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Show ' , W The SUPREME fffffijlL COURT fiUln7r AND HOW djjtrffis--IT W0RKS How to Get a Hearing By ROBERT MERRILL BETWEEN the Supreme court in Washington and a citizen on the Pacific coast an entire continent intervenes. inter-venes. But when it comes to the protection of his Constitutional Consti-tutional rights, distance means nothing. His case in a local state or federal court may reach the Supreme court of the United States by-steps by-steps easily and quickly taken. How can he get his problem before be-fore our National Umpire for a decision? de-cision? Here, step by step, is the method: Suppose, for example, a state should pass a law making a homeowner home-owner liable for the cost of repaying repay-ing the street from curb to curb in front of his house. The home-owner claims that this is a municipal expense, which the city should pay out of its general fund. Appeals From State Court. The city ignores his objection, files a lien against his property and threatens to sell him out for nonpayment. non-payment. In the local state court the citizen's citi-zen's attorney moves to strike off the lien. The court, relying on the state statute, refuses. The homeowner home-owner appeals to the Supreme court of the state, which dismisses his appeal ap-peal and declares that either the citizen must pay or have his house sold over his head. "Am I through?" asks the home- owner. "Certainly not," replies his attorney. attor-ney. "We'll find out what the Supreme Su-preme court of the United States thinks about this." So the home-owner's attorney sends to Washington a short printed petition, stating the facts, giving the decision of the state court and asking ask-ing the United States Supreme court to order the state court to send its record for review. State Court Supplies Record. When this petition reaches Washington Wash-ington every one of the Supreme court justices separately examines it and also the printed answer of the lawyer for the state. At the justices' jus-tices' conference on the following Saturday morning, if all or a majority ma-jority of them think there is substance sub-stance in the citizen's claim, they grant the petition and the record comes up from the state court. The home-owner's case is then set down on the argument list. Lawyers Law-yers on both sides file briefs. When the case is about to be reached for argument all parties are notified. The citizen's own attorney either appears ap-pears for him or entrusts the argument argu-ment to an attorney in Washington. The home-owner doesn't have to appear ap-pear at all. The case is now argued. The justices go into a huddle over it. After thorough consideration the decision de-cision is announced. The first paving pav-ing of the road, it may find, peculiarly pecu-liarly benefits the citizen's property, proper-ty, and therefore the cost can be assessed against it. But subsequent repavings of the space between curbs are a community responsibility, responsibil-ity, and must be paid for out of the tax money which all the citizens contribute. State Court Reversed. The judgment of the state Supreme Su-preme court is therefore reversed, and the record is sent back across the continent with instructions to strike off the lien. If, in such a case, the citizen has been a non-resident of the state in which this property was situated he might have sought relief in the local United States district court instead of in the state court. If he had lost his case both there and in the local United States circuit court of appeals, his subsequent subse-quent approach to the Supreme court of the United States would have been the same as in the appeal from the state court just described. The great help to the citizen in any such typical case lies in the fact that the final decision is in the hands of an umpire, concerned with constitutional rights. In this Imaginary paving case, the mayor and city council could see only community advantage in making the householder go on paying pay-ing for successive repavings. Fortunately For-tunately the Supreme court exists to see both sides of a picture and so to Insure the citizen against loss of his property otherwise than by the due process of law guaranteed to him by the Fifth and the Fourteenth Four-teenth amendments to the Constitution. Constitu-tion. Western Newspaper Union. |
