The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-12-06
A PRoTEsT AaAINgr M,KENNA

1t has been the general supposition
that Attorney General McKenna would
be appointed to succeed Associate Jus
tice Field upon the latter's retirement
from the supreme court of the United
States That event occurred On the LIST
inst. AS yet no nomination to fill the
vacancy thus created has been made,
and in any case would hardly be until
congress met, it's session being so near
at hand But when Justice Fields sue
cessor is nominated will he be Attor-
ney General McKenna?
Not if the bench and bar of the state
of Oregon can have their way. They
have sent a protest to the president
and senate, declaring that he ought not
to be appointed or confirmed as a jus
tice of the supreme court of the United
States. It says that such office is a
life tenure, the highest known to the
profession of law and system of juris-
prudence of this country, and neces-
sarily ought to be held only by one who,
in learning, intellectual ability and de-
termined character, has shown himself
to be among the few most eminent Of
the legal profession, and capable of
executing the great trust placed upon
him and of maintaining the character
for ability and independence which has
made the supreme court of the United
States one of the first, if not the very
first of the tribunals of the world. It
is further stated that rather than di-
lutte the high quality of the supreme
court it would be better that some one
not from the Pacific coast be selected.
The protest then states that the COM
mon reputation of a man among his
professional brethren is Just and sure
guide to his worth. 1t ends as follows:
The Hon. Joseph McKenna's COM
mon reputation among his legal breti-
rem or among his judicial brethren has
not accorded him high place, but, on
the contrary, though many who esti-
mated him until now refrained from an
expression Of opinion, the consensus OF
opinion has been and is, that he is not
either by natural gifts. acquired learn
ing or decision OF character, qualified
for any judicial place of Importance,
much less for the highest place in the
land.
His life record as a barrister, politi-
CAN. IGu2E anu attorney general Is IL
cessible and should speak for itself: but,
believing the estimate of him by the
members Of his profession to be a test
and believing that we of that profess
/ sion owe it to ourselves and our coun-
try to no longer keep silence, we, act
ing without malice, without personal
feeling and without preference for any
particular individual, earnestly protest
against the appointment or conf1rma-
Of "a Fl
justice of the supreme court of the
United States.
This petition is signed by United
States District Attorney Judge Bel
linger, many of the state judges and
leading members of the bar. What, if
any, effect this protest will have on
Judge McKenna's nomination, or
whether it viii be made. as generally
supposed. it is impossible to say. That
he has been attorney general is not
evidence that he is qualified for a, place
on the supreme bench; in fact, there
have been many attorney generals who
would have made very poor judges,
some who made rather poor attorney
generals. And there hare been men ap-
pointed to the supreme bench against
whom there were many protests,
though they may not have been for
NAL; such an instance was the case Of
Stanley Matthews.
If the president really intends to send
in the name of his attorney general as
Justice Fields successor he viii almost
be compelled to take heed of this pro-
test, at least to the extent Of giving
it careful consideration