The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1882-06-20

| TIC IedsC Conspicuous cAulUiliOu Ol III WAS
manifested in his abortive attempt to
impeach its Chief less than year and a
half ago, when a House, more than two
thirds Democratic, "sat down on him !"
with most disheartening emphasis. AS
a matter of principle the FLoRIDIAN has
always advocated doing away with the
life-tenure in the Office of Justice of the
Supreme Court, being opposed to long
terms for any set of officials, be they
Judges or what not. But Mr.. Campbell
wants change on quite different grounds
grounds based on personal dislike of
the persons who compose the Court, not
the tenure of their offices; and this dis
like, unless he has been greatly beIied,
has its beginning and end in the loss of
certain cases which he had set his heart
on winning. Now, it is very plain that
unless Mr.. Campbell has other reasons for
desiring change-reasons founded in
principle and not in personal disappoint-
ment-the people of Florida cannot we'll
afford to call Convention to dispIace
Judges merely because they have not de-
cided appeals to suit Mr.. Campbell.
We know it it has been quite the thing
for some persons with short memories to
speak of the Court as a partisan tribu-
nal" Mr.. Campbell's mouth piece and
organ, the ribald" Commercial, as The
Adcance- Gazette callsgit, and which in
dulges in falsehood and SANDER as natu-
rally as duck takes to water, charac-
terizes the Court as "a Radical partisan
Court" and in this it doubtless voices
the utterances of Leo, Whose roar is
rotund and frightens even the best
Judges to say nothing of poor Lupus,
cunning, dsstute and venomous" though
he may be. This characterization is made
with the sole intention of deceiving the
public into the belief that the Court is
not only radical PARTISAN" but that its
members carry politics into the judicial
forum and decide cases according to their
political opinions and not according to
their merits. If this is what is intended
to be implied in the epithets employed,
the accusation is falsi6ed by stern facts,
and it is due to the Justices, majority
Of whom are Republicans, that the truth
should not be obscured or lost sight of
by slanderous charges however loudly
uttered. The fact is that if any party in
Florida has cause to complain in this mat
ter, 1t IS not the Democratic party. There
have been four important occasions when
the Court, had it been inclined to be
partisan" could and would have shown
its party leanings in its action. The first
of these was in 1871, when Bloxham,
} who had been elected Leutenant-Gov-
ernor in the November preceding but
had been counted out by Republican
Returning Board, applied to the Supreme
Court for justice, and this partisan %
tribunal undid the work of it's own party by
awarding the office to the man who was
rightfully entitled to it.
The next occasion when this partisan
tribunal was called upon to act in po-
litical matter was in 1877, and then, If
ever, we should have looked for display
of party feeling, had the Judges been dis
posed to carry their politics with them on
the bench. Drew had been counted out
-, and made his appeal to have the wrong
righted. rThe possession of all the power
of State and the question of the Pres
idency was involved in the appeal, fol
the vote of Florida was to settle whether
: Hayes or Tilden had been elected Chic
Magistrate of this great nation. Was not
the temptation great? But what did
this "radical partisan court do? II de
cLdred Dreac Governor and turned TIL,
State OUer to the Democrdcy.t Mr.. Camp
bell is in the habit of claiming that h
"saved the State - on that occasion, but
d we are inclined to think it was the Su
}, preme Court, not the "roar" of Leo thai
e did it!
!. Thus on two occasions, as we have
= seen, the Court gave no evidence of being
;, partisan" unless Democratically so.
But let us follow its action a little
e further.
: In 1879, Democratic Returning BOARD
l. declared Hull elected to Congress from
e the Second District and Governor Drew
2 gave to him the usual certificate in sucl
;. cases. Bisbee, after obtaining evidence
l. tending to show that he and not Hui
/ was entitled to the certificate, applied t.
!. the Court for a mandamus commanding
4 the Governor to issue to him such certifi
cate and revoke that given to Hull Th'
l. Republican majority of the Court refused
on the ground that it had not the power
l. while the only Democrat on the bench
r dissented and held that it had the power
n This is another instance of " partisan
e leaning in the Court of which Mr.. Camp
r BELLS organ should take due notice.
n Again. During the election in 1880
= the Democratic Acknowledgement of TIT
= State had given an elaborate opinion
L against eright ofpersons to vote who hat
n been convicted of larceny before Justices
e of the Peace. Bisbee and other Radica