Evening star., 1923-10-03
Politics at Large
BY N. o. MESSENGER

sion of Congress to enact aslaw& re-
qufring more than majority of the
United States Supreme Court to de-
clare an act1of Congress unconstftu-
tional, political and congressional
circles are Interested In recent COM
ment upon that proposition by James
NJ. Beck, solicitor general of the
United States. In the course OF an
address delivered iast week before
the American Bankers Asspciation'
the solicitor general. who conducts
all cases in behalf. of. the govern
ment in the Supreme Court, made an
k-ray sof the effect of the proposed
innovation, which discloses startling
possibilities His analysis of thet sug-
gestion that a',law whose constita-
tionality is .assailed shall not be In
validated. pntil at least seven Of the
nine justices agree that It is uncon- :
stitutiona1 is likely to form the foun-
dation of the. opposition to arise In
Congress to: the change
One OF tie startling pos, possioiiities 1n,is !,
out is explained thus: :'"'Some day. we
may. have a radical President and in
the four or. eight years ofThfs power
he may well have the appointment of
three justices of the Supreme Court.
Thus a radical faction sscould be
formed in the. Supreme Court which
would make it impossible for many
years for that court to discharge It's
great duty of preserving the Constf-
tuition. Indeed the unanimous de-
cision of the court might be thus de-
stroyed. for the court does not always
have a full bench, and at times;
through death or illness, only six JUS
tices may be actually sitting. If.
therefore. such a court was unant-
mously of the opinion that statute
could not be enforced without Hiolat-
ing the Constitution, nevertheless fts
decision would be nnllifed because
three absent justices did not concur
"A man could thus be arbitra rily
deprived of liberty. property and even
life in violation of the sacred guar
antees of the Constitution because.
although six justices of the court
were unanimously of opinion that the
guarantees protected him from an
unjust statute. the absence OF three
Justices had destroyed the power OF
tho court. y;
This point has not been raised in
previous discussions. nor the fact that
justices might be debarred from sit
ting in a case because of connection
with a case prior to their appoint
ment to the Supreme Court. and thus
+Iessening the required number. The
solicitor general found another dire
full possibility. Another portentous
proposal" he pointed out, 'is that
where the Supreme Court has ad1udg-
ed that given statute cannot be en-
forced without violating the Consti-
tuition, yet IL two-thirds of the legis-
lative body re-enact a statute IL shall
nevertheless be Law. This. PROPOSE :
tion has at least the democratic 5usti-
fiqation- that it gives enect to the
popular will. but it is the destruction
Of our form of government, which
wisely confined the power of the ma
jority. within reasonable limits.
r x
THE men who framed the Consti-
tuition" the solicitor general went on
to say did not believe. in an un-
limited democracy. They regarded
the tyranny OF a majority as poten-
TALLY Oppressive as that OF a single
autocrat. The Constitution thus
sought to protect the individual from
the impairment of his reserved rights.
Such was the, noble guaranty of the
Constitution, but It is not worth the
paper it is written on unless there
is an independent-j judiciary to enforce
it. and. therefore. the very Keystone
of the federal arch will fall II. the
Legislative branch could thus -nulilfy
the authoritative action Of, the .Su-
prene Court. . -. '''
A saving grace from such a catas-,
trophe was noted by the. solicitor
general to lend comfort to -thes appre-
her siye He pointed out" that Tor.
tunately the Supreme Court fs created
by ttfe GoastitSiions ian ana irad ITS peweps sons
gressionaT action without an amend
ment Il he'@Constitution.
;9 y 4 - - =.
Attention was called by the solicit
tor general to the changes in the
Constitution and the states in regent
is..-.recapituIation of them.
their extent: and effect being ealcu-
lated 70 attract the attention Of every
thinking man and woman. He noted
that the representative system has
been rhaIfenged in twenty-five states
of the Union by the initiative and
referendum. The principle of home
rule has been subyerted by steady
bmergence of the states which. he
SAYS. "has now made of them little
more than Slorified police provinces.
He gave as the latest illustration the
prohibition amendment. whereby
Congress is given the power to pre-
scribe the habits of the people" He
oontended that the guaranty or in
.dividual liberty has been violated by
many socialistic measures Whlie
property rights are destroyed from
time TO time. by confiscatory iegisia-
ton. .. =
Going. on with his recapitulation. he
asserted that the independence of the
judiciary is menaced by many pro
visions for the recall of both Judges
and judicial decisions and the fatal
impairment of the power of the, Su-
preme' Court. He asserted that the
system of governmental checks and
balances has been disturbed by the
lpersistent subordinatiCn. in the prac-
tical workings OF the government. OF
the legislative to the executive: while
the concurrent power of the Senate
over the foreign relations OF the GOV
ernment has been challenged by
many thousands Of well mes ming but
misguided. men, The taxing system.
| be said, has been perverted tosredis-
tribute property. and the commercial
power Of the Union has been utilized
Ito attain unconstitutional results
which were clearly outside of the
sphere of the federal government. He
charged that the fifth and fourteenth
amendments have largely broken
Down as bulwarks against .c1ndsca-
tory lie sislation. while g"the fifteenth
ar, an DIM emit is dead letter"
Taking a whack. at the executive
branch Of the -FoTernment. in pass
ing, he asserted that under more
tran one administration the, control
I OF the Senate in the selection of
diplomatic representatives. of 1.-THE
government has been nuilified by
the appointment of extraeonstitu-
tionat Diplomats :. u G.:sl:.;-. -:
Touching upon present day pSlitics
I%and the remedies to be applied 20
growing evils. the: solicitor general