Show the SUPREME COURT AND HOW IT WORKS our national umpire I 1 fi by ROBERT MERRILL i THE HE supreme court of the th e j united states has frequently been described as I 1 our national umpire I 1 this is because its purpose is to keep both the govern i ment and the people within the rules as fixed in our fundamental da law the united states constitution it constitutes a significant factor in our federal government of three ordinate coordinate co branches the legislative which makes the th laws the executive which administers the laws and the judicial which interprets ter the laws the supreme court heads the judicial branch with the other two branches of government the court was first established by the constitution a ce century n and a half ago like them it has progressed irom 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 government protects citizens rights bights under our constitution the supreme court acts not only to decide certain grave problems of law but also to protect the individual citizen against 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 violate s some ome rights which the constitution guarantees to him 1 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 1 think it is an act that deprives me ape of a right vital to my welfare and happiness in such a situation it is obvious thatchat that what the citizen needs is an umpire indea independent adent of both congress and president who will decide the issue with all the impartiality of which men are capable the supreme court of the united states is such an umpire I 1 I 1 diffor if or a example mple the citizen thinks thai that the aeta 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 tor for equal justice under the law it if the court decides that the act con conforms contoris foris to the will of the people as expressed in the constitution the citizens complaint will be dis ali n assed s sed it if however the decision is that tha t the constitution has been violated the act will not be permitted to prevail against the ri right of the citizen reviews humblest cases this function was recognized by chec the ourt court in an early opinion delivered by chief justice john marshall which beldin held in effect that since the constitution is the basic law of the nation a any ay iy act which conflicts with it is unconstitutional and the courts must so declare it has been reiterated in various later opinions and become a frequent subject of debate between support supporters eri and opponents neither the citizen who invokes this judicial protection nor the circumstances cum stances which occasion it need be particularly important it covers the humblest of men under all conditions on one occasion for or instance congress 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 to six months in a local workhouse at hard bard labor his appeal was carried before the supreme court the justices found that a constitutional right assured him in the ath amendment had bad been violated under its provisions they pointed out when an ac accused aused Is in danger of an infamous punishment if convicted he has a right to insist that tie he be not put upon trial except on the see accusation of a grand ju jury ay iy work applies to all in other words the court decided that the act of congress under which the citizen had bad been sentenced violated the r rules i a as s fixed by the people in the C constitution 0 and was therefore vo void id this Is only one of many cases heard beard by the supreme cc court urt which did not involve major crimes or prominent persons but it and others ers similarly decided did involve constitutional rights applying not rhe merely rely to the men concerned but to all citizens that made them important enough tor for our national umpire to rule upon 0 western newspaper union |