Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 April 1894 — THE SUPREME COURT. [ARTICLE]

THE SUPREME COURT.

The Majority of Cases Brought Before It Are Simply for Delay. That august body, the Supreme Court of the United States, has been dubbed “ the great mechanism of procrastination ” and to call it by that title seems to do it no injustice. It is said that nine out of every ten cases submitted to this high tribunal are carried up to it not for the purpose of obtaining the reversal of decisions rendered by lower courts, but purely and simply for the sake of delay—or ordinarily to keep people out of money which they have won bv law. How effective this plan is may "'be judged when it is considered that after the briefs in a case are filed four years must ordinarily elapse before the latter can come up for’ consideration. There are 4,000 cases on the docket now. No other legal tribunal that ever existed has possessed such well nigh absolute power as is wielded by the Supreme Court of the United States. It can even overthrow any law passed by Congress and signed by the President, if it chooses to discover a constitutional flaw in the measure, and from its decision there is no appeal. Such awe does it inspire that lawyers of great reputation and experience who plead before it are often seized with fright, turn pale and forget their words in its presence. A distinguished legal luminary from New York confessed the other day that, after arguing a case at the bar of the Supreme Court, he always goes straight to his hotel and changes his underclothing, because it is soaked with On the other hand, it sometimes happens that a country attorney who says “drawed” and “ain t got none” will exhibit the utmost sangfroid in addressing the august row of black gowns.