Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1903-04-29

States supreme court ulNlueu lHlee
TO six in a decision that relates to
the constitutions of some of the south
ern states that have sought to elimi-
nate the negro vote The case in point
came from Alabama, being that of J.
w. Giles VS.. the board Of registrars
of Montgomery county.
To iayman the decision of the court
seemed at least peculiar, and it was
commented upon around the capitol by
attorneys as being almost remarkable,
A report at first gained currency that
a test case of the new Alabama CON
,stitution had been decided, but later
it developed from expressions of the
court in private that the validity of
the constitution had not been touched
upon.
:s,The case in point" said one of the
Justices "does not touch upon the va
lidity of the new Alabama constitu-
ton. It is simply to the effect that
court of equity can not give the relief
asked
The case was really brought in the
first instance to test the validity Of
the constitution of Alabama. A negro
claimed that the board Of registrars
refused to allow him to register It
came up before Judge Thomas Goode
Jones. Judge of the United States dis
trict court for the Northern Alabama
district Judge Jones was undecided
whether he had jurisdiction, but dis
missed the case on the ground that
he had not, in order that the United
States supreme court might pass fl
The case. therefore, was presented to
the supreme court for the determina-
ton of this one question.
Justice Holmes delivered the opin-
ion for the court. He said that ac
cording to the usual precedent the
count had no Jurisdiction, but that this
was most extraordinary case, and
the supreme court had determined to
lay aside for the time the question of
s.stsdiction and go into the merits
OF THE case. 1t was impossible, he
said, to grant the relief that was asked
by the petitioner, the negro; first, be-
cause he had related that he is quail
i1ed voter under a system which he
admits is fraudulent and in violation
OF the constitution Of the United
States. Secondly, observed Justice
Holmes, it is beyond the power OF
this court to interfere with political
cases of such nature
He said that the court OF Alabama
properly dismissed the case.
Justice Harlan dissented from this
opinion in characteristic vigorous style.
He said the only question for the
court to decide was whether the lower
court had jurisdiction. The decision
OF the majority of the court, he
thought, left the question of jurisdic-
ton up in the air. but at the same time
the court had gone on and considered
the merits of the case. He pointed out
that there were two or three hundred
similar cases, which showed an un-
mistakable precedent that the court
mad no Jurisdiction in this case and
cited voluminous authorities. The
question involved no amount of $4,000,
as is required, and, in fact, it was ad-
mltted that no value at all was in
volved. He was unalterably opposed
10 making an exception in this case
Justices Brown and Brewer also dis
sented, but on different ground from
justice Harlan, who held that there
was no jurisdiction because of the
value involved. These justices were Of
the opinion that, as the petitioner had
oeen prevented from voting for rep
resentative in congress, federal ques-
uon was involved and therefore the
court had Jurisdiction.
The remarkable part of the case
was taken to be that the majority of
'he court, although admitting that
precedent was against jurisdiction, and
mat only the question of jurisdiction
was involved still went into the merits
* the case, deciding that the court
WUld not intarfero in cuch a nolitica1