The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-05-22
TAYLOR LOSES.

CONCLUDED FROM FIRST PAGE)
affirmed instead of dismissing the writ Of
error. He said the prescribed procedure
was followed in awarding the contestants
the Offices The first decision of the gen.
eral assembly was made at a secret ses-
sion outside its ordinary place of meeting,
but subsequently this action was ratified
and confirmed when the general assembly
was in the discharge of it's ordinary duties.
II do not ignore, he said, the many al
legations of wrong, such as that the selec-
ton of committee was not by lot, as pre-
scribed by the laws, but was trick on the
part of the clerk Of the assembly, and it
must be conceded that the outcome of that
drawing lends support to this allegation.
Curious results sometimes happen by
chance, but when those results happen so
largely along the lines of the purpose of
those who have control of the supposed
chance 1T is not strange that outsiders are
apt to feel that purpose, and not chance,
determined the result
Justice Brewer said no question can be
raised in the courts as to the honesty
integrity of the members of the legisla-
ture In the discharge of their duties.
Whatever of purity or honesty may be in
fact lacking in the conduct of any one of
them is matter to be inquired into be-
tween his constituents and himself. and it
is no part of the province of the judiciary
to challenge or question the integrity of
his action He agreed with the Court of
Appeals of Kentucky that upon the award
OF the assembly no other judgment can be
JUSTICE HARLAN'S VIEWS.
Justice Harlan, in his dissent, quoted va
rious authorities, and said:
Notwithstanding these applications, the
decision to-day is that this court has no
jurisdiction to inquire whether the citizen
has been deprived without due process of
law, of an Office held by him under the
Constitution and the laws of his State.
If the contest between the one holding the
Office and the person seeking to hold it
is determinable by the Legislature, in a
prescribed mode, this court, 1t appears
cannot inquire whether that mode was
pursued, and cannot interfere for the pro-
lection OF the incumbent, even if the final
action of the Legislature was confessedly
capricious and arbitrary, inconsistent with
the recognized principles that belong to
due process of law, and not based, In any
degree, on the evidence taken in the con-
test. If the Kentucky Legislature had
wholly disregarded the mode prescribed
by the statutes of that State and without
appointing a board of contest composed
of its own members, had by joint resolu-
ton simply declared Goebel to be Governor,
and especially If such action had been
held by the highest court of the State to be
conclusive, this court, as we are informed
by the decision just rendered, would be
without jurisdiction to protect the incum-
bent for the reason, as is now adjudged,
that the office in dispute is not property
within the meaning of the fourteenth
amendment. So that while we may inquire
have been taken from him by the legisla-
tive, executive or judicial authorities of
his State without due process of law, we
may not inquire whether the Legislature
judicial authorities of a State have,
without due process of law, ousted one
lawfully elected and holding the office of
Governor for a fixed term with a salary
which cannot be diminished during such
term, and put into his place one whom the
people have said should not exercise the
authority appertaining 10 that high posi-
ton. When the fourteenth amendment for
babe any State from depriving any person
Of life, liberty or property without due pro-
cess of law, / had supposed that the pur-
pose was to guard citizens against being
deprived of any legal right in violation of
the fundamental guarantees that inhere in
due process of law
But it seems that under our system of
government the right of a citizen to exer-
else State Office to which he has been law
fully elected by the people, may, so far
as the Constitution of the United States is
concerned. be taken from him by the ar
bitrary action of a State Legislature i'm
utter disregard Of the principle that
Anglo-Saxon free men have for centuries
deemed to be essential to the requirement
of due process Of law. cannot assent
to this Interpretation Of the fourteenth
amendment"
COURT HAS CHANGED ITS MIND.
He then maintained that the court re-
Gently in Wilson VS.. North Carolina, which
was a contest about local Office, had
taken contrary view and continuing, said:
''It is to be regretted that case like this
should be the occasion of a departure from
principles heretofore announced and acted
upon by this court. Looking into the record
of this case, L find such action to have been
taken as was discreditable to the body
claiming to be the Legislature of Kentucky,
and which assumed to be acting in accord
ance with law. 1t openly and de1antly
trampled on the will of the people ex-
pressed at the ballot box 1t struck at the
very. foundation. of liberty regulated by
law / found also that the regulation of
the body of gentlemen claiming to be the
Kentucky Legislature, was purely arbitrary
because made without looking at all into the
to say, but feel constrained from a sense
of duty to say that the action of that body
was such that it ought not to be respected
In any court as a judgment upon the ques-
ton involving important rights submitted
to il for decision, but as action taken
wholly outside Of all law, and i'm con-
tempt Of the constitutional rights of free
men to select their rulers The record JUS
titles the belief that that body was wholly
Indifferent as to the nature Of the evidence
and that there was fixed purpose on its
part to put Goebel into office and Dust
Taylor, regardless Of the proof In the case
the evidence no conclusion favorable to
Goebel could have been reached on any
ground upon which the board of contest
or the body calling itself the Legislature
had jurisdiction to determine the Contests"
He announced that In his opinion the
judgment should be reversed ana said that
later he would file more elaborate
written opinion
Minor Omcers Will Fight 1t Out.
: FRANKFORT, KY. May 2l-The Repub- 4
lican state officials. other than Governor
and lieutenant governor. held conference
here tonight. Ex-Governor Bradley, chief