The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-10
Judge Jones Hands Orf
 Very Warm Sfatement
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1l

1 eomity of constable or sheriff as to the 1 time of an arrest at any stopping point
 along the route. Does eny one who really | loves the people of Alabama believe the 1 court should have allowed such a state l of things brought about2 The right an 1
 duty of court of equity, whether state
 or federal, to interfere under such cir | cumstances is plain, and has never been
 doubted since the judgment of Chief Jus | tioe John Marshall fin the great case of | Osborne against the Bank.
 Government of Laws.
 l The power of a court of equity to re- | strain the enforcement of an unconsttu- 1 tlonal statute is as effective against one l clothed with official authority as against
 the private individuals: Prout vs Starr, | supra. This is a government of laws and | not of men. There is no imperial power 1 stalking abroad fin the land of ours which
 can trample down the law as construed | by the courts, and no person so humble | or despised as to be without their protec- ! ton. We cannot too often recall the mem | orable words of the most august judi~>sl l
 tribunal on earth when 1t discharged the ! citizen Milligan illegally held under the 1 order of the President and waiting exc cuton after sentence and trial by mill | tary commission Just at the close of the l Civil war, because the constitution of the | United States is the law for rulers and people equally, in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times, and un- der all circumstances" Ex parte Milli- gan Wallace 120.
 Action Assailed.
 In spite of these plain principles so of- , ten declared by the courts of this country, the action of the court in these cases, in the discharge of sworn duty to which 1t dared not be faithless, in the enforcement of rights secured by the supreme law of the land has been sayagely assailed, sometimes, sad to say, by men whose du ties make them defenders and not defam- CTS Of the courts, as an interference with the rights of the state and an unwarrant- ed intermeddling with local affairs It is hard to see how much an opinion could be sincerely urged by any enlightened and refiecting man. The constitution and laws of the United States are not local mat ters, and they concern the preservation of every right given by them, whether in vaded under the form of state law, or by the violence of private individuals. The strictest constructionist admits that whAt- ever the state has ceded to the United States no longer remains with the state, and that the exercise of the power delegated by the general government can
 
 or rights of any state. No one will deny that the state ceded to the general gov ernment all the rights which the constitu tion of the United States specifics. That constitution provides that the judicial power of the ~.4lLed States shall be vested in one supreme court and in such inferior courts as congress may from time to time ordain and establish" It further pro- vides that "the judicial power shall ex- tend to all cases. in law or In equity, aris- ing under this constitution and the laws of the United States, and to con troversies between citizens of different states" It also provides that this consti- tuition and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance there of, shall be the supreme law of the land. and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby anything in the constitu ton or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. It further declares the congress shall have power to make all laws which are necessary and proper to carry into execution the foregoing pow CTS, and all other power vested by this constitution in the government of the United States or in any other department or olnce thereof" In pursuance of the power thus granted by the constitution to congress, 1t mas provided inferior tribu- nals. and passed laws defining their pow CTS and jurisdiction and regulating the rights of citizens of other states, and, in certain cases, of citizens of this state to resort to the federal courts here for the protection of their rights Those courts execute both the laws of the state and of the United States in any case properly brought before them just as the state courts in general execute the laws of the United States as well of the states in all cases properly brought before them. The people, or the states in convention assembled, if that form of stating it be preferred, are the source of tho power which created the constitution of the United States and the courts for which it provides. Those courts are as much part of the system for enforcing the laws as the courts of the state.
 "It is the duty of all courts. state as well as federal under the constitution of the United States and of the state, If in any case before them they find that leg islation on any subject, whether or Con- gress or of the state legislature trans gresses the fundamental law. to arrest its operation; not that the Judiciary is su- perior to the legislature, but because the constitution is superior to both, and nulli- fies all laws in violation of It's command. The right of a citizen to have the courts of the state and of the United States pass upon such questions when properly presented, is a part of the heritage of every citizen and person within the juris- diction of the state or the United States, and surely no one who loves the insti- tutions of this country can sincerely com plain of the exercise of such power by any of the courts of the country, whether state or federal, or what 1t Is a menace to the welfare and happiness of the state, or an invasion of it's rights because it happens that the federal court rather than the state courts adjudges that an act of legislation has transcended the bounds of the constitution. To concede the claim, which some now so recklessly urge, that the federal court can have no concern with any local matter whatever, however deeply 1t may touch the rights of the citizens of the United States, un- der the constitution. would be an aban- donment of the whole scheme of the con versal of the current of thought of the people of this country for more than a hundred years of national life. It would add new amendment to the fundamen- tai law, that wherever the enforcement of a right given by the constitution of the United States touches local pride or in terests the inferior courts of the United States at least shall have no right to pass on 1t, and be utterly plotted out as to such matters. It would put the rights of the citizens of any state, under the con stitution, without the protection of he inferior tribunals of the United States In any event. and confine him to the courts of the states. No enlightened state has ever dreamed of shutting the doors of Its courts to any person within the pro