Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-02-16
F|NAL|TY IN DEGREES
OF US. SUPREME COURT
Decisions Accepted as Nearest
Approach There is to End
Of Controversy.
BY Associated Press 70 Every Evening

Ry Associated Press 70 Every Evening.
Washir gton, Feb 16.-The phrase
"and Il is so ordereCY' with which so many
decisions of the United States Supreme
Court are concluded is accepted by the
legal profession not orly Of the United
States but of the world ms the nearest
approach there is to absolute finallty.
Petitions forEehearing of cases are not
infreouent occupying much the same
position in Practice before the Supreme
Court the routine motion for row
trial does in the county or city courts,
hut occasions on which the supreme
Court has granted such petitions are
rare that tho exceptions arc historical.
Necessity Of brirgrg legal dispute
"a a close ut some point is said to have
influenced the policy Of the court IN this
regard. a pOhcy which has stood since
the davs of Chief Justice Marshall. A
secondary consideration IS the fact that
the court is always from Is months 10
two wears behind its calendar and, unless
optimistic attorneys We're curbed some
where, the most TRIVIAL "cause' might
be prolor ged almost indefinitely,
Only two clear cut cascs in which the
court has agecd to reconsider ITS formal
decision are recalled by veteran attaches.
The most famous was the appearance ei
the late Gen benjamin 1. Butler as =
friend OF the court TO point out what
he thought was a palpable error IN the
Judgment given in American Emigrant
company Us Adams County, Iowa.
The story ls told that Gen. Butler HIM
self hesitated to take up the question
of 3 rchcanrg especially since the formal
motion had been denied but upon read
ing the record III the case he determined
that the highest American court should
not be permitted 70 rest under the ialse
construction il had promulgated.
''If your honors viii read my hrlet,
am certain you will be inclined 70 thank
/ me. he is said TO have replied when the
/ bench called his attention 10 the violation
| or practice II not of clear ethics he
/ was making
] The Court read the hrIei and vollrn-
tarilv reversed itself
The second outstanding incident was
| that OF the original suits over the Fedora
| income tax. heard in 1895 The first judg-
/ rnent upheld the act partially hut declar-
/ ed it invalid IL respect % certain import
/ ant classes Of property William -
! Guthrie, OF counsel for the interests fight
| ing the statute, presented a petition for
! rehearlng. although his associates are
said to have argued strongly that he
! let we'll enough alone
To their surprise the court granted the
rehearing and finally reversed itself II
part BY declaring the entire act uncon
stitutional 1t was this decision which lee
directly 10 enactment Of the Sixteenth
Amendment giving Congress the power
TO levy q tax on all income no matter from
what source derived The Amendment
did away with the constitutional restrc
ton which forbade the imposition Of ,
direct tax unless it was apportioned II
each state according 70 population.
The rule of the court on rehearings
as stated by Chief Justice Tahey in 1852
is simple. No rehearing would be granted
he said, unless a justice who voted fo
the Judgment, votes for the rehearlng c
it.
When this court has made decision
a prominent attorney said In the cours
of arguing a famous case of the pas
at is like a decree of Venice, irreversiblr
and like the laws of Medes and Persian
which altereth not, neither do they chang
The decision Of this court is the end
the law.