Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1911-08-23
A DRASTIC MEASURE.

Beyond all question the most radical the
most revolutionary and the most essentially
dangerOur measure that has had serious intro.
ductiOn in either branch of the congress during
this remarkable special session or in recent
years is that projected in the upper chamber
by Senator Bourne Of Oregon-a bill whose
enactment and operation law would force
the United States supreme court to rush along
to decision constitutional points raised in cases
IN the inferior courts before they have had trial
there, would instruct that tribunal as to how
a law is to be interpreted and would require
unanimous vote of the court to pass on the
constitutionality of state and federal laws.
In short, the proposal is to strip the court of
last resort of its present judicial and discretion
airy powers and make it a mere tool for carry
ing out instructions from an ever-changing body
OF elective lawmakers The title of the bills
makes no bones" Of thus defining its purpose
A bill, " it describes itself ''to provide rules
for speedy and final. decisions of questions con-
corning the constitutionality of national and
state laws and constitutional provisions and for
the Interpretation and construction of the fed.
eral law and constitution. In other words
the court would take its orders from the con.
gress, go fast or slow as its master cracked
the whip and would be powerless to render de-
cisiOn against the constitutionality of law if
only one of its nine members held the enact
ment to be within the constitution I'm my
opinion, argues the Oregonian in support of
this drastic proposal, "unless a state law or an
act OF congress is so clearly unconstitutional
that the court will be unanimous in so declar
ing, the decision of the court should uphold the
validity of the act. The purpose of this bill
is not to allow one, two, three or four members
OF the supreme court to override eight, seven,
six or five members of that distinguished branch
of our government but rather to enable one
two, three four members of that court to pre-
vent eight, seven, six five Of it's members from
overriding the wishes of the nation as expressed
through congress or the wishes of sovereign
state as expressed by it's electorate or by its
Legislature This says, practically, that congress
and the legislatures cannot err that if the peo-
pie elect them and they enact laws rejecting
the opinions and the wishes of the electors, such
laws must stand, constitutional or no consttll-
ton This is progressiveism run wild Is the
country gone legislation Can anybody set
limit on this phase of legislative insanity? No
wonder that Senator Hepburn of Idaho char
acterized this Bourne scheme as ga cross be-
tween populism and anarchy" another move in
the present effort to destroy majority rule and
to put an irresponsible minority in the saddle y
Happily, there is no indication of any consider
able support for the proposal-but it was less
than six months ago that the great bulk of the
people believed that the Arizona statehood bill
with its provision for the judiciary recall, could
never be put through congress- The revolution
lists jammed it through however and then
changed it. What may they not doY