The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-04-11
THE U. S. SUPREME COURT.
A Pen-and-Ink Picture of the
Judges and Their Wonderful
Clerk.

kOHuS mau6 III L HIlS Dy w OIlIls Lucy
are all home made, and have been
made by one family of people or
NEARLY forty years. Zach Chandler
had 3 very poor opinion of these
gowns for 1t is said of him that be
once said to Salmon P. Chase, a
former Chief Justice: Salmon, when
you have your id old jacket on you
look every inch q Judge" There Is
no reason why one of these gowns
should be called a jacket, for the SKIRT
reaches the floor. The gowns are
put on the Justices in what is called
the robe room, adjoining the court
at five minutes to IL o'clock, FOX the
Judges never go upon the bench until
high noon. Then, after the msrshafs
deputy sings his song about Gou
bless the United States snG the JUS
tees of this court" or words to that
effect, the arrival of the Justices nav
ing been previously announced, they
take their seats and are reaoy for
business.
The clerkship of the court Is worth
more than the salaries Of TOUR Oh the
Justices, as it is frequently said to
pay over $4,000 per year. The
charges are simply terrible 1t costs
about a dollar for the clerk to look at
YOU and another dollar to get
out of his sight. They have q
little talk then OF keeping the
decisions back as long as pos
sible, often couple of months, and IN
the mean time If any one wants a
CODY of the decision il costs 81 Tor
each page of 100 words. There is no
good reason why the decisions should
not be put in type the day they are
delivered, and furnished as the de-
bates of Congress are furnished, the
day following; but this was not the
practice 60 years ago, and they never
do anything about the court except
in the time. nonored but excessively
slow way. This, all agree, would be
q great convenience, but 1t would
take SIC, 900 a year out OF the fees
the clerk, and. of course, 1t Is not
done. Several times bills have been
prepared for introduction in Congress
lon the subject, but somehow nothing
was heard of them sitarWard Those
who proposed them were convinced
THAT it was not the custom, and they
let the matter drop. The Supreme
Court has always held that every bill
relating to the court must first be sent
to them 70: inspection. and, carried
their point in this respect.
When Belva Lockwood, ths female
lawyer, applied for admission to prac
tice before the court, the Justices we're
shocked and the CLERK Mortified. The
court considered the application,
and, after holding it under advise
ment for q month or 60, gravely de-
clared against bel, on the ground that
it was contrary to custom, if not the
Law. Beiva, in reply, said it was
against the custom once to ride in q
railroad car, or to light up . house
with gas; butthose customs we're not in
keeping withprogress OF the times. The
reply WAS that there was no help for
her. Belva, being practical slipped over
1 to the Senate, drew a bill giving
women the right to practice law.
provided they were competentl. and
had it introduced. She had similar
bill introduced in the House, which
body passed it, and, lol the custom
was thing of the past. A law took
it's place, and she or any other VOL an
is now perfectly free TO get big fee
t appearing and arguing case be-
fore the Supreme Court, provided she
is fortunate enough to get employ
meut.
It is against the custem, and no
one ia allowed to do it under penalty
OF being put out OF the court room,
for any one, newspaper reporter or
lawyer even, to write word in the
court room, or take a note on any
point in a decision or remark Of any
of the Judges. This appears straDge,
and yet it is q fact, and there are
hundreds of newspaper correspCn-
dents " 10 know it from experience.
The custom is to go to the clerk, and
wait q week or 30 for him to make
such extracts Of an opinion ss are
wanted and to pay him his fees. The
only way to get over this is to keep
the points in your head and write
them out after coming out the court
room, which has 10 be done on
what is called decision day.
The opinions of the Supreme Court
are much too long. They 60 into q
history of every case. and often a per-
con has to read a half hour or so be-
fore the point in the decision is
reached. But all this plays into the
hands of the clerk. He gets wealthy
in consequence of It. Imagine the
readers of a paper in these days of
telegraph having 70 wait three or
four weeks for decision! The Judges
are TOO slow. They don't intend to be
slow, hut they are, without knowing
it. Il is seldom that decision can
be had in less than a month alter
case has been argued. Ia similar
courts in England decision is given
| in five minutes after q case is argued.
This is as it should be. The Judges,
in holding of their decisions, without
knowing it are enriching certain
number of resident attorneys at the
EXPENSE of other attorneys who do