The Lamar register., 1904-07-06
JUSTICE STEELE
pissENTs IN THE MOVER CASE
Says the Decision Granting Governor
Power to Declare Military Rule is
Bad Law and a Menace to Our Lib.

Steele of the Supreme Court yester-
day handed down his dissenting opin'
ion in the Meyer habeas corpus case.
which was recently decided by ma
jority of the court in favor OF the gov
ernor. The opinion is along one and
radically differs from that Of his asso-
ciates as expressed in the decision or
the court. Following are some OF its
most pertinent paragraphs:
mo person who has the slightest
claim to respectability should hesitate
to approve the action of the governor
in enforcing the law, and | am willing
to uphold him and to applaud him so
long as he keeps within the lines OF
the constitution. But | am not Will
ing to uphold him when In my opin-
ion he breaks down the barriers
erected by the people for their pro-
lection, nor am l willing to accord to
the constitution elastic properties for
the purpose of sustaining him, nor TO
Join in the establishment of a prece-
dent which will not apply to other
classes or other conditions when an
other governor undertakes to exercise
the same arbitrary power.
Il am not willing to concede the
power claimed by the governor and
exercised by him. because in my opin-
ion such power is not vested in MIN by
the constitution. The people could
never have intended to erect such an
engine of oppression. 1t follows, OF
course, that If the present executive
is the sole Judge of the conditions
which can call into action the mill
tary power OF the government and can
exercise all means to efectually abate
the conditions. and the judicial power
can not inquire into the legality oil
his acts, that the next governor may.
by his edict, exercise the same arbi-
trary power.
"If the military authority may deport
the miners this year. it can deport the
farmers next year. If strike which Is
not a rebellion must be so regarded be-
cause the governor says it is. then any
condition must be regarded as rebel
lion which the governor declares to be
such"
In speaking of the courts interpreta-
tion of the powers of the governor un-
der the constitution he says:
THE court has not construed the
constitution, IT has ignored 1t; and the
result is that it has made greater IN
roads on the constitution than 1t IN
tended, and that not one of the guar
antees of personal liberty can now be
enforced"
1t is plain from Justice Steele's opin-
ion that while the court did not pass
upon the writ of habeas corpus suspen-
sion and martial law, he regards the
courts conclusion as equal to this in
their effect In one place, in replying
to a sentence in the courts opinion, the
following passage occurs:
Again the court says: To deny the
right of the militia to detain those
whom they arrest while engaged in sup
pressing acts of violence and until or
Il i u tla :.
absurd results
This sentence infiicts a fatal wound
upon civil liberty. suspends indefinitely
the privilege of the writ of habeas cor
'pus. annuls that section of the consti-
tuition which declares that no person
shall be deprived of liberty without due
process of law, and characteriZes the
declaration of the Supreme Court of the
United States as an absurdity."
Il know of no authority that vests
in the governor the power to arrest one
who he may think will commit an Of
Tense No such power is granted by
the constitution nor bestowed by stat
ute. The courts of the state are open
and in the unobstructed performance of
their functions. Most persons would
regard restraint of liberty for the per-
iod of nearly ninety days as punish
ment; and when the court says that th1
petitioner. by his detention, loses none
of his constitutional rights, ii ignores,
IL seems to me, that section OF the con-
stitution which provides that no person
shall be deprived of his liberty without !
due process Of law"
The closing paragraphs of the dis /,
senting opinion read as follows; !
when we deny to one. however ,
wicked. a right plainly guaranteed by
n
right from everyone. When we say TO
Meyer: You must stay in prison be-
cause If we discharge you you may
commit crime we say that to every
other citizen. When we say to one gov ,
ernor: You have unlimited and arbi-
trary power we clothe future COVER !
nors with that same power We cannot ,
change the constitution to meet condl-
tions. We cannot deny liberty to-day |
and grant it tomorrow; we cannot 1
grant it to those heretofore above sus-
picion and deny it to those suspected ,
of crime; for the constitution is for all I
mentor the favorite at court; for I
the countryman at the play'-at all ,
times, and under all circumstances.
I'VE cannot SOW the dragons teeth,
and harvest peace and repose; we can
not SOW the wind and gather the rest
ful calm.
"Our fathers came here as exiles ,
from tyrant king. Their birthright
of liberty was denied them by a horde
of petty tyrants that infested the land
sent by the king to loot, to plunder.
and to oppress. Arbitrary arrests were
made: the judges aspiring to the smile
of the prince refused by 'pitiful eva
sions' the writ of habeas corpus. our
people were banished; they were denied
trial by jury; they were deported for
trial for pretended offenses; and they
finally resolved to suffer wrong no
more. and pledged their lives, their
o,d thar gacraI honor m Co \