The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1888-02-23
A SAD SPECTACLE,
What the New York Indep.udent~
Ihinks of Iamar,x Arnointr,,ant

What the Now York Independent {"
Thinks OF Lamsr's Appointments.
We have opposed the confirmation of
Mr.. Lamar by the Senate, not because
he is Democrat, nor because he is a
Southern man, but for other and bet
ter reasons relating to his legal quail
itications for the office and his record
in the past 1t strikes us as simply
| astounding that man who had never
been admitted to practice in the Su-
preme Court of the United States.
who had never argued case in the
Supreme Court of his own State. who
has no general reputation as an able
and learned lawyer. who fer the last
thirty years has for the most part been
mere politician, who never got his
living out of the practice of the legal
profession, who was never engaged in
Il conspicuous law case. and who, taken
at his best, is not above the standard
of an ordinary lawyer, should have
Eeen selected by the President and
confirmed by the Senate. as an Asso-
ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of
the United States, to participate with
the other members of that court
in considering and determining
the great questions of law that are
constantly coming before it, and to
hold the Office for life unless re-
moved therefrom by impeachment.
Mr.. Lamar is on the very confines OF
old age, being more than sixty years
old, and. in the ordinary course OF
nature, viii not live long enough to
learn from practice what he ought to
have had before becoming Il member
of the Supreme Court. This court is
not & school for the education of law
yers and judges, but 4 tribunal 70 Use
eminent abilities already acquired and
fitting the incumbent for the service.
And when we turn to Mr.. Lamar's
political record before and since the
war, to what he has said in the Senate
and in the House of Representatives,
to his rem arks about Jefferson Davis.
and to his unquestionable acquiescence
i'll what is known as the l." Mississippi
plan of Democratic politics to which
he owes his own promotion, and in
which he has been participant, we
can not but think that this record, if
taken by itself, ought to have been
considered as very serious objection
to his nomination and confirmation.
We say frankly that any man. having
such Il record, ought not to be MEN,
Der of the Supreme Court of the United
States. Let him be member of the
House of Representatives if the people
choose to elect him, or Senator if
his own State chooses thus to honor
him; but let him not be one of the
Justices of the Supreme Court for tie
whole nation. This is our sense of the
fitness of things.
The President. in search of the right
man. leaped over all the district and
circuit judges of the United States in
the Southern States, and all the distin-
guished members of the bar in these |
States; and turning back to Washing.
ton and his own Cabinet. he found, ir
a politician OF some notoriety, especial
~ in Mississippi, but not an emipent
lawyer of National reputation. just the
man he wanted, and sent his name to
the Senate. The confirmation of This
in the circumstances pre-
ceding it and those attending it, pre-
Sents Il sad spectacle to the country.
We hope never to see it repeated. One
such spectacle is surely enough for q
century.-N y independent