The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-02-27
UPHOLD RIGHT
OF WOMEN TO
CAST BALLOT
Woman Suffrage or Nine
teenth Amendment to Con-
stitution Declared Constitu-
tional by Supreme Court.
HOLD NO JURISDICTION
tBy Associated Press)

was today declared constitutional by
the supreme court.
The supreme court dismissed for
want of jurisdiction the suit brought
by Charles S. Fairehild of New York
who sought to challenge the constitu-
tionality of the amendment
The proceedings were instituted by
Charles S. Fairchild of New York, for
himself and in behalf of the Ameri-
can Constitutional league, to enjoin
the secretary of state from issuing
and the attorney general from enforc-
ing proclamation declaring the rati-
fication of the amendment, and by
Oscar Lesser and other citizens of
Maryland. constituting an organization
known as the Maryland League for
State Defense" The former proceed
ings were based on the ground that the
amendment had not been validly
adopted and the latter that the amend
ment was unconstitutional.
Objections Overruled.
The federal courts in the District
of Columbia and the state courts in
Maryland, where the cases, respective
ly were originally brought, ruled
against the objections to the amend
ment.
In the oral arguments IN the su-
| preme court in the Fairchild case, the
government contended that the secre
tary of state, having issued the rati
| fication proclamation, there was notf-
ing to withstrain, and that the case
therefore becam moot, not present
ing a controversy for jLsicial decision.
In the Lesser case, the government
acknowledged that the proceedings
had been institute by voters who had
! sufficient interest TO warrant their
presence in court, but that the issue
raised was political, one for decision
by congress OF for settlement in some
other avenue than by adjudication in
the courts.
While the state of Maryland had re
fused to ratify the amendment, it was
pointed out the state also refused
to question its constitutionality.
/ Power Assailed.
The power of congress to propose
the amendment to the state legisla-
ltures for ratification was assailed by
it's opponents on the ground that the
people reserved to themselves in their
state constitutions the right to reg
ulate suffrage, and that the federal
government legally could not have
anything whatever to do with chang
ing the sovereign power" embodied
in suffrage qualifications.
The people were not setting up an
amending agency their own de-
struction," the opponents contended,
asserting that in lighting federal jur-
lisdiction the sovereign people" did
not intend that their agents conduct
ing the federal government, should
have the power to destroy them. Fol-
lowing this line of argument it was
argued that the people alone by
amendments to their state constitu-
tions or by a constitutional convention
called for the purpose could extend or
abridge their sovereignty.
Not Precedent Claim.
Il The fifteenth or race suffrage
amendment, adopted after the war be-
tween the states, was not precedent,
l it was asserted, by the opponents be
= cause it was an expression of the ere
e suits of revolution" acquiesced in by
all the people, for the "reconstruc-
ton of the nation, by extending to
e the negro race freedom and equality
for which the war was fought. ANY
:. other method for permanently regis
. tering the inexorable decree of the
civil war would have been equally ef-
e fective" it was argued.
e Should it be held, Notwithstanding
l. these objections, the congress had
constitutional power to submit the
amendment for ratification by state
e Legislatures, the prescribed three
j fourths of the legislatures required
l. for constitutional ratification did not
give their approval, the opponents OF
9 woman's suffrage insisted. naming
Missouri, Tennessee and West Vir-
ginia, counted among the 36 states
necessary for ratification, as not hay,
ing legally acted.
Say Issues "PoIitical"
Declaring the issues presented were
political seeking to obtain from the
court an opinion" or construction
on the contentious raised, the govern
ment asserted that the supreme couri
J consistently had refused TO deliver an
Interpretation" of the law because il
n was beyond it's power. 1t took this
u position when requested for an "opin
= ion" by George Washington, and has
: on repeated occasions adhered to It.
n Whether the government of a state
8 was Republican in its nature: ant
whether a proposed constitutions
.s amendment had received the approva
IL of the necessary number of state legis
v latures, are not, the friends of the
/ du60UIleIlI lHSlSltu, JuulSidi quColiUlo
u Replying, however, to the assertion
le that the amendment had not beer
II legally ratified, the government assert
ed that Missouri, Tennessee and Wes'
az Virginia had been properly counted
,e but that if Missouri was excluded thai
u. being the only one in the view of the
government open to question, under
ic any reasonable contention-it was on
re set by Vermont and Connecticut
Ell which had ratified after the proclama
re tion had been issued.
IL Right to Change
The greatest power in the consti
oh tuition was that of amendment, Sol
on icitor General Beck asserted In tn,
20 argument 1t conferred upon tn,
of people, he said, the right to chang,
I'd the form of government wheneve
'e- they pleased. The nineteenth amend
ment, under his construction, merel,
We added the word sex to the prov
IS sions of the fifteenth amendment tina
J Continued on Page Fourteen)r