VOL. XVI.
No. 6.
BOSTON.
JUNE, 1904.
THE TANEY BENCH. BY ANDREW MCKINLEY, Of the New York Bar. THE Supreme Court of the United States may be likened to the balance wheel or governing valve in machinery. Under our Constitution, three great heads form the po litical economy of the nation—the Legisla tive, the Executive and the Judicial. They are all closely interwoven and much de pendent upon each other, but the Judicial Department controls the other two when the question is put to a final issue. Laws may be enacted by Congress and sanctioned by the President, but the question of their validity is established or denied by the Su preme Court. No body of men are so om nipotent as the Justices of this Court acting in their capacity as members of the bench, their decisions and decrees are truly speak ing "law" as far as the government of this nation is concerned, and their mandates must be obeyed irrespective of social or political condition of the citizen, their rulings even go so far as to affect or control in certain instances the laws of the different States and almost every political body is subject to the power of this Court,—indeed, the very existence of the nation itself is dependent upon this tribunal. Mr. Hampton L. Carson has very happily put it in the following words : "Amid the din of conflict between per sonal interest and above the deep mouth thunder of the combat between conflicting sovreignties, the calm tones of our great tri bunal have been distinctly heard command ing States as well as citizens to submit with out the spilling of blood to a legal settle
ment of differences. In this respect the court is a conservator of the peace of the na tion and her voice is the harmony of the union." It is well, then, that men of learn ing, integrity, pureness of mind, having only the interests of the people at heart have been and should be elevated to this office of trust. Seldom has faith been lost by the people in the decisions of this court and then only tem porarily or until the fuller light has shown the justice of what at the first blush seemed unreasonable or harsh. The judicial power of the United States is vested by the Constitution in this Court and its judges hold their office during good be havior, making the Court invulnerable and far beyond the reach of political intrigue or private interference. Its jurisdiction affects all cases of admiralty or maritime law, con troversies between States and between citi zens of different States, all cases affecting ambassadors or public ministers and in many other cases, it is the Court of last resort. Under Article III. of the Constitution, our present Supreme Court came into being, with John Jay as its Chief Justice and four associate justices as his colleagues. Their duties were not many, nor were the questions of great importance, and not until Marshall's time did the Court really become great and its importance felt throughout the land. This learned Chief Justice not only estab lished the nation upon a firm foundation but so wisely construed all constitutional ques tions coming up before him affecting the
