Year: 1868

| Governments.


The persistent efforts Of Congress to de-
priTe tltes President Of his constitutional
authority have been followed by an ell
croachraent upon another co-ordinate de-
partinent of the government, the Supreme
Court Of the United States, in the bill
which passed the House OH Monday, pro-
giding that hereafter, instead of majority
d Concurrence of two-thirds of the menl-
bers of tho court shall be necessary to de-
clare the unconstitutionality of any law Of
Congress. The country will naturally in
quire why such a change should be made
at this time, and no satisfactory answer can
be given, nor any answer, except that the
law was framed to anticipate some decision
of the court, which it was expected would
be adverse ia the constitutionality of the
reconstruction laws. A case has beef,
brought up on appeal to the United States
Supreme Court from the State of Missis-
sippi, by party who has been tried and
punished by the military authorities in that
State, and this case involves the question
of the consttutionalty of the measures re-
ferred to. The same question is involved
in several incidental cases which will come
before long, before the court for decision.


1t is the fear that the court, az now con-
stitutod, will pronounce the reconstruction
act of Congress unconstitutional which
has led to the enactment of this revolu-
tionary measure, and as Mr.. Marshall just
ly said in the debate on the bill, 1.-THE
proposition is plea of guilty on the part
of the majority of the Housc--a confession
and an acknowledgement that gentlemen
who voted for the reconstruction acts and
others did so knowing them to be uncon-
stitutional." The practical effect of this
measure is to remove the judicial guards
which the constitution has thrown over the
Legislation Of Congress, and to make the
enactments of that body, whatever NAV be
their character, the supreme law of the
land. With the Executive stripped of his
rlghtful authority, and the power of the
Supreme Court shacklcd 20 as to prevent
1T from becoming an obstacle to the will Of
Congress, the provisions of the constitu-
ton for three coordinate powers in tho
government are effectually ovcrthrown, and
in their stead congressional oligarchy is
established which has no bounds to its au-
thority. BY this legislation, therefore, all
obstacles to the accomplishment of the i'm
mediate object for which it was adopted
will be removed, and the fabric of military
despotism which has been established in
the Southern States be placed beyond the
reach OF interpositon by the. judicial as it
already is beyond that Of executive power.
1t remains to be seen whether this legisla-
ton, reducing to nullity a tribunal for
which, as the authorized Interpreter of the
constitution, the people of this country
have traditional reverence, will receive
the sanction of those who have never looked
to it in vain for the protection of their
rights in the past and who contidc in it az
one Of the essential safeguards for the pre-
servation of constitutional liberty in the
future.


The bill in question had previously pas
sed the Senate, but the House adds as nm
amendment the requirement that two-thirds
OF the court shall he necessary to declare a
law of Congress unconstitutional. Wheth-
er the Senate will concur or not in the
amendment remains to be seen, but it il
not proable that it will, - Baltimore Sun.