Jasper County Democrat, Volume 16, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 March 1914 — Peril In Judicial Oligarchy: Contented People Either Ignorant or Hopeless [ARTICLE]

Peril In Judicial Oligarchy: Contented People Either Ignorant or Hopeless

By Chief Justice WALTER CLARK

of North Carolina Supreme Court

I T has been said that a contented people have no annals. THE PRESENT UNREST AMONG THE PEOPLE, STRANGE AS IT MAY SEEM, IS ONE OF THE BEST SIGNS OE THE TIMES. When people are content they either are ignorant of better conditions or hopeless of attaining them. In this country, as in all countries, the control of the government is in the hands of the few. We have learned that the form of government amounts to little. The real question is, ".Where does the control of government reside?” , IN 1776 WE ISSUED A DECLARATION PROCLAIMING THE RIGHTS OF MANKIND AND THEIR EQUALITY AND FREEDOM. AND I'HEN THE CHAMPIONS OF GOVERNMENT BY THE FEW QUIETLY BUT EFFECTIVELY TOOK CONTROL OF THE GOVERNMENT. . The overwhelming preponderance of the judiciary has been unexpectedM< rented by decisions of the supreme court of the United States without a Imo in the constitution to authorize it when that body as-, sumed the right to veto any act of congress it chose to hold unconst itional. , THIS DOCTRINE HAS BEEN SEIZED UPON AS A BOON BY THE SPECIAL INTERESTS AND BY ALL WHO BELIEVED AT HEART IN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE MANY FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE FEW. IT HAS PRACTICALLY MADE THE COURTS THE DOMINANT! POWER INi EVERY STATE IN THE UNION. WHENEVER ANY PROGRESSIVE STATUTE HAS NOT- BEEN IN ACCORD WITH THE' ECONOMIC VIEWS BY THE COURTS THEY HAVE GENERALLY EXERCISED THEIR POWER TO DECLARE SUCH STATUTE UNCONSTITUTIONAL BECAUSE IT WAS NOT “DUE PROCESS OF LAW.’’