mixed
| iury cases in Virginia and West Virginia are
| in harmony with the famous Grant Parish and
Kentucky decisions, although they relate to u
very different issue. In West Virginia a negro
named Strauder was convicted Of murder in a
| State Court. Before trial he had asked for
removal of the case to the Circuit Court Of the
| United States, on the ground that the act of
| the West Virginia Legislature excluding col
ored men from juries was virtually denial of
his right to the equal protection OF the laws.
| The application was refused. The Supreme
! Court now holds that the exclusion of negroes
from Jury service is is a discrimination against
| them within the meaning of the Fourteenth
| Amendment, that it amounts to denial
of the equal protection of the laws )
and that Section GAL of the Revised Statutes,
providing for the removal of cause from
the State to the Federal Court when the de-
| feuaant is denied or cannot enforce i'll the
| State Court "any right secured to him by
&" anv law providing for the equal civil rights
/" of citizens of the United States" is cOnsti-
tutional, and is applicable to the case under
review The Judgment of the Court below
is accordingly reversed. The Virginia case is
! quite unlike the other. Two negroes were
| indicted in the State Court for murder. They
asked for q mixed jury. and when this was
refused they applied to Judge Rives, of the
| United States Circuit Court, who took them
| out of the custody of the State authorities on
the ground that they were denied the equal
| protection of the laws. The Commonwealth
applied to the Supreme Court for manda-
mus to compel Judge Rives to restore the
prisoners. The application is now granted
| The laws of Virginia do not exclude negroes
from the jury-box, so that in this instance
the Legislature has made no discrimination Of
race or color and it cannot be pretended
that any statute or any Constitutional Amend
ment las given colored men tho right to de-
mand mixed jury in any particular case.
alt is a right to which any colOred man is
"enttled, that in the selection of jurors to
"pass upon his life, liberty or property, there
"shall be no exclusion of his race, and no
| discrimination against HIM on account of
"hs color but that is a different thing from
"that which was claimed as of right, and de-
"nled in the State Court, viz, a right to
"have the jury composed In part of cOlored
"men."
A third case arose ont Of the indictment in
a Federal Court of Judge Coles, OF Virginia,
upon charge of excluding all colored citizens
and previous condition OF servitude. Judge
Coles and the Commonwealth of Virginia pc
titiOned for writs of habeas corpus and GER
tiorar contending that his arrest and impris-
onment upon this charge were unwarranted
by the Federal Constitution and violation
of his rights and the rights of Virginia. The
Supreme Court, in refusing the writs, holds