The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1940-06-27
Judge Sidney Smith Announces Candidacy
For Reelection As Supreme Court Judge
Consideration Asked
On Busis Of Record
Made As Judge
To My Fellow Democrats OF The First
Supreme Court District:

To My Fellow Democrats OF The First
Supreme Court District:
1 will be a candidate for reelection
as a Judge of the Supreme Court for
the term beginning on the first Mon
day of January, 1912. Permit me to
submit the following for your con
s~ideration in determining whether you
will reflect me.
Democracy, both as a way of life
and as a form of Government, has
practically disappeared everywhere
and it's continued existence is threat
med even in America. A Democracy
can exist only under a constitutional
government, and such a government
Woodrow Wilson admonished us, sis
as good as its Courts; no better, NJ
worse. Its laws are only it's profess
sions. 1t keeps it's promises, or does
not keep them in it's Courts.
This test of a Democracy, laid down
by President Wilson, can be met only
by an intelligent conscientious and in
dependent judiciary, without which,
the liberty of every citizen is con-
tinuously in danger. A man cannot tell
when in a civil or criminal case he
may be unjustly accused, the object of
widespread camality and popular hat
red, with the result that his property,
his liberty, or even his life, is in dan
ger. In that day his only refuge is a
firm n independent judiciary, gov
ernedb by conscience and not by clam
or, and free to do justice even to a
hated individual in the face of an
angry crowd.
The only way in which the indie
pendence of the Judiciary can be as
sured under the elective system, is to
reflect judges who have demonstrated
their fitness for the judicial office;
who nave demonstrated that life, lib
erty, and property are safe in their
hands. If the question of a Judges re-
election is to be solved by any criter-
ion other than this, the independence
of the judiciary will disappear and
we will be presented with the spec
tacle of a judiciary composed of judi
ges who administer what passes for
justice, with an ear to the ground and
an eye on the ballot box-'the great
es. scourge", said Chief Justice Mar
shall, IAN angry Heaven even inflicted
upon an u~ngrateful and SHINING peo-
pie" Mississippians have realized and
acted on this for all of the judges
Uyhn hoxya hprafnfapa hanr n1aataI 10
the States Supreme Court have been
continuously reelected thereto on the
expiration of their terms OF office;
not one of them has yet been defeat
ed when he sought reelection.
Although l am a member of that
Court, I do not violate the proprieties
in saying that this confidence in its
integrity and ability has not been
misplaced. Dean Wigmore of the
Northwestern University school of
Law, the highest authority we have
on the law of evidence, recently grad
ed the State Supreme Courts on their
of the law of evidence,
into four classes, and placed the Mis-
sissippi Court in the first class.
My record as q Judge is made. BY
it you know whether / am a good or
a bad Judge. If I am a good Judge,
I should be reelected; if not, i should
be defeated. 1 am now at my best
mentally and physically, and because
of my experience on the bench, 1 am
qualified for the discharge of its
duties than 1 have ever been be-
fore, and if / should be rejected, /
will continue, as heretofore, to give
without stint all my powers of body,
mind, n spirit to the administra-
ton of justice, according to law.
Respectfully submitted,
SIDNEY SMITH