The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-12-08
LURToN FOR JUSTICE.

The dispatches yesterday morning
U, S. Circuit Court'of Appeals for the
Sixth Judicial Circuit, as saying that he
has reason to expect his nomination as
Justice of the Supreme Court of the
| United States, to succeed the late JUS
tice Peckham. 1t seems that the Presi-
dent has offered him the place through
another, and that he stands ready to
accept.
There has been an understanding in
Washington for a good while that
Judge Lurton was slated for the Su-
preme Court justiceship, and we have
commented on the rumor heretofore.
| But there are certain objections to him,
one Of them being that he is quoted
as ga rockribbed Dcmocrat,' and that
he would be apt to try to steer the court
back into the old lines of strict con-
struction of the constitution, and an
insistence that has been unknown on
that bench for good many years, upon
the more distinct recognition of the old
State s rights doctrine, President Taft,
however, must have known about Judge
Lurton's s political bias and he must
also have known OF his record as a
Judge. If Lurton is appointed, there
fore, it VIII be with full knowledge
Of all this.
A moro serious objection against
Judge Lurton is urged on account of
his age. If he is appointed, he will
be the oldest man ever nominated as
a Justice of the Supreme Court. The
New York Evening Post summarizes
the point in the following editorial:
Washington dispatches agree that there
| is opposition In the Senate Judiciary
Committee TO the nomination OF Judge
| Burton but intimate that President Taft
| can secure confirmation II he asks for II
urgently. The objection 10 Lurton is that
| he Is the oldest man ever named for the
| Supreme Court. In It's whole history. but
| six men have been appointed when they
| were siXty-one or upwards. the greatest
age being that OF Mr.. Justice Lamar, who
| was sixty-three when placed on the
bench by President Cleveland. II one
wero to reckon up the average age OF all
| the Supreme Court judges from the be-
! ginning, II would be found to be nearer
| fifty than sixty. In general, the judges
| who made the greatest reputation took up
their work. youngest; Story entered the
at forty-four, Marshall and Miller at
| forty-siX, Field at forty-seven. Even in
recent years we have Harlan at forty
four. Gray at fifty-three. Fuller at fifty
five, Brewer at ffty-two, White at forty
eight. II is thus long precedent which
President Taft is dIsresardlng in the Sc
time when the Supreme Court is en-
phatlcally In need OF judges In full vigor
Nor Is 1t argued that Judge Lurton is so
peculiarly eminent that an exception
In Y,s0. - Nc llC
That is n very strong showing It
ought to be conclusive against the ap
pointment of Judge Lurton or Of any
other man of that age. There is no
question but that the court is now com
posed of too many old men, and that
an infusion Of younger blood would be
great help. and n satisfaction to the
country. Chief Justice Fuller is 76;
Justice Brewer is 70; Justice Pecllham
was II; Justice McKenna is 66; JUS
tice Holmes is 6s; Justice Day is 60;
Justice White is 64: Justice Moody, at
90, is the youthful member off the
Court. To add TO the average ages of
these old men by new appointment in
place of decreasing that average, is
surely inadvisablo from the standpoint
of the public interests. But perhaps
President Taft thinks he will have in
time one other chance to appoint
Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, and
doubtless ho would be justified in that
expectation But so far from adding
to the weight Of years in this court
he should from the first, as it seems
to us, endeavor to decrease it, and to
infuse something of virile strength and