Show i the SUPREME I 1 I 1 COURT I 1 AND HOW I 1 IT WOR 2111 WORKS J the public welfare Vel lare by ROBERT MERRILL T THE HE supreme court of the united states has frequently been called upon to act as umpire in cases where citizens protested that their health or their crops were endangered A number of such appeals have resulted in the elimination of conditions causing pollution of the water an affected community must drink or contamination of the air it must breathe in one instance a compa company ny made a practice of discharging waste material into a river whose waters farther along the course were utilized tor for irrigation purposes A citizen whose crops and food supply were thus damaged obtained an injunction in a local court the company appealed to a higher state court which modified the decree to the extent which allowed it to operate if it provided facilities to prevent the waste being carried carrie d down the river an appeal was then carried I 1 to the united states supreme court which affirmed the ruling and explained in giving a right to use the waters of the public streams the statute does not provide that such a user may send his waste material or debris down the stream to the destruction or substantial injury of the riparian rights of users of water below and no such invasion of private property rights should be inferred or implied state seeks fresh air in another instance a state appealed to the supreme court of the united states to enjoin certain industrial du plants in a bordering state from polluting the air and endangering the citizens health and crops the supreme court granted the injunction pointing out that a state has an interest in all the earth and air within its domain it has the last word said the opinion as to whether its mountains shall be stripped of their forests and its inhabitants shall breathe pure air on one occasion a church in washington D C carried to the supreme court its appeal against a railroad company which had erected an engine house and repair shop next to the church property it protested that the noise and smoke thus caused interfered with services and greatly inconvenienced worshipers the court decided in favor of the church handles small cases but the individual citizen no matter how obscure does not need the support of his state or any other organization to appeal to the supreme court it if his constitutional rights have been infringed upon naturally the supreme court appears most prominently in the news when it umpires cases involving prominent names or great organizations but its work includes also the job of umpiring cases which apart from their constitutional a aspect s hect would seem of little importance I 1 heres one case involving a 25 fine the penalty was imposed by a district of columbia police court on a resident charged with conspiring to extort money when the prisoner refused to pay he was turned over to a united states marshal he protested that the constitution of the united states secured to him the right to be tried by a jury on the charge and since that right was denied the police court had no authority to impose a fine on him or to order him imprisoned until the fine was paid jury trial guaranteed because of the constitutional aspect involved the case went finally to the supreme court the court agreed with the prisoner and explained pla ined except in that class or grade of offenses called petty offenses which according to the common law may be proceeded against summarily in any tribunal legally constituted for that purpose the guarantee of an impartial jury to the accused in a criminal prosecution conduct conducted eft either in the name or by or under the authority of the united states secures to him the right to enjoy that mode of trial in such cases a judgment of conviction V vic tion not based upon a verdict of guilty by a jury is void 0 western newspaper union |