Salt Lake Telegram | 1937-02-16 | Page 20 | 'Old Hickory' Won His Struggle Against Power of High Court

I Opponents in Historic Fight i - i - - f v ; GLADIATORS OF OLD III feeling between the erecatrv and Judicial branches of lh federal government hit its all time high la tha epic battlsa of President Andrew Jackaoa (right) and Chief Jswttce John Marshall. . 'Old Hickory' Won His Struggle Against Power of High .Court editor's note: This Is the eecead ef s series ef tear articles sa hlsterls conflicts eetweea the sresMeou an the su erases eeart. By MORGAN M. BEATTT Associated Press Writer The presence on the White House grounds of a replica of Andrew An-drew Jackson's famous Hermitage might go down in history as symbol of Franklin D. Roosevelt's struggle with the supreme court A hundred years ago the man Franklin Roosevelt so much admires ad-mires declared: "The opinion of the Judge has no 1 mora authority over congress than tha opinion of congress has over ths judges." There waa Jackson, the second famous "liberal" of American history, his-tory, flaunting his creed In the face ! of Chief Justice John MarahalL I Th Fight Begins Rooeeveltlsn words against th suprsms court never have exceeded ! a mysteriously belligerent tone. Not so In the nineteenth century when the country was young and lusty. When Jackson began his political po-litical career, th supreme court wss being called all aorta ef names. But Marshall and Jackson entered en-tered upon their struggle with careful care-ful sparring. Marshall was getting old, and he had a painful kidney atone. Doubtless the mellow evenings eve-nings and ths Madeira win In "th most exclusive club th world has ever known, had something to do with this. Ths club was tb "supreme court boarding house" the Washington home of all the Justices. Until 14S they lived together and discussed their cases, and on their boarding house table waa a particularly fins brand of Madeira wine. The etate of Georgia supplied the first heavy blow at the Marshall Mar-shall court through Its famous Cherokee Cher-okee Indian statutee, dividing up Indian lands, dsspite a federal treaty. Under them, Indian George Tassel Tas-sel was sentenced to death for a murder, and Marshall ordered Georgia to defend its laws before the supreme court. Georgia executed exe-cuted Tasssl before th appeal could be heard. Let Him Enforce It Ths effect of a supreme court ruling rul-ing thus waa nullified, but the persistent per-sistent Marshall was not through. Two missionaries from New England Eng-land refused to obey one of the Indian statutes and took thslr case to the supreme court It upheld the missionaries. That provoked tha fiery Jackson-Ian Jackson-Ian quip, whose authenticity never haa been proved: "John Marshal has mad hla decision, now let him enforce If Th decision was not enforced, and Jackson won again. Washington society ef the Jack-sonlan Jack-sonlan era continued to flock to the supreme court to observe the brilliant proceedings. Fluff and French regalia adorned the smiling ladles who sat on bench against th wall, much Ilk a row of school children. Courts Preatlg Mount They heard Clay and Webster of senatorial fame argue tha great Issues Is-sues of tha day for fees running as high as $60,000. Ths supreme court's Importance waa mounting, but stIU It held forth In ths dingy basement room the senate had allowed al-lowed it to use from th beginning. Marshall continued to preside In grave silence, but fiienda and foea alike saw hla rapidly approaching feebleness. In 1U4, Justlc William Johnson John-son died In his sixty-third year, and Jackson lost no time In putting one of hla outspoken admirers In the court James M. Wayne of Savannah. Savan-nah. Ga. Then the deaf Justlc Gabriel Duvail resigned at th age ef U. Jaeksea Wins Jackson Immediately aent up the nomination of hla chief adviser, i Roger B. Taney. But Taney had aroused the Ire of th eenate when he wrote the Jacksonlan veto of the bank act, and hla nomination was laid aside. In 1835. Marshall passed away in hla seventy-ninth year, and Jackson Jack-son sent Taney's nam again to th eenate for confirmation. Two months of bitter debate followed, but the president finally won, and Taney took his place on the supreme court A "liberal leader bad won the light to nominate a chief Justice. Teen strew I Taney's Jotasta with Llneola aad the Drod Scott eVe-eeslee.