The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-03-18
JUDGE EMERSON.

Associate Justice Philip H. Emerson
having rendered his resignation and tht
same having been accepted, there is ;
vacancy on the Supreme Court bench
and the First District is without judge
Emerson was, by years, the oldes
Federal Judge in the Territory, having
been on the bench, we believe, twelve
wears. Since he came there have beer
many changes in the judiciary, judges
district attorneys and marshals having
come and gone, but he has hung on
through the several administrations
and now takes advantage of the oppor-
tunity of doing himself the credit OF
resigning. 1t is true he could not hope
for re-appointment, but all the same he
must have the praise for giving up vol
unfairly.
Unlocking back over the official career
of Judge Emerson, while we can find in
it not little to criticise and condemn,
there is also found much to admire.
This latter might be somewhat mar
rowed if the judges associates on the
bench mad been men of greater ability,
less bigotry and better fitness for the
Interpretation of law and the admins
tration OF even-handed justice; but
they, as a rule, having been lawyers of
little learning and small capacity, of
excessive fanaticism and of no concep-
ton of fairness on the bench, Emerson
has generally shone with good deal Of
brilliancy. Al times he has manifested
want of that courage of conviction
which the world so much admires, even
though the conviction be one of error.
Whenever The HERALD has had
occasion to criticise the do
iugs of Judge Emerson, it
has been at times when we have con-
sidered that he has acted against his
own judgment and better instincts;
sometimes because he desired to appease
a fauli-fnding element that he despised
yet whose influence and power he
dreaded, at others because he would not
accept responsibility that he should
have >shouldered out of a fear
that his popularity might be en-
dangered. As a whole, however, the
course of his ex-honor has been credit
able rather than otherwise. Considering
the times, the situations, the questions
that came before him for decision, and
the contending influences, social and
political, by which Federal Judge in
Utah must necessarily be surrounded.
few men have or would have done bet
ter than he, many have done
much worse. There is no man
on the bench to-day and we can
recall the name of none who has been
there for any length of time within the
past fifteen years, who enjoys so large
a degree of the respect of the community
as Judge Emerson, who now becomes
a private citizen of Utah with ambition
and aspirations like other private citi- |
zens, and desire to gain the good will
and confidence of his fellow men. In
saying this much-more than it has
cared to say of other judges when they
have gone out of office-THE HERALD
will hardly be charged with desire to
curry favor with anybody. When EN-
erson was on the bench and in posi-
ton where his friendship and
good will might have been of
value, THE HERALD was never
loath to speak freely and frankly to and I
of him and his doings, and now that he
is no more than other units in the COM /
munity,we are as free and frank to talk of
hispart. We heartily wish Judge Emer-
son well, and hope that his success at
the bar will be all that he expects it to
be- We are glad to know that he is
going to stay with us, that he has
thought enough of Utah to make it his
home, and not, like others who came
here with Federal commissions in their
hands, become so little identified with
the country that when their terms ex-
piredand their salaries ceased, they have
been ready to grasp their gripsacks and
take the first train out.