The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-12-04
ROOsEvELT'S MESSAGE
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out adequate proof (even when author
ity can be found to support the con-
illusions of law on which it is found
ed. may often settle the dispute be-
tween the parties and therefore if i'm
properly granted may do irreparable
wrong Yet there are many judges
who assume a matter Of course grant
ing of preliminary injunction to be
the ordinary and proper judicial dis
position of such cases; and there have
undoubtedly been Migrant wrongs
committed by judges in connection
with labor disputes even within the
! last few years. although l think much
! less often than in former years. Such
judges by their unwise action i'm
mensely strengthen the hands of those
who are striving entirely to do away
with the power of Injunction; and
therefore such careless use of the in
junctive process tends to threaten its
very existence, for if the American
people ever become convinced that this
process is habitually abused, whether
in matters affecting labor or in mat
tiers affecting corporations, it will be
well-nigh impossible to prevent its
abolition.
! 1t may be the highest duty of a
| judge at any given moment to dis
regard, not merely the wishes of indi-
viduals of great political or financial
power, but the overwhelming tide of
public sentiment; and the judge who
does thus disregard public sentiment
the plea Of any special interest when
the pleading is not founded on right
eousness, performs the highest SER
vice to the country. Such a judge is
deserving of all honor; and all honor
can not be paid to this wise and fear
less judge if we permit the growth
of an absurd convention which would
forbid any criticism Of the judge of
J another type, who himself timid in the
presence of arrogant disorder, or who
on sufficient grounds grants an in
junction that does grave injustice, or
who in his capacity as construer,
and therefore in part a maker, of the
law, in fragrant fashion thwarts the
cause of decent government. The
| judge has a power over which no re-
view can be exercised; he himself sits
| in review upon the acts Of both the
executive and legislative branches or
the government: save in the most ex-
traOrdinary cases he is amenable onIy
at the bar of public opinion; and it is
unwise to maintain that public opin-
| ion in reference to a man with sucn
power shall neither be expressed nor
led.
The best judges nave ever beer
| foremost to disclaim any immunity
| from criticism. This has been true
| since the days Of the great English
Lord Chancellor Parker, who said
Let all people be at liberty to know
what 1 found my judgment upon:
that, so when I have given it in any
cause. others may be at liberty t.
judge of me-" The proprieties of
the case were set forth with singular
clearness and good temper by Judge
w. H. Taft, when United States cir
cult judge, eleven years ago, in 1895:
'The opportunity freely and pub
| licly to criticize judicial action is tv
vastly more Importance to tae body
! polite than the immunity of courts
and judges from unjust aspersions
and attack. Nothing tends more to
| render judges careful in their .1eci-
sions and anxiously solicitous to do
exact justice than the consciousness
| that every act of theirs is to be sub
JecteQ TO the lntelngent scrutiny and
| candid criticism of their fellow men.
Such criticism is beneficial in pro-
portion as it is fair, dispassionate,
discriminating, and based on a knowl-
edge of sound legal principles. The
comments made by learned text writ
ers and by the acute editors of the
various law reviews upon judicial de-
cisions are therefore highly useful.
Such critics constitute more or less
impartial tribunals of professional
opinion before which each Judgment
is made to stand or fall on it's merits
and thus exert a strong influence to
secure uniformity of decision. But
nonprofessional criticism also is by no
means without it's uses, even if ac-
companied, as it often is, by a direct
attack upon the judicial fairness and
| motives nf tho ooo,noo%. 80 A..