Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-05-22

WASHINGTON, May 21.-The Ken
lucky Governorship case was to-day
decided by the United States Supreme
Court in the interest of Beckham, af-
firming the decision of the Kentucky
Court of Appeals.
The opinion was handed down by
Chief Justice Fuller and the case was
dismissed for want Of jurisdiction.
He said the court should be the last
to overstep the bounds limiting its
own jurisdiction and that the determ-
lnation of cases of this character, con-
tests for State Office, must necessarily
be settled by the political branch of
the government. This branch had act
Ell in the Kentucky case when the
General Assembly took jurisdiction.
There vas nc appeal from the Assem-
bly's decision, which was favorable to
Goebel and Beckham, except to the
tribunal of the people, which tribunal
the Chief Justice said, was always
In session. He also said the case was
purely a State case-that Kentucky
was in the full possession of its facul-
ties as a member of the union and that
there vas no emergency at this time
Ealing for interference.
The opinion in the Kentucky case
was not unanimous. Justices Brewer,
Harland, Brown and McKenna were the
dissenting justices.
After reviewing the facts in the case
Chief Justice Fuller said:
1T is obviously essential to the in
dependence of the State and to their
peace and tranquility and their power
to prescribe the qualifications of their
own officers, the terms of their Offices,
the name of their election and the
grounds on which the tribunals before
which and the mode in which such
elections may be contested should be
exclusive and free from external inter
ference except so far as plainly pro-
vided by the Constitution of the
United States. Where controversies
over the election of State officers have
reached the State courts In the man
ner provided and have been determ-
ined in accordance with State consti-
tutions and laws, the cases must nee
e~ssarily be rare in which the Interior
ence OF this court can be properly In
voked."
The Chief Justice then reviewed the
cases of Boyd VS.. Thayer, Wilson VS..
North Carolina, Kennard VS.. North
Carolina and Foster VS.. Kansas, and
continued: "The grounds on which
our jurisdiction is sought to be main
tanned in the present case are set
forth in the errors assigned to the
effect in substance:
81. That the action of the general
assembly in the matter Of these con-
tests deprived plaintiff in error of
their offices without due process of
law.
80. That the action of the general
assembly deprives the people of Ken
lucky Of the right to choose their
own representatives secured by he
guarantee of the Federal Constitution
of a republican form of government to
every State, and deprives them of their
political liberty without due process
of law.
For more than one hundred years
the constitution of Kentucky has pro-
vided that contested elections for gov
ernor and lieutenant governor shall
be determined by the general assem-
bly,. In 1899, by a committee to be
selected from both houses of the
general assembly and framed and reg
ulated in such manner as shall be di-
rected by law since 1850, by both
houses of the general assembly ac-
cording to such regulations as may be
established by law
"The statute enacted for the pur-
pose of carrying the provision of the
constitution into effect has been in ex-
istence in substance since 1899, and
many of the states have similar con-
stitutional provisions and similar stat
ates.
"We do not understand this statute
TO be objected to as in any manner OBJ
noxious to constitutional objection, but
that plaintiff in error complain of the
action of the general assembly under
the statute under the Judgment of the
State courts declining to disturb that
action
After the Chief Justice had concluded,
Justices McKenna, Brewer and Harlan
read opinions dissenting from the opin-
Ion of the court-Justice Harlan entire
ly and the others on certain points.
MAC TIT