Evening Star Newspaper, August 18, 1935, Page 49

Stage — Screen Autos — Radio Part 4—10 Pages By John L. Coontz. OR 145 years the Supreme Court a wanderer on the face of the earth. Now it is coming home. the exquisite Greek, it soon will be housed, a fitting shrine for its august Time was when the Supreme Court adorned a tavern; time when it found when it languished in a basement, and time when it was a waif of the Gov- of the Republic, when the court barely had existence. Court has grown strong—strong not only in its own powers but in the | preme Court in these later days has come to be looked upon as the anchor | of the United States has been In a marble temple, patterned after traditions. sanctuary in a private dwelling; time ernment. Those were the early days But during the years the Supreme | esteem of the public. For the Su- of the Constitution. And the people FEAT URES he Swnday Shae WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 18, 1935. Children’s Page Books — Music assuming powers never intended ¢ delegated to the judicial branch of t! Government.” Representative Monaghan of Mor tana has stated “Were I to propose today that nin men in this Congress * * * be give: the power to nullify an act of Con gress * * * I would be considered and regarded, and rightly so, a mad. * * * “Yet the Supreme Court of th United States, a court composed o men with no greater learning, witl no greater knowledge of the law, witl no greater sense of integrity, and wit no responsiveness to the people of thi Nation, can declare that act today u - constitutional and the people have n recourse. * * * “The Supreme Court has dorle mor to destroy our liberty than has an other single agency. * * * We fin citation after citation of cases wher = Edifice, as the Nation’s Highest Tribunal Prepares to Move iy s memmmmm—m—" __ | the Supreme Court should not hav | had this power and where the Pres adore their Constitution. - s - In the October sunlight, that falls | 80 softly and translucently over Wash- ington, when the muscadine is ripe and its fragrance fills the air, the Supreme Court will move from under the Capitol dome to its new home. | ‘There is something Romanesque about | it. For while the temple is Greek, the law is Roman, the justices imperial beneath their gilded eagle outspread, toga-swathed and severe. Beyond them stretches the future of the Re- public; behind them, traditions of its greatness. | THE COURT moves at a time when the eyes of the Nation are riveted upon it. It moves at an hour when it is the venter of the greatest expec- tancy. For there are movements on foot, theories abroad in the land that run far ahead of the day, piercing the dark recesses of the future as a | keen shaft of light pierces the abyss | of night. | Laws are being passed for the gov- ernance of the Union that are being challenged in the courts of the Na- | tion ‘as to their constitutionality. | What does the Supreme Court say? | In the old court quarters, under the | Marbury, it seems, was an appointee of John Adams, along with others, in the eleventh hour of his departure from the office of President in 1801. Jefferson refused to accept the ap- pointments, though confirmed by the Senate and okeyed by Adams. whole thing was purely political and the wind was up. The chagrined four petitioned for a writ of mandamus. Madison, Jefferson’s Secretary of State, was whistled up to show cause why the writ should not issue. The Supreme Court, with Marshall sitting, passed on the case in February, 1803. The court held that the complainant was entitled to his commission, but that the judiciary act of 1789, which gave the court power to issue the writ, was unconstitutional. The cat was out of the bag; the fat was in the fire; the court had held that the powers of the national legis- lature were “defined and limited.” In 1819 Marshall “cracked down” again. This time there were two de- cisions—the State of New Hampshire vs. Dartmouth College and McCulloch vs. Maryland case. The State of New Hampshire was al- ‘The | end—the pursuit of a fiscal policy by the Government—it was lawful. And further, Marshall held that since the power of taxation is a power to de- stroy, the branch bank of the United States could not be taxed by the State of Maryland. The Government was \ held supreme over the States. Marshall, during his tenure as Chief Justice (1801-35) so wielded his de- cisions as to make them redound to | the glory and prestige of the court, And that power, arrogated to the | court by Marshall, has prevailed even to this day and been strengthened rather than diminished, through the ‘}yun‘ ‘TH! new home of the Supreme Court was formerly the site of the Little Brick Capitol—the home of Congress after the British firing of dome of the Capitol, the Supreme |leged to have violated “the obligation | the Capitol in 1814. The location is Court, as one of its last acts, passed upon the constitutionality of N. R. A. | of a contract in amending the charter of Dartmouth College in an | across East Capitol plaza, paralleling | the Library of Congress. The build- In the new court quarters, sitting with | effort to make that seat of learning | ing is 385 feet in length by 304 feet the burnished emblem of the Republic |a State institution.” Marshall upheid | in width. above and the temple columns of |the college and the “corporation” was | ancient Hellene about, the Supreme Court will pas upon the constitution- ality of A. A. A. Such decisions are traditional in the life of the court. Off and on since its creation it has been making them. Chief Justice John Marshall started | the ball rolling. It was he, in the famous Marbury-Madison case, who laid the foundation of the court’s . greatness and its future influence upon the life and destiny of the Nation. | Only by implication did the court have power to invalidate acts of Congress; Marshall, in the Marbury vs. Madison case, cinched it, Y born. The McCulloch vs. Maryland case involved the right of a State to tax a Federal bank, the Free State having sought to do so by taxing a branch of the Bark of the United States. Marshall, in this case, established what is known today as the “rule of reason” in reaching a court decision. He held that the absence in the Con- stitution of specific powers to estab- lish such a bank did not at all pre- clude its establishment, provided it served an end intended by the Con- stitution. And, inasmuch as the Bank of the United States did serve such an | Broad white marble steps run up to | the pillared front of this Athenic structure. Above, in the triangle facing the weste:n sun, is a carven | frieze of the Nation’s great jurists. Either side of the central portion of | the temple lie broad wings. Passing through the portico one comes to a | basilica whose regular spaced columns of snowy marble lead down to the interior or court' chamber, flanked on either side by gates of bronze and faced with the justices’ bench. The court room is 64 feet square with & seating capacity some 60 per cent greater than the old court room in the Capitol Building. The rooms that > surround this central chamber are themselves grouped around four inner courtyards, each the nucleus of a formal garden. Above the first floor | is the library and reading rooms where those who have business with the court may have access to ponderous | legal tomes inherent there and to those of the Library of Congress by a subterranean passage. ‘The Corinthian style of architecture, | chosen for the edifice, the white Capitol, the white repre- sentative and senatorial buildings, the Library of Congress and that gem of architectural gems, the Shake- spearean Library. Hellenic in design, Hellenic in cast, the beautifully balanced structure car- ries the traveler of the present back over the path of 2,000 years to the glory. of ancient Athens. And mingled with that sweep of the ages is the touch of modernistic sculpturing and refinements of our time—heating, cooling, lighting, ventilation—to keep Upper, left: the United States Capitol. at the front entrance of the ing. Upper, right: left: right: October From Under the Dome of the United States Capitol to” Occupy a Home of Its Own for the First Time in History. us within the bounds of the living |the Capitol Building were being co‘m-‘ and the Constitution may be immuta- | dents of the United States have dc ble, but not the court. Such extrane- | cried their usurpation of the same.” ous factors as social, political and economic trends and tendencies may | | work on them. They may react in | [JUT it is safe to say that the pow such & manner on the individual, his | of the Supreme Court will neve | opinions and feelings as to produce [ be jeopardized. The fact arises ou varied reasonings. It all depends|of the second anomaly of the court upon the individual. | Not having any method of enforeing harmonizes | with the buildings grouped about it— | | present. | When the nine Supreme Justices the new structure for the first time | they will have broken a tradition of | 145 years of wandering. Organized in 1790, with John Jay sitting as “Chief Justice, it began its existence in the old Royal Exchange Building at the foot of Broad Street in New York. In 1791 the Capital was moved to Philadelphia. Along with the other trappings came the Supreme Court. Here, in the City of Brotherly Love, the new governmental branch was given quarters in the City Hall, by the grace of the city fathers, adjacent to Carpenters’ Hall. ‘When, in 1801, Adams picked up his baggage and left Philadelphia for ‘Washington, the permanent. Federal seat of government, the court again moved. But this time without benefit of solicitation. There was no pro- vision mede for its housing in the new | Capital. The President’s House and The old Supreme Court chamber in Top, center: Bronze doors new Supreme Court Build- Looking from the new Supreme Court chamber toward one of its side entrances. Lower, Handwrought bronze gateways of exquisite pat- tern opening through marble columns from one of the side corridors flanking the court chamber. Front of the new Supreme Court Building. Highly ornate bronze base of one of the two flag poles on the front marble terrace of the court. Center: Lower, —All Photos by Harydczak, | file with sober mein to their seats in | | pleted, but no shelter was provided | for the Supreme Court. | Eventually quarters were found for Justice Marshall and his colleagues in | the basement of the Capitol. Later | the court was advanced to the old Senate chamber, where for the past 75 years it has been “at home.” This chamber once echoed to the debates of Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Hayne and others threshing out the great issues of the Civil War.. Semi-circular in shape and very small, it is today the historic spot of the Capitol. For a while, following the fire of 1814, when the British fired the city, the Supreme Court sat in a building in the rear of the present Library of Congress. Lately this has been torn down to care for a library addition. THE story of constitutionally created and governed America—when it comes to be written in its entirety— will be the story of the Supreme Court, for the court is the support of its provisions. That instrument is an im- pregnable fortress, surrenderable only to the people. It is the Nation's Gibraltar. All laws, all powers eman- ate from it and all laws and all pow- ers of the Government must not transcend its delegated authority. If there is a challenge of any such the Supreme Court decides who wins. And from its decision there is no appeal. The court becomes the living Consti- tution. The Nation thus grows with the court. While the written Constitution is a fixed thing it does not necessarily mean that it is fixed in the court. For the court is hu:nn, Facts, law There are many court demionsl which bear out this observation. In fact this extraneous influence upon | | the thinkthg processes of members | of- the court has led to the popular charge of a ‘“conservative” and | “liberal” wing of the court. It also may be just as responsible for aberra- ticns from this classification of mem- bers. In fact there is neither “lib- eral” or “conservative” in the justice grouping. Today & justice may be a “liberal” and, like as not, tomorrow | | he may be “conservative.” Witness | the unanimous decision in the recent Schecter poultry case. | There are many anomalous things | about the Supreme Court. One is the | cloud of mistrust under which it began its existence. Another is the absolute iack of authority to enforce one of its decrees. A third—which has been touched upon—is the power the court has taken unto itself. The Supreme Court began its ex- istence under a cloud of mistrust. | This was not dissipated until long after the Civil War. Senator Maclay of Pennsylvania (once said of the judiciary act of 1789: “It certainly is a vile law sys- tem, calculated for expense and with a design to draw by degrees all law business into the Federal courts.” Horace Greeley once said (1860): “The court as now arranged is scan- | dulously sectional, grossly partial, a mockery of the Constitution, a serf of the slave power and a disgrace to the country.” | And in 1935, Representative Sabath | of Illinois, “I predict that in the not | distant future our Nation will amend the Constitution, or through congres- sional action mm‘et the courts from ' its decrees they become enforceable only through the support of public opinion. And nobody tampers with public opinion—Ileast of all a poli- tician. Even impeachment has been tried against a member of the court. Jus- tice Samuel Chase was marked for scalping by the Democrats in 1805, after certain remarks on the doctrine of “equal liberty and equal rights.” But he weathered the storm. And scandal has never touched the court. Men who have been appointed to the bench by Presidents have been con- firmed by bitter partisans in the Sen- ate, only to be impartial and un- touchable by public clamor. Of late years the court has come to be greatly reverenced and esteemed (Continued on Page 10, Column 1.) Gu;de fOr REG(JE"S PART FOUR Page. John Clagett Proctor writes of “The Iron Horse”.._.F-2 The White House Pets Book Reviews.. __ Cross Word Puzzle. First “G” Men __ Stage and Screen World of Music Radio News and Programs F- “Those Were the Happy Days,” by Dick Mans- field 25 Automobiles Serial Story .. Children’s Page. High Lights of History. .