Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-04-09
The Late supreme Court pocIslons.

ne HOuIltbnlu Allonumenb 10 Lne
Federal Constitution declares that all
persons born in the United States, ana
subject to its jurisdiction, are citizens
IL then prohibits every State from de-
nying TO any citizen the equal protec-
tiOn of the laws. The amendment does
not mention race or color; but It's great
and well-known purpose was TO give to
colored persons the common rights Of
citizenship, and TO empower Congress
TO protect those rights against the hos
tile action OF any State. One Of the
laws passed for this purpose is the act
of March, 1875, which provides for the
trial and punishment by heavy fine of
any officer who shall exclude a colored
citizen from a jury on account of his
color. Congress has further provided,
by Section GAL of the Revised Statutes,
for the removal of a case to the Federal
Court whenever citizen is denied, or
cannot enforce, in State Court, "any
right secured to him by any law pro-
viding for the equal civil rights of citi-
zens of the United States" Despite
| the Fourteenth Amendment, however,
and the laws passed by Congress 10 give
effect to it, colored citizens have been
unlawfully excluded from the iury-box
In more than one State. In West Vir-
ginia this wrong has been done by ex-
press legislation. A statute passed in
1873 declares that no colored person
shall sit on jury, and the Supreme
Court of shat State affirmed the con-
stitutionality of the act in the
case of the negro Taylor Stran-
der, who had been convicted by a
white Jury, and sentenced to death, for
the murder of his wife. In Virginia
colored citizens are not disqualified for
jury service by the Constitution or laws.
But they have been purpOsely and eff
fectively excluded from the jury-bOx
by the studied action of the County
Judges charged with the summoning Of
Jurors. This state Of affairs was brought
to the attention of Judge Rives, of the
United States Court, about year ago.
A negro named Reynolds, indicted for
killing a white man, was tried and
found guilty by a white jury. On
appeal, the Supreme Court of Virginia
held that the total exclusion of col
Ored persons from the jury was not a
violation of the Fourteenth Amend
ment, or any act of Congress. Judge
Rives then granted an application for
the removal of the case TO the United
States Court, pursuant to Section GAL
of the Revised Statutes. At the same
time he caused a number of County
Judges to he indicted, under the act OF
Congress of 1875, for making an unlaw-
full discrimination against eolored citi-
zens, in the summoning of jurors.
The Strander and the Reynolds cases,
and the case of Judge Coles Zone of the
indicted County Judges), were carried
to the Supreme Court of the United
States. They were argued together
last October, and they are now decided
together. In each case there were
special points not directly in
volved in the other two. But the great
fundamental question in all was wheth'
er the Fourteenth Amendment secures
or empowers Congress to secure, to col
ored citizens the privilege OF sitting a!
jurors in a State Court, or the right tC
demand that a jury for the trial o
grave questions of life, liberty or prop
erty shall be chosen without discrimi
nation as to color. Two States at leas
: had solemnly denied that such was the
purpose or the effect of the amendment
! Nor was it by any means certain wha
view would be taken by the Supreme
Court. That tribunal had not yet in.
terpreted the meaning of the amend
! ment in any political controversy, or il
! any case directly involving the question
of color. In every one OF the three o
: four cases decided under the amend
l ment the Judges had divided. TIL
: judgment in the slaughter-house case
= the leading authority on this subjec
= --rests on the bare majority of one
: Four of the nine Justices dissented
= and Chief Justice Chase was one of tn
l minority. This marked diversity o
a opinion among the Judges, as well a
u certain doctrines affirmed by the court
d left in no little doubt questions relating
. to the civil rights of colored person
3 under the amendment
h The court has now spoken, an
!, spoken well. With unanimlty nc
q found in any previous opinion concern
. ing the amendment, it declares that tn
+ purpose of this great constitutions
y guarantee, and of the acts of Congress
4 for its enforcement, twas to place tn
's oolored race, in respect of civil right.
Il upon a level with whites. They mad
the rights and responsibilities, civil an
u criminal, of the two races, exactly tn
4 same" The court declares that tri,
L by a jury chosen without discrimni
"a tion as to color is right secured't t
i every citizen by the Fourteenth AmenC
" ment. 1.-THE very idea of jury" say
y the opinion, "is body of men con
N posed Of the peers or equals of the pc
v son whose rights it is selected or sun
= moned to determine.n A statute liB
,s that of West Virginia is pronounced
h brand upon the cOlored race. 1t deni'
"a to one class of citizens that equality
M protection which is guaranteed by Il
~ Constitution TO all, and deprives of
y valuable civil right every colored persC
= tried under it. 1t is, therefore, uncol
a stitutional. A new trial was accori
h ingly ordered in the case of Stran,
" er. In the Coles case and in tn
n of Strander the Judgment of I'll
of Supreme Court is against the Stat
n But the case of Reynolds was ordert
oT to be returned from the Federal TO tl
IA State Jurisdiction. This was done {
M technical grounds. Under Section g.
w of the Revised Statutes the applicable
~ for removal to the Federal Courts shOu
~ have been made before trial in the Sta
~ Court. The Supreme Court admits tn
q Congress has full power TO pass a mo
,y effective statute, but the act now
~ force is not as broad as the Fourteen
a Amendment. Moreover, Reynolds HI
ne claimed the right of trial by mix
NJ jury. But this is not one of the righ
On secured by the Fourteenth Amendmer
en- The law requires not that colored juro
q shall be expressly summoned, but th
they shall not be purposely reieote
ti- Both the letter and the spirit of the Ii
"a are observed when the jurors are {