The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1881-09-23
Constitutional Obligation :-what 10 II ?

The foundations OF our government
were laid in u deep regard for the OBJ
legations Of laws and constitutions (;
and during the first half century of
II history no feeling was more
marked than that of the sacredness
with which these obligations were
received, both by the courts and the
people. The earlier %julists and states.
men testified their high regard there
for by the solemn and almost revereD-
tial manner in which they approached
the discussion Of questions of u con.
stitutiOnal character.
But of late years u more flippant
rule is beginning to prevail for deal.
ing with such questions. And now
we have arrived at the point where
| the fundamental law OF the State has
become a mere toy in the hands of the
Judges, and the very emblem of frail.
ty, doomed to wither and die upon the
| slightest touch. The recent action of
our Supreme Court in undertaking to
declare null and void a provision of
the State Constitution Of Minnesota,
which, for more than twenty years
has been regarded and treated by
both courts and people rs Of equal
validity and binding force as any
other part of the Constitution. is Il
startling decision, and one that needs
only the acquiescence Of the people at
large to make 1t become n fraught
with the gravest consequences to the
stability Of American institutions. 1t
furnishes fresh evidence of the rapid
progress which as a people we are
making towards al utter disregard of
the sanctity of all Constitutional obi
cations.
OF what avail is it for the people to
create Constitutions for the prOtec.
ton Of their rights--Or what is the use
of requiring every official In the State,
from the lowest to the highest. before
entering upon the discharge of the
duties of his office, to solemnly swear
to support the Constitution, or where
is the necessity Of teaching the rising
generation obedience to the behests
of law, if the highest form that law
can ever take-that of a written Con.
StitutiOn, can be set aside by a tribu.
nal, itself a creature OF the very Con.
stitution that it seeks to destroy, de-
irving its right to exist at all solely
from the same instrument. and whose
members have solemnly sworn to sup
port that instrument, and each and
every part of it!
All intelligent men know the diff
ference between Constitutions and
Statutes. One is the expression Of
the sovereign will Of the whole peo-
pie, the other is the act of the serv-
ants of the people, exercising a dele
gated authority, and therefore the
authority of the statute law is always
inferior to that Of the constitution.
But even a statute cannot be set aside
arbitrarily. nor OH the notion that its
would in some way nd
vance the general welfare. The Amer.
lean idea Of the sanctity of all law is
such that when cases arise involving
the constitutionality Of a statute, 1t
is the duty of courts to throw every
in favor of the validity of the
statute, and to declare 1t null and
void only when 1t Is shown to be in
consistent with the peoples will, EN-.
bodied in the constitution. But
this high power to set aside even a
statute, a be exercised only in a ju.
dicial controversy respecting some
right asserted by one individual
against another, and then the matter
to be determined makss it necessary
to decide whether the statute which
is supposed to govern the case is it.
self in conformity to the supreme law
of the constitution. In no other way
a the most trivial act Of ~;egislation
be set aside by the courts.
But the most remarkable feature OF
the recent decision, and the one that
marks the animus that prompted it,
is that this provision of the ~constitu.
ton, which the people had placed
there for their protection, was from
tho very first treated as a criminal,
and hurried out of existence by a
sort Of judicial moboeracy, and was de-.
MED a trial such as would have been
given to an act Of the legislature i'm.
posing q tax on dogs, or for fixing the
punishment Of tramps. For as every
one knows, no act of the legislature
however unimpOrtant, can be arbitra-
rily set aside by the courts, nor its
validity be in any manner questioned
until a controversy actually arises be-
tween man and mar which cannot be
determined without first determining
whether the act is in conformity to
the constitution. Courts r not or.