Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1924-10-08
Constitution Defended
by Senator Lenroot

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spondent]. Senator Irvine L. Lenroot
OF Wisconsin, on February 10, 1923,
addressed the alumni of the law school
of New York University This address
reviewed the history of the framing of
the q. S. Constitution and reviewed
the cases where the Supreme Court
had set aside enactments of Congress.
In speaking of the proposal to nullify
decisions of the Supreme Court by
congressional re-enactment, which in
this campaign is the platform declara-
ton of the Socialist Third party candi-
date for president, Senator Lenroot
said:
There is, however, an insidious
propaganda to destroy the power of
the Supreme Court to pass upon the
validity of acts of Congress, and to
make Congress the supreme judge of
its own acts. 1t is proposed that if
the Supreme Court shall hold an act
of Congress unconstitutional it shall
again be considered by Congress, and
if passed by a two-thirds vote of each
house it shall become law, notwith-
standing the action of the Supreme
Court
Should this ever come to pass, the
end of the Constitution will not be
far distant. 1t is astonishing that this
proposition should come from the
source it does. 1t emanates from
those who declare that human rights
are being destroyed by the courts.
They also declare that Congress is
worse than the courts, that Congress
is utterly reactionary, and that the
members of both houses, with few
exceptions, are controlled by Wall
Street and the predatory interests of
the country. Their proposition is:
We have no confidence in Congress,
1t does not represent the people, but
only special interests, and we propose
to amend the Constitution so as to
provide that whatever such reac-
tionary Congress may do if supported
by vote of two-thirds of it's member
ship, shall be the law of the land,
notwithstanding the provisions of the
Constitution of the United States
They say they are willing that the
rights of free speech, the right to
peacefully assemble, the right of reli-
gious freedom, of trial by jury, and
all of the other rights guaranteed by
the Constitution shall be placed in the
hands of Wall Street Congress, with
the power to destroy them by two
thirds vote. To say the least, there
has been a great deal of loose and
hurried thinking by those favoring
this proposition.
"As for myself, while I have a
higher regard for Congress than the
proponents of this amendment, hope
l shall never live to see the day when
by a two-thirds vote of Congress any
man may be denied the right to wor-
ship God according to the dictates of
his conscience, when right of trial by
jury may be denied, or any of the
other rights denied that are handed
down from Magma Charta and en-
bodied in the Constitution Of the
United States.
"The Constitution has not outlived
fits usefulness. It's protecting care
was never more needed than to-day.
| It is the duty of every citizen to with
stand every assault upon it, whether
its enemies be predatory interests
seeking special privileges to the public
injury or whether they be those who
are opposed to any government that
would safeguard and protect the rights
and liberties of every citizen under
it's flag"