The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-11-01
Frederick Haskin's | etter i
Tinkerin9 With the Constitution

houses shall deem it necessarv A.,
can call q constitutional convss ~
only on the application of the ~
islatures Of two-thirds OF thS.
elal states. The constitution 80
ulates that amendments SO urona
ed shall become elective ouly -
ra,ified by the legislatures of tb,s.
fourths OF the several states or \.
conventions in three-fourths th.,
Of. as the one or the other mnds =,
ratification may be proposed ~
congress. F"
Senator Owen would change n.
method of ratification by proyiai,.
that amendments, af.er being nro
posed after one of the ways ~ ~,
forth In his resolution, shall -
voted upon, not by the state le.;.
latures. but directly by the peonl.
of the several states. A maiorit,
of the votes so cast in a maior;t,
OF the congressional districts n.
gether with a majority of ali N.
votes cast throughout the countrv
shall rafify.
LaFOlIette After the Courts
Senator LaFolle tie Of Wjsconst,
is understood to favor the Oven
proposal, but he has one of his ovn
in which he is even more deenl,
interested. He is one Of the mem.
bers of congress who are jealous =,
the rights and prerogatiyes Of that
body and he is especially AROUSED
over what he regards as an inya.
sion of the powers Of the Legislative
branch Of the government by tho
judiciary. He does not believe thai
the courts should be able to nullifr
an act Of congress by declaring Il
to be unconstitutional.
Accordingly he will urge an,
amendment to the constitution
which will provide "a that no
judge of an inferior federal court
shall set aside a law of congress
on the ground that it is unconstitu.
tional, and 90 that If the supreme
court of the United States shall A.
sumo to declare any law of con-
gress unconstitutional or BY Judi
cial Interpretation shall assert
public policy at variance with the
statutory declaration of congress,
which alone under our system Of
government is empowered to deter
mine public policies, the congress
may by repassing the law nullify
the action of the court.
The LaFollette amendment, which
is said to have the backing Of the
American Federation of Labor. is
generally regarded as even more
radical than the one fathered BY
Senator Owen. AS the case now is
the only checks upon the power Of
congress are the presidential veto
and what amounts to veto by the
courts. A veto by the president
may be over-ridden by a two-thirds
vote of congress, but when the ST.
preme court has said that law is
unconstitutional congress can do
nothing except undertake to bring
about an amendment to the CO..
stitution to conform to the judieiS.
decision.
Senator LaFollette would make Il
possible to override decision Of
the court by mere majority vote
not even as much of vote as Is
now required to pass bill over
the presidents disapproval
That such a proposal will be o.
posed bitterly goes without saying,
but it is not to be gainsaid that
there Is an appreciable sentiment In
the country favorable to some sort
of a check upon the powers Of the
courts.
The movement in this direction
dates back several years-back to
the time when there was much az
tation over tbs referendum and the
recall and the late Theodore Roose-
welt came conspjcuously to the
front as an advocate of the recall
of judicial decisions. Colonel Roose-
welt argued that there should k
way of registering the will OF tue
people if the courts rendered decIs-
ions which were contrary to the
wishes of majority Of the people,
Senator LaFollette is perhaps 60
ing only step farther when he
holds that the will of the people as
reflected in an act of congress shall
be supreme even as against Inc
opinion OF the highest court OF the
land that it is unconstitutional.