Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1895-09-05
THURSDAY EVENING. SEPT. s, 1885

AuC VA OpO
government to declare o law passed by
Congress to be unconstitutional, null
and void, and if so where is it lodged :?
The question is of vital Importance and
upon the answer it depends whether
we live under a government of laws or
not. Some half a dozen times, perhaps,
in the history of the American repub-
lie has the q. 8. Supreme Court assum-
ed the serious responsibility of declar-
ing a statute of Congress ~unconstitu-
tional. The power has been exercised
with extreme caution. The Supreme
Court has always refused to decide 8
case on the ground of unconstitution-
atty of a law of Congress when the
case could possibly be disposed OF on
any other ground. More than this, the
court, before setting aside q law, re-
quires the court to be full, SO that it is
a majority of the whole court and not
that of q bare quorum of the court that
sets aside the act. The grounds for,
this conservative spirit in this august
i.idicial tribunal are obvious to any
student of our political institutions.
The States have by their constitutions
conferred on Congress the legislative
power. The members of the House OF
+. representatives are chosen directly by
the people, the Senator'S indirectly, or
hy the action of State legislatures
cnosen directly by the people of the
several States. Thus by their repre-
sentatives, duly chosen, the American
people make their own laws. The
JUICES are appointed by the President
and confirmed by the Senate. They do
not emanate from the people. 1t is,
therefore, a great and unpleasant re-
sponsibility for the Supreme Court to
say to the great legislative body of the
land and to the President who has
signed a bill or allowed it to become q
law, "You have transcribed tho federal
constitution in your law and we declare
it to be null and void. So far as the
q before US is concerned this law Is
the same as if it did not exist" Nat.
urally, therefore, the o. s. Supreme
Court is very chary of declaring a law
unconstitutional. Does q sovereign
State possess the power to declare a
law of Congress unconstitutional? The
power has never been claimed by the
State legislatures. Mr.. Calhoun and
other eminent statesmen at one time
commended that q State acting by q
solemn convention of its people could
SET aside or suspend a law of Congress
deemed by the State to be unjust, OPP
pressive and intolerable. The issue
very nearly provoked q civil war. But
it is o a principle settled and accept
ed by all the people that no single State
and no number of States, however pop
ulous, have any right to nullify a law
of the United States. Has the Presi-
dent of the United States g right to null
lily and set aside a law of Congress
passed by all the usual forms? No
President hos ever distinctly claimed
to possess such a power. The Presi-
dent is sworn expressly to execute the
laws. The hardest thing ever said
of any President was that he has failed
to execute faithfully and impartially
all the laws of the statute book. A
wilful failure to do SO involves perjury,
~malfeasance in Office, and usurpation,
such as deserves impeachment, and, if
possible, q more severe and condign
punishment. Does the secretary or
head Of any department possess the
power to nullify a law of Congress?
Such an official subsists only by the
breath of the President. He is here
to-day and gone tomorrow. He is
only one of the agents By whom the
President performs the varied functions
of the executive Office. The secretary
can have no greater powers than the
President who appointed him. he is
the creature of law. Unless he cbeys
and carries out the law he is the per-
jured representative of tyranny which
in other countries and other times have
brought rulers to the block. To sum
up, the officials of the executive de-
partment, whether big or little, have no
more right to defy and disregard the
laws ofthe land upon any pretense what
soever than the humblest citizen. The
official is dependent on the law of
the land for the protection of his per-
son, property and all his rights, public
and private. If he sets the law at
naught he puts himself outside the
pale of the law. Strange to say.
in the teeth of such plain and
fundamental principles we hear
talk of a subordinate official of the
treasury as being about to issue a dc.
cree multiplying n of the laws of the
last Congress, a Law passed with the
general concurrence of the democrats
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