Henderson daily dispatch., 1937-02-17

at times side with a minority of the
Court in close decisions, but that does
not affect the deep Difference they
feel toward that high tribunal nor the
abiding faith they have in it as the
very bulwark of American institu-
tions.
The American tradition relating to
the Supreme Court since the days of
John Marshall has been that its mem
bers would serve until death, unless
incapacitated by illness or some other
cause, despite the fact that the law
provides for retirement on a pension
after reaching the age of 20 years.
This is particularly true of the Chief
Justice. Prior to John Marshall's
time, when the court was in it's for
native stage John Jay resigned from
the office of Chief Justice to run for
Governor of New York, John Rut-
ledge failed of confirmation in the
Senate, and Oliver Ellsworth resign
ed to become minister to France. But
since then every Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court has died on the bench,
and all but one of these, Salmon P.
Chase, lived to be more than 20 years
old. John Marshall lived to be 80,
Roger fancy was 81 years old when
he died, Morrison w. Waite was u,
Melville w. Fuller was II, Edward D.
White was 76, and William Howard
Taft was 70. The case of Chief JUS
tice fancy especially illustrates the
attitude of the American people to-
ward the Court. It was he who hand
ed down the bred Scott decision, and
for this he was almost universally
hated in the North. Yet, in spite OF
the fact that he was 83 years old when
the Civil War broke out, he served as
Chief Justice throughout that conflict
The present Chief Justice, Charles
Evans Hughes, was nearing his 68th
birthday when he was appointed, and
he had served seven years on the SUI
preme Court before resigning to run
for President in 1916. Is it to be sup
posed that he would be expected to re-
tire after serving only hree years as
Chief Justice? Out of a total of 76
Justices who have served on the
Court since it was created, only eight
have retired after reaching the age
of 70 years, and four of these served
beyond their 18th year. Three OF
them did not retire until after 80, and
one, Oliver Wendell Holmes, remain
ed on the bench until he was 80 years
old. A total of 35 justices have serv-
ed until rs or older, and two of the
present Justices will reach Is during
1887, bringing the total to 20. Just
ices have resigned from the Court for
various reasons before reaching 70
and few have been retired by spe-
cial act of Congress on account of ill
ness. John A. Campbell, for example,
was compelled to retire from the
court in 1861 because his native State
Alabama, had seeded from the Union
In view of the number who left the
Court for various reasons of this
kind, it is a remarkable fact that A
bench. 1t is facts such as these that
enter into the tradition with respect
to the Supreme Court. They consti-
tute the experience of the American
people in relation to the Court and en-
ter into their thinking about the Court
and their habitual attitude toward it.
And this tradition is especially attach
ed to the Chief Justice. In more than
one hundred years no Chief Justice
has ever retired from the Supreme
Court of the United States. All of
them have died in office and all but
one have lived to be more than 20
years old. This may not be a valid
argument against the Presidents pro-
posal, but it enters so deeply into the
feeling of the people for the Court as
to go long way toward determining
their attitude toward that proposal.