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Show j The y: SUPREME .1jjljjT5j COURT i:';lMl.Iillj". AMD HOW -; i-'y- IT WORKS -fw Our National Umpire liy ROISEKT MERRILL THE Supreme court of the United Slates has frequently fre-quently been described as "Our National Umpire." This is because its purpose is to keep both the government govern-ment and the people within the rules as fixed in our fundamental fun-damental law the United States Constitution. It constitutes a significant factor In our federal government of three co-ordinate branches the legislative, legisla-tive, which makes the laws; the executive, wiiich administers the laws; and the judicial, which interprets in-terprets the laws. The Supreme court heads the judicial branch. With the other two branches of government, the court wa3 first established es-tablished by the Constitution a century cen-tury and a half ago. Like them, it has progressed from a series of temporary quarters In New York and Philadelphia, during the early days of the nation, to an impressive home of its own in Washington. Like them It has played an interesting part in the development of constitutional constitu-tional government. Protects Citizen's Rights. Under our Constitution, the Supreme Su-preme court acts not only to decide certain grave problems of law, but also to protect the individual citizen a,gainst any encroachment on his constitutional rights by government. How does this work? Well, for example: When congressmen enact a law and the President signs it, they all may be convinced that it conforms to the Constitution. An individual citizen, however, may with equal honesty believe that it violates some rights which the Constitution guarantees guaran-tees to him. "I need," says the citizen, "an independent decision as to whether this act is the constitutional measure which the congress says it is, or whether, as I think, it is an act that deprives me of a right vital to my welfare and happiness." In such a situation it is obvious that what the citizen needs is an umpire independent of both congress and President who will decide the issue with all the impartiality of which men are capable. The Supreme Su-preme court of the United States is such an umpire. If, for example, the citizen thinks that the act in question deprives him of trial by jury or that it subjects his house to unreasonable search or that it takes his property without due process of law, he may carry his appeal all the way up to the Supreme court of the United States and ask for equal justice under the law. If the court decides that the act conforms to the will of the people as expressed in the Constitution, the citizen's complaint will be dis-n.issed. dis-n.issed. If, however, the decision is that the Constitution has been violated, vio-lated, the act will not be permitted to prevail against the right of the citizen. Reviews Humblest Cases. This function was, recdgnized by the court in an" early opinion delivered deliv-ered by Chief Justice John Marshall, which held, in effect, that since the Constitution is the basic law of the nation, any act which conflicts with it is unconstitutional and the courts must so declare. It has been reiterated reit-erated in various later opinions, and become a frequent subject of debate between supporters and opponents. Neither the citizen who invokes this judicial protection, nor the circumstances cir-cumstances which occasion it need be particularly important. It covers cov-ers the humblest of men, under all conditions. On one occasion, for instance, congress con-gress passed an act providing that in certain cases a person might be imprisoned at hard labor without having been first indicted by a grand jury. Under this act a man was convicted of an offense and sentenced sen-tenced to six months in a, local workhouse work-house at hard labor. His appeal was carried before the Supreme court.- The justices found that a constitutional right assured him in the 5th Amendment had been violated. Under its provisions, they pointed out, "when an accused is in danger of an infamous punishment if convicted, he has a right to insist that he be not put upon trial except on the accusation of a grand jury." Work Applies to All. In other words the court decided that the act of congress under which the citizen had been sentenced violated vio-lated the rules as fixed by the people in the Constitution and was, therefore, there-fore, void. This is only one of many cases heard by the Supreme court which did not involve major crimes or prominent persons. But it and others oth-ers similarly decided did involve constitutional rights, applying not merely to the men concerned but to all citizens. That made them important im-portant enough for our National Umpire Um-pire to rule upon. Western Newspaper Union. |
