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Show I, g ig i g g & gi s g s I Prohibition Fight in Supreme Court DRY IMEIHT BY STATE ATTDMEYj i New Jersey Contends Action! Taken for Drouth is Entirely Illegal SEVERAL POINTS ARE ; SUBJECT OF ASSAULT; Entirely Novel Point Brought Up in Supplemental Brief Filed by Opponents WASHINGTON. March 29. The eignteenlh amendment to the cons'i-j luiion, Known as the promimion amendment, is legislative In nature' and revolutionary in character, accord-! ; ing to Attorney General Thomas F. McCran of New Jersey, in opening his, argument before the United States eu- prome court in New Jersey's suit lo jhave the amendment declared void' and the Volstead act unconstitutional. ! Eight points were raised and discussed j in the argument. ; Attorney General McCran's brief declared de-clared that the eighteenth, amendment' .was not. - consjjiutionullv?,pxpi)Q.seiljJ, tfhantll-7Sp3s review;- that congress did not bv two-1 thirds In numbers of both housei affir-' matively vote for the proposal of the resolution; that three-fourths of the stales have not ratified in the consti-( consti-( tutional sense. j Legislation Opposed. ! The brief also declared that the national na-tional prohibition act is not appropri ate legislation; that ther.e is no right In congress to legislate outside the words of the amendment; that the I words "beverage purposes" sufficiently sufficient-ly describe the limit within which on-sros's on-sros's will legislate and that the term 'intoxicating liquors" is its own defl nition; that the Volstead law fixing the standard is oppressive and uncon-' stitutional in that it attempts to interfere inter-fere with the rights of physicians and1 druggist's; to furnish liquor; Mhat the, institutions owned and conducted by) the state of New Jersey are hampered! and restricted by the arbitrary act of congress. The history of New Jorjcy1 and its relation to the federal govern-, ment, both before and since the adoption adop-tion of the constitution, was discussed' In the brief, while the rights which j the states surrendered for tho purpose! of forming a more perfect union aro' detailed at length. I Other Amendments. ' The brief also stated that the 3ev-' enleenth amendment to the constitu- Hon prior to the eighteenth, ".prohibi-l lion amendment," are subjects relating! to the structure and form of the gov-i eminent and are not amendments rev-j olutlonary in character and which do-1 prive the stales of their sovereign' powers. : In a supplemental brief filed by Now, Jersey's attorney general an entirely i novel point is made "that the right to amend the constitution is a right of the people of the United States as distinguished dis-tinguished from the people -of a particular par-ticular state; that the .people of tht United. States have only national pow-ors, pow-ors, the police power being reserved to the states, and the right of internal police being a right of tho people of New Jersey over which the people of the United States have no control. This right may not be taken from them without their consent." |