The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-18
TIE BULwARK or TIE PEOPLES
LIBERTY AND RIGHTS.
Full Text OF the Speech % Justice Brown
OF Fcnnsyivania ON the Judiciary

her highest court that the great Gibson was
dead declared: AN should believe that the
judiciary Is the most important department
Of government. and that great. wise and pure
Judges are the chief bulwark and protection
Of the lives. liberty and rights OF the people,
Inspired lips could not have spoken truer
words.
The power Of the Government, its ultimate
bower to maintain order, to defend property.
corporate as well as lndividual-each en-
titled to the laws equal protection-to guard
the lives. the liberty and the rights Of the
people and ia promote their welfare. Is In the
judiciary. This power must rest somewhere
and IL cannot be elsewhere. II the Judges
OF the country are pure and fearless the llmi-
tations placed by the people on the other
branches Of Government dare not be trans
crossed: and the perpetuity Of our institu-
tions will not be imperilled either by nfamed
popular passion or by entertainments or
usurpations. whether attempted by indi-
viduals or by classes. by corporations OF by
officials Of high or of low degree. Execu-
tives come and go. and Legislatures. national
and State. change: but the law abides with ito
unwritten principles for the maintenance OF
government and the preservation OF society.
Its mouthpiece Is the Judge. In committing
to the Legislature OF our State the power and
authority to enact written laws for them the
people have declared In their Constitution
that their representatives shall not enact
what they have specifically forbidden. I'm
mindful Of the restrictions placed upon them.
nv not aaxxn,tl,, ,,-AAA.s ll-- 49, V--l-
latures have passed and Executives have
approved. what the people have forbidden.
To the Judiciary alone can they turn for
redress, and. with the keenest sense OF the
responsibility imposed upon them. the Judges
Of our State have unfalteringly declared tho
joint action Of Legislature and Executive 60
be void whenever it has been in contra ven
ton Of our Constitution: and from such q
decree, by which both the other branches
Of the State Government must abide. there
is no appeal. So in national legislation. when,
under delegated powers committed to the
general Government, Congress attempts TO
do. even with the approval of the President,
what the people have not permitted 1t to do.
there is but one power to sa We the country
from the consequences Of legislative wan
dering beyond constitutional limits, and that
power is the Federal Judiciary. 1t has been
and must continue to be the bulwark OF our
liberties il they are not to perish. Whether
Judges are elective or appointIve. their trans
cendent power on ght TO be the uppermoet
thought in the minds Of the people when
~electing them and in that Of the Executive
when appointing them; and this applies to all
Judges, OF inferior as well as Of the highest
court. Indeed. Of more importance to every
home and every family than the election OF
Legislatures, Governors and even Presidents
is the selection Of the district Judge. to whom.
In the first instance. is committed the laws
protection Of life. liberty and property.
Judicial purity is but weakness without
judicial courage. The hands Of a Judge may
be as clean as we're those Of him who judged
Israel all the days of his life. and who. when
he was old and gray headed, called upon the
people TO witness before the Lord and his
II there was any faint upon him:
but such hands without courage are UNIT TO
hold the scales Of Justice. A Judge may be
as Just as Aristides. but he cannot worthily
wear the robes OF his sacred ONCE IL he hesi-
tates TO fearlessly declare what is the law In
the light Of his conscience. with its account
ability only TO the Great Judge, to the God
OF all law. At no time in our national history
has there been greater need Of judicial fear
lessness. Purity and uprightness are ex-
pected in every Judge, and to each ought to
at all lines as an inspiration the fear
lessness Of Marshall when courage was re-
quired. Calm amid the cry OF the multitude
for the conviction of Burr on the charge OF
treason and unmlndful OF the Presidents
encoura gement OF this clamor, his instruc-
tons to the jury were the words Of the law
as he understood IL. knowing that under them
acquittal would follow. Grand, heroic and
very incarnation Of the upright. Just and
fearless Judge. He was sensible Of the great
responsibility upon him: he knew that the
he was about to give would sub
Ject him to severest criticism on all sid es, and
that he would be maligned and misunder-
stood: but the fear Of such consequences did
not rest upon him. His own feelings at the
his own sense Of duty. can be beet por-
in his own words: That this court
n u bO NoNi PONNi 10 NEuCs LHHJ /
this court dares not shrink from It's duty is
not less true. No mar Is DESTROYS Of placing |
in a disagreeable situation. No man
Is DESTROYS Of becoming the peculiar subject
Of calumny. No man might he let the bitter
cup pass from him without self reproach
drain it to the bottom. But II he has
no choice in the case. II there is no a~lterna-
presented to him but a dereliction OF
duty or the opprobrium Of those who are
lenominated the world, he merits the con-
Tempt MS well as the indignation Of his coun-
who can hesitate which to embrace"
The shadow that falls over the Iustre OF
Jeferson's great name comes from his public
criticism Of the Chief Justice and his exhibit
ion Of resentment against him for having
practically directed Burr's acquittaI. No
shadow rests upon the name Of the great
Judge. and nothing in his unparalleled ca
~er throws more glory around II than his
'earlessness in that famous trial.
The judiciary May I ask you to hear the
words Of the beloved Chief Justice OF our
More independent. less directly re-
'ponsible either to the other departments or
% the people at large. yet holding neither the
purse nor the sword. its authority depends
wholly upon reason. But how transcendent
s its authority: to mark the limits Of leQisIa-