Evening star., 1925-12-08
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. G.. ".
AND THE SUPREME COURT.
Charles Warren. Little, Brown

CONGRESS, THE CONSTITUTION.
AND THE SUPREME COURT.
Charles Warren. Little, Brown
& Co.
Within the body of the United
! States Government itself there have
from time to time arisen situations
that demand prompt and definite
restatement of the principles under
lying our form of government, prin-
ciples to whose steadfast adherence
are due both the soundness and the
security of this country
A specified case pointing directly
upon such recurrent situations is
embodied in the now familiar attacks
upon the Supreme Court of the
United States. In effect. these take
the form of actual challenge 10 the
right Of this court to declare invalid
any statute whatsoever that the
congress may enact. Such alta cks
are sourced. sometimes, In personal
dlssatisfactions and disappointments.
More often, however. do they rise out
OF peculiar temperament, which,
under the pleasing name Of progress,
projects the radical, the impractfcable
theorist, the eXperimenter, the insub.
stantlal agftator, the self-seeker, the
political rebel. Whether sourced in the
malcontents of the Congress or in the
self-appointed trouble makers out.
side of this body, the rebellion is an
unlntormed one-therefore. serious
ana even dangerous as only active
ignorance can be the deepest menace
TO general we'll being. This assump-
tlon OF ignorance and misinformation
covers, no doubt, some cases OF delib-
crate evil intent against the Govern.
ment.
1T Is at this point of certain risk
and possible danger that Charles
warren, for fresh reminder to the
American people, resets the funda-
mental political framework of our
republic by way of Congress, tho
constitution, and the Supreme Court -
Ihe purpose here is to retrace the
relations of both the Congress and
the supreme Court to the Constitu-
tlon itself, upon which both DEPEND
TOT existence and wherein the runc-
tions and powers and limitations of
each are defined in precision and
completeness. The method used to
meet this purpose Is so thoroughly
opJectlVe in Its use of case and deci-
sion ana cumulative precedent as TO
produce the effect OF n moving line of
historic circumstance brought up into
the present for concrete den1onstra
tlon and proof. Much more than any
mere citation of Corroborative cases
thlS- For the aUthor-waywise to the
Id" ltSef and WayWiSe also in the
art OF words-reanimate tes this process
SION or events with the men and the
WORK ana the background of time and
place that went into the beginnings
OF our national life
Under this leadership we come first
upon the constitution. And here sur
prlses meet us. To be sure. every
american knows the Constitution Of
the United States The nub,ic
schools look out for that. MANY a
one could say it word for word
shoutd occasion arise. An odd wav
education has. though, of missing the
really vital points of about every.
thing. Such idiosyncrasy becomes
the origin OF our surprises AT this
point. For 1t turns out that the Con.
stitution of the United States was not
IN tact, a pure and uncharted experi
nent. Rather was it the long and
laborlouS adaptation of the various
state constitutions already in fairly
successful operation. Reassurinr
thought that ii was not. in the some
what famboyant speech Of Mr.. Glad.
stone. the most wonderful work ever
struck OF, at a given time. by the
brain and purpose OF man" de-
Felopment connotes SO much more of
security and perpetuity than does a
miracle.
once completed, there emerged-
out OF the work of those hot Summer
months of 1887 in Philadelphia-a
constitution creating n Federal Re.
public with limited national powers
not omripotent, you see. but circum-
scrlbed instead. Clearly some agency
must be created for the sake, f1rst.
OF protecting the Federal Republic in
the exercise of it's legitimate pow
ers and, next, to prevent it's over
reaching beyond the barriers set for
it by the Constitution. And so, the
supreme Court of the United States
came into existence, to meet this
double need Of protection and pre-
Vention. The Congress became the
law-making body, and its legislative
powers confined to those specifically
conferred upon 1t by the Constitution.
1t is easily demonstrable that. with
in the lawmaking body, political zeal
and personal ambition and the ef.
facing effects of the time create a
tendency toward the exercise of
greater power. toward an overreach-
ing beyond the specific grants of the
Government. To meet this drift to.
ward usurpation the Supreme Court
assumes its proper function of inter
probation and decision.
IAN American citizen"-the author
talking-"will never understand the
form of government under which he
is living unless he understands why
we have a Supreme Court. And he
will never understand why we must
have a Supreme Court until he under
which he is living. He must thor
oughly grasp the fact that the exist
ence of the American form of govern.
ment-a Federal republic with limited
national powers-implies and requires
for its preservation the existence Of
a Supreme Court. 1t Is because Amer
lean citizens have not realized that at
tacks upon the Supreme Court are at
tacks upon the very form Of govern
ment of the United States that these
attacks have hitherto been regarded
with so little attention by the average
man. 1t is because so many American
citizens seem to have the belief that
Congress has the power to do any.
thing which it Is not expressly forbid.
den to do by the Constitution that
they are inclined to be resentfui when.
ever the court fails to uphold Con-
gress in the exercise of some particu-
lar power which these citizens may
think desirable. They entirely over
look the fact that, under the Consti.
tuition. Congress possesses only those
limited powers granted to it by that
instrument. all other powers being re-
served to the States; and that II 1t is
desirable that Congress should possess
any other powers. they must be vested,
and can be vested, in that body only
by action of the peoples of three
fourths Of the States in adopting a