The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-11-11

which he does not want to have to
reorganize during his present term
Furthermore. there has been great crit
icism Of the promotion of attorney gen
erals to the Supreme Court. They IN
variablv have cases before the court,
and judicial etiquette prescribes that
they shall not sit at the hearing of
cases in which they have at any time
apDeared as counsel. The withdrawal
of justice from such eases, If not
embarrassing to the court, provokes I'M
desirable comment.
If the appointment is to go to Penn |,
sylvania, Secretary of State Knox |
might be considered but for the fact |
that he declined proffered nomination
from President Roosevelt to the Su- |
preme bench while he was in the SEN |
ate. Some think the present counsel |
Ior of the state department. Henry NJ:
Hovt of Pennsylvania, a classmate OF
President Taft's at Yale may be the
new iudgex The President thinks very
highly Of him and of his legal attain
ments. But Mr.. Hoyt, who was for
number of years solicitor general OF
the department of justice, has had no
judicial experience and President Taft
is on record as being opposed to sys-
tenn "by which judges are given their
judicial learning after they are called
to the BENCH
His idea has been to promote judges
from the lower federal courts, and tins
has been followed in one or two IN
stances where the President has had
the opportunity Therefore he may
try to find federal district judge or
| a federal circuit Judge who, to the
| Presidents mind. is big enough to
merit the promotion. When President
| Roosevelt had the selection of a SUI
| preme Court judge in 1906, Mr.. Taft,
| then secretary of war, was credited
with having urged him to nominate
| Circuit Judge Horace Fl. Lurton Of
| Tennessee. serving in the sixth United
| States circuit. Mr.. Taft was his col
league during his service as a circuit
| judge.
The South already has two members
of the Supreme Court in Justices Hfar-
Ian and White, and the selection OF
| Judge Lurton would make a third. He
| is Cleveland Democrat and was APP
| Dointed early in the last Cleveland adj
mln1StfaI1OU- IL IL BANooiAACo tAAe'N b+A~
President will want to name Repub-
lican to the vacancy, but 1t IS posi-
BILE that he viii prefer to retain the
!, long existent party division OF SIX he
publicans and three Democrats. Poll
) ties are not supposed to have any in
} fluence with men once they have put
. ON the ermine Of the highest judicia
: nosition in the land, but Presidents
have been accustomed to name men Of
their own political party for the places
President Harrison, whose Judicial ap
pointments were probably the ables
, of anv modern President, named Jus
= tice Jackson. a Tennessee Democrat
Another Tennesseean than Judge IuT
q ton is mentioned in connection wit
q the vaeancy-Secretary of War Dick
= inson. who is a Cleveland Democrat
5 now ffty-eight years old. The obJec
i tion would be raised to him that he
e a little old for such an appointment
4 and also that it would make a vaeanc
2 in the cabinet.
II A goodlv number Of names will b
IS urged, but until the President speak
Al no one will know she man to hol
this $4,000 a year job on lii
la tenure. There has been much con
e, ment about the ability of the court
lo recent times. 1t is not disputed tn;
40 the justices of great reputation wit
~ the country are practically all me
=. who were appointed prior to the a
- vent of the Mckinley Administrative
~ Because of the respect in which II
"a court is held, little has been said abo
m those matters in print. 1t has be-
lie quite generally conceded in official G.
in cles. however, that political consider
As tions have weighed sometimes durl1
of the last twelve years in naming )
he preme Court judges, and instances d
,lv cited where lawyers of mediocre alb
mt itv have been elevated to those hi
ais offices. There is more than one j.
I'D tiee of the present court whose OPP
Die ions carry weight chiefly because
en- the concurrence of their brethren
70 the bench.
nd There is very general hope Il
1E- President Taft s appointments to
re- Supreme Court viii strengthen it;
la- least, in popular opinion. The sen
lon justices, like Harlan, Brewer a
~ o,n White. are generally regarded as
So strongest pillars of the court.
first two are already past retiring q
mo which is seventy years. 1t has b
a+o pened that comparatively unkno
her LAWYERS have developed into very a
ox4 justices Of the Supreme Court, but
IN experiment is looked upon as haza
in Gus. and doublv so at this stage. vi
ae some Of the lawyers honored "
B,,+ places on the Supreme Court have
orl< enhanced their reputation with lawy
bose or with the people.
,ose The government has numerous ?
-, lions. which in salary, are worth m
- more than a supreme court judges
The bestowal Of those positions attr;
small attention. where the selection
ne Supreme Court judge is of nat
oaE. wide interest \ member of the PHI
JUS, pine commission. for instance, gets
egat 900 wear. where a Judge Of
the Supreme Court gets but $4,000, :
TAFT an extra $500 thrown in If he hapl
him TO be the chief justice. 4 membe
esti- the interstate commerce commits
anee receives $4,000 a year. Some of
reral Judges of the state courts Of
iera- York receive $17.500 q year And
dent comparatively few people take n