The times., 1901-05-29
Circulation Statement.
The supreme Court and Congress.

GriggS the Porto 1IlCdh uSSi9iO'' "
a great victory for the Administration
and for the Government The sole
issue upon which the Administra-
ton has triumphed, as stated by Mr.
Justice White, is not whether Congress
has taxed Porto Rico without repre-
seutation. but whether Porto Rico was
a part of the United States when
given tax was laid. If so, the tax was
repugnant to the Federal Constitution.
Other judges are said to have enquired
whether the Constitution prevails as
definite and permanent rule of taxa
ton in the Territories as in the States
II is assumed by all the judges that
Porto Rico bears the same relation to
the United States as New Mexico, Ari-
zona and Oklahoma. Five members Of
the court hold that these Territories
are no mart of the United States, where
as four decide them to be within the
United States. The Administration is
not a party to the record in the de-
cided cases. and hence cannot have
realized technical victory.
The claim that the Administration
has won the cases is manifestIy unjust
to the court and TO the Administra-
tion itself. The Supreme Court is CO.
ordinate and independent department
of the Federal Government, sheltered
by the Constitution in cases arising in
the United States from administrative
influence. The Administration will be
quick, doubtless, to deny that it crossed
the dead line separating the judicial
from the executive department of the
Government and projected its powerful
preference into the greatest constitu-
tionaI controversy since the inaugura-
tlon of the Government. The only jus
tifcation, therefore, for the statement
that the Administration has succeeded
in the controversy has its seat in the
theory that inasmuch as the Consti-
tuition does not apply to Territories,
the powers Of government are not di-
vided in controversies arising in the
Territories, and therefore the executive
and judicial branches of the Govern
ment are permitted to come together
and corfer respecting decisions arising
out of territorial matters. Otherwise,
it is mortal sin to intimate that the
Administration induced the decision.
The decision itself, however, is a
mosaic; it ends in absolute chaos; it
has turned down the light of the Con-
stitution very low in Territories and
indicates that such light may be ut
terly extinguished in the future. Mr
Justice Brown says;
eve suggest. without intending 10 decide. that
there may be a distinction between certain nat
ural rights, enforced in the Constitution by
prohibitions against interference with them. and
what may be termed artificial or remedial rights,
which are peculiar 70 our own system Of iuris-
prudence. OF the former class are the rights to
ones own religious opinion and to a public
expression u L4ltdlls nls 1DlitlNAl4it7 oa4 ~
worship God according to the dictates Of ones
own conscience; the right to personal liberty
and individual property; to freedom OF speech
and Of the press; 70 free access 10 courts Of JUS
tice, to due process Of law, and 70 an equal
protection Of the laws; to Immunities from ur-
reasonable searches and seizures. well as cruel
and unusual punishments; and to such other i'm
munitles are indispensable % a Tree govern
ment'
thereby leaving it open to a future
court to neutralize in the Territories
all the guarantees of personal liberty
held sacred in our Jurisprudence.
The foundations are laid in the ma
jority opinion for the darkest despot-
ism. The humane Interpretation Of the
Constitution given by Marshall, and af
fectionately accepted for century, is
changed by the vote of a single man.
and the whole philosophy of the Gov
ernment overthrown in confusion Of
expressions that leaves the future in
teerity Of the Constitution itself in
doubt. The court holds that the muni-
cipal corporation called the United
States gets its powers from its name
and not from its charter.
The Constitution creates Congress;
Congress cannot lift its hand without
putting into activity some muscle Of
the Constitution; 1t cannot receive a
Territory except in obedience to the
Constitution. Yet the court holds that
Congress may dismiss its companion
ship with other departments Of the
Federal Government, set up an oil
carchy in Arizona and New Mexico
free from the visitoriaI power Of the
President and free from the judicial
supervision Of all its acts therein. The
decision looks forward to the posi-
bility Of denuding people residing in
Arizona and New Mexico Of their civil
liberties. Children born there are not
citizens of the United States under this
decision because not born within the
United States.
The court, at every stage. dignifies
power and leaves the individual to his
fate. It holds that the powers of Con-
gress in acquiring a Territory and ad-
mitting 1t into the Union as a State are
measured by the powers of the British
Parliament and not by the Constitu-
tion of the United States. 1t holds that
if a new region be acquired. by treaty,