Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 09.pdf/251

tub thrown to the whole, the Supreme Court was made itinerant by a law compelling it to hold three terms annually, one at Madi son, one at Milwaukee and one at Oshkosh. Probably no more foolish law could be passed, with less reason for its passage. For one year the Court became peripatetic; but the law was repealed at the next session, and no one has since suggested a repetition of its folly. CONCLUSION. It is a hard-working court. The five judges must each write more than double

the number of opinions written by a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. Most of them are difficult cases, involving questions which, if not important in the sense of involving large amounts or great Constitutional questions, are solved only with careful study. The cases and briefs are — and in most cases needlessly so — voluminous and too often illy digested, and but few cases can be summarily decided without writing a full opinion. For nine months in the year the judges are laborious ly employed in hearing arguments, consulta tion, or the writing of opinions.