Evening star., 1937-02-02
<HE text of the speech defending
the Supreme Court, made last
night by Senator Borah, Re-

wide network of the National Broad
casting Co., follows:
In a free government, no public
official, the records and policies of no
public institution. should be regarded
as exempt from searching considera-
ton, or criticism. at the hands OF
the people. Neither can infallibility
be expected of any man. or set of men.
In considering the history, decisions
and opinions of the Supreme Court of
the United States, and in seeking to
estimate its worth in the machinery
and strength of our Government, it
would be unreasonable. if not absurd,
to proceed upon any different theory.
That the Supreme Court in its long
history has erred, would be the last
to deny: that 1t will err in the future,
I entertain no doubt: that it has on
some occasions felt the effect of mad
party passions raging about it, is
probably true. But after all this is
admitted, when its worth is measured
by the service it has rendered to the
cause of human liberty, to the ad-
vancement of human happiness, and
of law rather than a Government Of
men, that it stands among the fore
most institutions of the world seems
true beyond peradventure of a doubt.
Free Court Vital Principle.
The effort to establish and main
tain an independent and uncontrolled
judiciary long antedated the adoption
great desire to have place in gov
ernment where the humblest citizen
might seek justice with no fear that
his cause would suffer from the in
f1uence Of political power was inter-
woven with the long struggle for
Anglo-Saxon liberty.
Far back in English history, still
read with unfailing enthusiasm. Sir
Edward Coke, chief justice Of the
Kings bench, flung the laurels of a
lifetime in the face of his King when
the first Stuart bade the chief justice
postpone consideration Of a matter
pending until his majesty could make
known to him the wishes Of the crown.
Since then, volumes have been spoken
and written on this subject, and the
victorious progress of the English
speaking world owes much to the sue
cess of this vital principle in free gov
eminent.
But the action of Sir Edward Coke
was as exceptional as it was coura-
geous. There was yet long contest
ahead before the example he set could
be brought to acceptance by those in
power. One of the main questions
settled by the English revolution Of
1888 was that the people should have
the right to appeal for protection to
an independent tribunal of justice.
Prior to that time the judges were
subject to removal by the King. Under
this power he took se111e Of the keen
est intellects and brightest minds of
the English bar and made of them the
corrupt and willing instruments of
oppression and injustice Rather than
to go before such a tribunal, Essex
took his own life in the tower Under
this system Pemberton was appointed,
that he might preside at the trial of
Russell. and was then recalled because
his instructions, though strikingly un-
fair and partial. were not sufficiently
brutal to satisfy his ruthless master,
who had given him for time his
polluted ermine.
Corruption Ran Rampant.
Under such system one of Eng
lands liberal statesmen, Sydney, was
beheaded; freedom of speech destroyed.
habeas corpus denied, and individual
rights trampled under foot. So when
the English yeomanry, the common
people, drove their monarch from the
throne, they wrote into the terms of
the "act of settlement" that Judges
commissions be made during good be-
havior and their salary ascertained
and established" This took it out of
the power of the King to remove the
judges and out of his power to i'm
poverish them by withholding their
salary. This was the first decided step
toward an Independent judiciary, and
1t was not long until the great English
orator could truly say: Though it
was but cottage with a thatched roof
which the four winds could enter, the
King could not"
Thereafter. instead of Jefferys de-
nounclng and cursing from the bench
the aged Baxter. instead Of Dudley
taunting and tormenting the New
England colonists, instead of Scroggs
and Saunders, subtle and dextrous in
strumentS of tyranny, We have SOM
ers and Holt, and York and Hardwick,
and Eldon and Mansfield laying deep
and firm the great principles of Eng
llsh law and English justice, principles
which still guard the personal rights
OF men and women and in lands far
removed from the place of origin.
Someone has said that everything
good in the Federal Constitution is a
Thousand years old. One would not
like to accept that statement in full.
But many Of the good and wise things
in the Constitution are a thousand
years old. Much that may be found
in the Constitution with reference to
the courts and the liberty, the rights,
guarantees and privileges of the citi-
zen are a thousand years old. A
thousand years before we set about
our task of writing a charter of gov
IliOSt 1n1u6nCe or
political power well understood the
worth and often prayed and some
times fought, for high minded, hu-
name, independent and just judge,
whom neither fear, favor nor affec-
ton nor the hope of reward could
bend from his course, as their only
refuge against arbitrary power from
the political side of the government.
The huge volume of English history
in which was to be found the long
struggle for personal liberty and I'M
bought and unpurchasable judges lay
open before the trainers, and from
1t they copied with copious hands.
The urge Of originality was not so
strong with them as their desire for
truth. The sacrifices and suffering