The Thibodaux sentinel. (Thibodaux, La.) 1905-1912, 1912-02-24
IS CONGRESSIONAL, NOT JUDICIAL
UNITED STATES TRIBUNAL DE-
CiDES IMPORTANT CASE.
Enforcement of Guarantee of Repub'
Iican Form Of Government Belongs
to Political Department, II Says.

1
In the throes of constitutional con
vention that is about to write into the
state constitution provision for th<
initiative and referendum in state leg
| islation, with Theodore Roosevelt, &C
cording to friends who are in his con
fidence, about to make speech de
claring for the initiative and referen
| dunn, and with the initiative and refer
endum-though as an academic prop
| osition-made the line OF cleavage be
tween radicals and conservatives OF
either party in a number of states, the
supreme court Monday aroused the
widest interest among senators and
| representatives when 1t decided the
Oregon initiative and referendum
cases.
The decision of the court was unanf
nous, refusing to declare contrary to
the federal constitution the initiative
and referendum provisions in the stats
constitution Of Oregon.
The court does not 60 into the ques.
ton raised whether the Oregon pro.
visions create a republican form Of
government, as guaranteed by the fed.
eral constitution, or pure democ'
racy. It simply denied It's own turfs.
diction. asserting the question to be
political and not judicial, and declared
the subject to be within the reach Of
action by congress and not by the
courts.
The decision, which was handed
down by Chief Justice White, sets
forth the view that to declare the as
sailed provisions unconstitutional
would be in effect to declare the whole
government of Oregon out OF exist.
ence Unless, then, in assuming jur'
isdiction to make this declaration. the
court at the same time assumed ar
thority to reconstruct state govern
ment, the constitutional guarantee
would be of a guarantee Of anarchy
and not of order.
But such an assumption, argued the
chief Justice, would be an "inconceiv,
able expansion of the judicial power
and the ruinous destruction of legisla
tive authority" Indeed, throughout
the decision runs this continuous refer
ence to the calamity of such usurpa
ton of legislative functions by the
courts, and in this respect the decision
reads like an answer to the charge OF
usurpation that is directed against the
supreme court from time to time
The court does not deny that the
constitution, in section 4 of article 4
does guarantee to the state "a repub
lican form of government" But 1t as
serts that the judge of that political
requirements must be the political arm
Of the federal government. The de
cision implies that the admission to
the national councils by the houses Of
congress of the representatives OF q
state as actually governed is tacit
affirmation that the government de
facto is the government de jure. and
as such agreeable to the requirements
OF the constitution.
1T is important" says the decision
of the case at issue, "since it calls
upon US to decide whether 1t is the
duty Of the courts or the province OF
congress to determine whether state
has ceased to be republican in form.
and to enforce the guarantee OF the
constitution on the subject 1t is not
novel. as the question has long since
been determined by this court con-
formally to the practice Of the gov.
eminent from the beginning to be po'
litical in character, and therefore not
cognizable by the judicial power, but
solely committed by the constitution
to the judgment Of congress-"
The decision ends the long agitation
arising in the case Of the Pacific
States Telegraph and Telephone Com
pany, plaintiff in error to the supreme
court of Oregon, against the state OF
Oregon. In 1902 the state constitu-
ton was amended by the insertion OF
an initiative and referendum provis-
ion. and subsequently by the initiative
of the people license tax Of per
cent of the local gross earnings was
levied on all telephone and telegraph
companies operating within the state