The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1920-06-18
we're proposed contained such dec


laration.
'2-The two-thirds vote in each
house which is required in propos-
ing an amendment is a vote of two
thirds of the members present as
Stunning the presence of quorum
and not a vote OF two-thirds OF the
entire membership present and abb
sent. Missouri Pacific Railway Co.
VS.. Kansas, 24s L. S. 276.
State Constitutions Null
"5-The referendum provisions OF
state constitutions and status cannot
be applied, consistently with the Con-
stitution of the United States in the
ratification or rejection OF amend
ments to it, Hawke VS.. Smith, United
States, decided June l. 1920.
"4-The Prohibition of the manu-
facture, sale, transportation, importa-
ton and expectation of Intoxicating
liquors for beverage purposes, as
embodied in the Eighteenth Amend
ment, is within the power to amend
reserved by Article V of the Consti-
tuition.
"5-That amendment by lawful
proposal and ratification has become
part of the Constitution, and must
be respected and given effect the
same as other provisions OF that in
trument.
Operative Throughout United States
"6-The first section of the amend
ment-the one embodying the Prohi-
btion-is operative throughout the
entire territorial limits of the United
States, binds all legislative bodies.
courts, public officers and individuals
within those limits, and of its own
force invaldates any legislative act
whether by congress, by state leg
islature, or by a territorial assembly
which authorizes or sanctions what
the section prohibits.
7-The second section OF the
amendment-the one declaring the
Congress and the several states shall
have concurrent power to enforce
this article by appropriate legisla-
ton'-does not enable Congress or
the several states to defeat or thwart
the Prohibition, but only to enforce
it by appropriate means.
State Aid is Unnecessary
in that section do not mean joint
power, or require that legislation
there under by Congress, to be ef-
fective, shall be approved or sane
toned by the several states or any
OF them; nor do they mean that the
power to enforce is divided between
Congress and the several states along
the lines which separate or distin-
guish foreign and interstate COM
merce from interstate affairs.
"o-The power conhded to Con-
gress by that section, while not ex-
elusive, is territorially co-extensive
with the prohibition of the first Sec
ton, embraces manufacture and
Other intrastate transactions as well
as importation, expectation, and in
terstate traffic, and is in the no wise
depended on or affected by action
or inaction on the part of the sew
eral states or any of them.
A Constitutional Mandate
"10-That power may be cxerted
against the disposal for beverage pur-
poses of liquor manufactured before
the amendment become effective, just
as it may be against subsequent man
ufacture for those purposes. In
either case it is constitutional man
date or Prohibition that is being en-
forced
"11-While recognizing that there
are limits beyond which Congress
cannot go in treating beverages as
within its power of enforcement, we
think those limits are not transcend
ed by the provision of the Volstead
Act wherein liquors containing as
much as onc-half of per cent of
alcohol by volume and fit for use for
beverage purposes are treated as
within that power. Jacob Rupert
VS.. Caffey, PSI U. S. 264."
Opinion by Justice White
Chief Justice White in a concurring
opinion said:
II profoundly regret that in case
of this magnitude, affecting as it does
an amendment to the Constitution
dealing with the powers and duties
of the national and state govern /
ments and intimately concerning the |
welfare of the whole people, the
court has deemed it proper to state
only ultimate conclusions without
any exposition of the reasonings by
which they have been reached.
II appreciate the difficulties which |
a solution of the cases involved and
the solicitude with which the court