The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-04-30
RENT DECISION
SAID. TO SLICE
CONSTITUTION
Supreme Court Ruling on
Laws Favoring Tenant His
tory Making Effect Far
Reaching, Say Lawyers.
OPENS GREAT QUESTION
by MARK Sullivan

ny MARK SULLIVAN
WASHINGTON, D. c.. April 3O.--A
rising tide of discussion about de- |
cision handed down by the supreme
court last week has brought that deci-
SION to point where it engages the at
tention of constitutional lawyers and
public men more fully than any sub
Ject of mere legislation. Your cor
respondent is assured that the discus
sion will spread quickly throughout
the country.
Both those who like the dicision
and those who dislike it, intensely
agreed that its importance is extreme
! Apparently it was only because of
accidental circumstances that the de-
cision failed to make at the moment it
was handed down the sensation which
many serious lawyers say it will make
as soon as the lawyers. judges. editors
and other commentators of the coun-
| try are aware of it's direct present ef-
| fects on the constitution and it's impli-
| cations as to the future.
The assertion that the effect of the
| decision on the constitution of the
! United States is sensational does not
! rest mostly on the constitutional law
yers here in Washington who are now
| saying it.
Grounds to justify their description
of it as sensational are to be found in
| the words of one of the court itself.
Justice McKenna, who was strongly
opposed to the decision made by the
majority of the court and who handed
down the resenting opinion in that
dissenting opinion repeatedly uttered
words of alarm at the effect of the
decision on the sanctity of the con-
stitution and it's implications for the
future. That Justice McKenna was
! deeply moved is readily to be seen
| from an examination of his words.
Effects Far Reaching.
| Several local students of the consti
tuition who are now discussing the de-
cision that it ranks in fundamental
importance with any decision ever
handed down by the supreme court,
and that it's effects on the heart of
the constitution, as written in the be-
! ginning areas far reaching as any of
the courts most history-making de-
cisions. ~ ~ ~
Stated as simply as possible and
with due warning to the reader Of
the limitations involved in giving
mere extracts from a decision and
paraphrasing its spirit, the case was
this: Congress during The war passed
I a law applying to the District of Co.
lumbia, known as the rent law. Stated
roughly, it provided that landlord
| cannot get his property back from Il
! tenant at the end of his lease if the
tenant is willing to go on paying the
same rent. A similar law was passed
by New York state applicable to New
| York City
The laws were obviously contrary to
1n ,,l
ever, they passed and many tenants,
both in New York and Washington,
! took advantage of them. multitude
of suits arose. In the lower courts
| the laws were quickly declared un-
constitutional. but in due course, two
of the suits, one from New York and
one from Washington, were united and
carried up TO the supreme court 1t is
the decision in these two cases which
! is now described as so sensational.
| The present decision by the supreme
| court upholds the law and decided
that the landlord cannot eject his
| tenant at the termination of the lease
Court is Divided.
| The court was divided on lines of
five to four. The justices who decided
in favor of the law are Holmes, Day,
Pitney, Brandeis and Clark, the de-
cision being written by Holmes. These
include the justices who are common
ly regarded as more sympathetic to
! liberal movements and to an elastic
construction of the constitution The
dissenting justices were Chief Justice,
Mr. White, together with Mckenna,
Van Devanter, and McReynolds JUS
tice Mckenra wrote the dissent With
due regard to the danger of para
| phraSing an opinion, it may be said
that in essence Justice Holmes de-
clared that congress or a legislature
has a right to be the judge as to
whether public conditions constitute
! an emergency. and that congress or 4
Legislature, having asserted that there
is an emergency. then the supreme
court has no right to overrule the leg
islative decree.
The objections TO the law were oh
viously that it is in conflict with thos 2
articles of the constitution which for
bid the taking of private property
without due process of law, and which
forbid legislatures to pass laws i'm
pairing the validity of contracts. On
these points one lawyer in high posi-
tion has said the present decision cuts
a larger slice out of the constitution
than any other single decision ever
made.
Justice McKenna quotes articles of
the constitution which are menaced
by the statute in question and says of
the latter this is contrary to ever.
conception of leases that the world
has ever entertained
Describing that act Of congress. JUS
tice Mckenna says ''if such exercise
of government be legal what exer-
else of government is illegal"
Sentence Thirteen Men