The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1923-05-30
CHIEF JUSTICE
TAFT DEFENDS
HIGHEST COURT
Attacks of Radical Republic
cans" Is Answered by Chief
Justice at Cincinnati
HELD .UNWARRANTED
Declares Verdict of Country
Has Been in Favor of
Court

COUrL
Cincinnati, Ohio. May 30.--Attacks
made by radical Republicans" on
the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court
in Civil War and reconstruction days
were reviewed by Chief Justice Taft
here today with the comment that
the verdict Of the country in retro
spect had been in favor of the posi-
tion maintained by the court and
against the attitude assumed by its
critics.
Speaking at the unveiing of a
monument to Chief Justice Salmon p.
Chase, Justice Taft declared that
while the highest Court undoubtedly
had made mistakes in Chasc's time.
and at other times. the effect of it's
record as whole had been to real
firm the sound foundations upon
which it was built.
"The people now are glad" he said,
that the guarantees Of personal H.
berty were maintained by the court
against the partisan zeal of the then
majority. The court survived the in
evitable attacks upon its jurisdiction
then, as it had survived them SO
I many times before"
The Chief Justice made no direct
reference to proposals recently made
in Congress to curb the power of the
court, but he recalled that bills pro-
posing to abolish the Courts right
to declare the laws of Congress un-
constitutional were introduced just
after the Civil War and were defeat
ed.
During the incumbency of Chief
Justice Chase" said Justice Taft,
popular feeling was strongly arous-
ed against the Court. From time to
time, by reason of it's; Jurisdiction
and it's proper exercise, the. Court
can not help becoming the storm
patrol of politics. 1t is the head of
the system of Federal Courts estab-
lishcd avowedly to avoid the local
! prejudice which non-residents may
encounter in State Courts, a function
: often likely to ruffle the sensibili-
! ties of the communities, the possibi-
| lity of whose prejudice is thus re-
cognized and avoided. More than
this, the Courts duty to ignore the
acts of Congress or of the State leg
islatures, if out of line with the fun.
damental law of the nation. inevitab-
/ ly throws it as an obstruction across
the path of the then majority who
have enacted the invalid legislation.
The stronger the majority, and the
more intense its partisan feeling, the
less likely is it to regard constitu-
tional limitations upon its power,
and the more likely is it to enact
laws of questionable validity. 1t is
convincing evidence of the sound
sense of the American people in the
long run and their love of civil Ii
berty and its constitutional guaran-
ties, that, in spite of hostility thus
frequently engendered, the Court has
lived with it's powers unimpaircd
until the present day.
"The assassination of Lincoln stir
red the passion of the Northern peo-
pie and threw power into the hands
| of the Radical element of>the Repub-
lican party in Congress. Conflict
with Lincoln's successor quickly en-
sued and policy Of radical recon-
struction followed, which I'VE can be
reasonably sure would have been
spared the South, had Mr.. Lincoln
lived. With two-thirds majority in
each House, the Republican party
leaders brooked no opposition, and
when that which had been done in
due course came before the Court for
consideration of its validity, the at
titude of those leaders toward the
Court became one of suspicion and
resentment. Until one refreshes mis-
recollection Of that period, he can
hardly realize how far the radical
Republicans in Congress went in
their effort t9 oust the Court of its
jurisdiction. They we're afraid that
the Court would pronounce their re-
| construction measures invalid. They
were stirred to this fear BIT the deci-
sion in ex parts Milligan, in which
the Court refused to recognize the
power of the President in time of war
to direct q Military Commission to
try for treason and sentence to death
q civilian in q state not invaded by
the enemy and where the civil courts
were functioning. For fear that the
Court might hold invalid the work of
such Commissions when organized
under the reconstruction acts by
military governors in the Southern
States, Congress took the case Of Nc
Ardle. presenting the question, from
the Courts consideration, abruptly,
after it had been argued and submit.
ted, by repeal Of its jurisdiction. In
the heat of the feeling against the
Court, bills were. proposed limiting
tats power to declsre laws invalid by
a majority, and there were serious
/ proposals made to abolish this pow
er of the Court altogether. The per-
sonal attacks made upon the Court
by the party press were severe and
unmeasured. This was the atmos.
phere in which Chief Justice Chase
lived during his judicial service.
"While mistakes were made by the
Court in those days. at other times
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