Year: 1873




toHore Been Filled.


The Supreme Court of the United States is
now sitting at Washington without Chief
Justice at its head, and, simultaneously with
its assembling, President Grant has caused it
to be officially announced that he has deter
mined not to fill the vacant position until the
meeting of Congress, so that the nomination
| made to the Senate may be confirmed before
the new Chief Justice takes his seat The
| HERALD has urged the appointment OF sue
cessor to Judge Chase without any further de-
| lay than might be requisite for prudent
selection, in the belief that the President II
| lett to the free exercise of his own Judgment
would make choice more honorable to him.
self and more acceptable to the country than
he would be likely to make under the infiu-
ence of political pressure and Senatorial in
trigue. No greater misfortune could befall
the nation than the degradation of this high
judicial Office for personal objects or to
satisfy political expediency, and it is difficult
to imagine any reasons for the proposed delay
other than those of personal or partisan
character. President Grant has expressed
the opinion that it would be inju-
dicious to announce an appointment
which might subsequently be rejected, but o
Senate capable of being influenced in SO i'm
portant matter by political considerations
would be less likely to reject nomination
that had received the popular endorsement
than one which had not been subjected to
such an ordeal and was known only to its own
members. 1t is not probable that the Presi-
dent can see any impropriety in the assump-
tion of the ermine by Chief Justice before
his elevation to the position has been made
complete by the action of the confrmatory
power, because the history of the Supreme
Court must set at rest any such scruple- We
can safely follow the example of those pure
men who, as the trainers of the judicial sys-
tenn in the constitution, were the best able to
correctly interpret its requirements and the
most jealous to exact strict observance of
its proprietes. When we find President
Washington filing the Office of Chief Justice
as soon as vacancy occurred, without regard
to the Senatorial action ; when we see that
he bestowed the high Office on John Ruttledge,
of South Carolina, while the Senate was not
in session that Judge Ruttledge presided
over term OF the Supreme Court before his
nomination had been considered by the con-
frming body, and that he was finally rejected
by the Senate, we cannot question the
propriety of the appointment of the successor
of Judge Chase by President Grant during
the recess Of Congress. Nor do we doubt the
| Senats's confirmation of such an appointment
as might and ought to be made from among
the many able jurists who adorn the Bench
1 and the Bar of the United States. But if the
name of the next Chief Justice is to be con-
cealed from the country until its confirmation
| by the Senate has been secured it becomes
more imperatively the duty of the independent
press to arouse the popular mind to a sense
of the grave Importance of the Office, of the
danger of its prostitution to personal or polit-
ical objects, and of the qualifications de-
manded of its incumbent.


OF the six Judges who have sat at the head
of the Supreme Court since the adoption Of
the federal constitution three were appointed
by Washington and one by the elder Adams.
On the day the bill was approved organizing
the new federal courts under the constitution
Judge Jay received his appointment as Chief
! Justice. There was no question as to his
| qualifications for the position. He stood forth
prominently as the most fitting person to be
chosen and the choice fell on him in conse-
quence. John Ruttledge was the only
name which seemed to present itself
in competition with that Of John
jay for the Office, and Ruttledge was ap-
pointed an Associate Justice, but declined to
accept. In those days the business OF the
Supreme Court was neither so large nor so i'm
portant as it now is, and hence when Judge
Jay was despatched to London five years after
wards as special Minister to bring about set
tlement Of the points in controversy between
the two nations he did not resign his position
on the Bench But on his return from Eng
land, having been elected Governor of New
York. he retired from the Chief Justlceship,
and the vacancy was promptly filed. At that
time the Senate was not in session, but Presi-
dent Washington did not on that account
withhold his appointment. A political storm
was then sweeping over the country. The
treaty arranged by Judge Jay with England had
excited violent opposition from large num-
Der Of the people, and especially from the
South. The administration tied themselves
to the treaty and became committed to its rati-
fication. John Ruttledge, OF South Carolina,
had enlisted in the ranks Of the opposition
with that vigor and ardor for which he was
distinguished; but bis pre-eminent qualfca-
tions for the head of the United States
judiciary were as undoubted then as when
he was offered the appointment Of an Asso-
ciate Justice and was weighed almost evenly
with John Jay in the scales for the Chief
Justiceship. He stood forth as the most fit
ting man in the nation for the vacant position,
| oD1 tbo oa1y,, yura mind ar praei6ant Wacb-