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' ■ I JTk«JfUr*w«IlJPeopl€hS€nUi»«UJJ^^ ?• • SUPREME COURT CHANGED 7 TIMES . - i \ • • ' But President Roosevelt’s Proposed Increase to Fifteen Justices Would Far Exceed Any Such Alteration in History. IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL UNDAYI chool Lesson By RXV. HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST. Doan ait the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. • Western Newspaper Union. Lesson for February 28 THE NEW COMMANDMENT = Charming Way to ' Use Cross Stitch Even amateurs will have no dif ficulty in tuminf out this finished lookinf chair or buffet set—with this easy-to-do pattern. And what compliments they’ll get on this cross-stitched peacock done in all LESSON TEXT — John 12 : 20-33; 13:34.39. GOLDEN TEXT — A new commandment X five unto you. that ye love one another: even as I have loved you. that ye also love one another. John 13:34. PRIMARY TOPIC — A New Command ment. JUNIOR TOPIC — A Great Man’s Way. INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC— What the New Commandm-nt Means. YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC— The Measure of Christian Love. Who will be the new members to Join this group, should the President’s plan carry through? Left to right, front row: Justices Brandeis, eighty; Van Deventer, seventy-eight; Hughes, seventy-four; McReynolds, sev enty-five, and Sutherland, seventy-four. Back row: Roberts, sixty-one; Butler, seventy; Stone, sixty-four, and Cardozo, sixty-six. Mentioned as possible additions to fill in the question marks have been New Dealers Rich- berg, Wagner, Landis, Frankfurter, Rosenman and Corcoran. By WILLIAM C. UTLEY S HOULD President Roosevelt succeed in his proposal to in crease the number of justices on the bench of the United States Supreme court, such changes would by no means be without precedent, except in their scope. The number of justices has been changed by act of congress no less than seven times dur ing the 148 years of its existence, but never by more than three justices. Thera have been numerous in stances of clashes between a Presi dent and the Supreme court. Origi nally the court was composed of six members, but during the time of the clash between Adams and Jefferson in 1801 the number was reduced to-six. Under pressure of heavily loaded dockets as the young country was growing, the number was increased to seven in 1807 and 30 years later was increased again to nine. Further expansion resulted in the addition of still another jus tice, and ia 1863 the Supreme court reached its peak of ten justices. In 1866 the number was reduced again to seven, but in 1869 it went back to nino again; President Grant was at that time popularly accused of having "packed” the court to uphold legislation in which he was interested, but the majority of his torians absolve him from any such Intention. Now comes President Roosevelt with his proposal to appoint to each federal court (including the Su preme court) a new judge for each present one who is over the retire ment age of seventy but has not re tired. Apparently it ia beyond the power of congress to require jus tices to retire at seventy, for the Constitution expressly provides that they shall serve during good be havior. Appointments Permanent. There are now nine Supreme court justices, of whom six are past the retirement age. It follows then, that, at the present time, the mem bership on the Supreme court bench could not be increased to more than 15 under the President’s proposal. New. judgeships on that and all other federal court benches ( would be permanent. To the observer in Washington it seems immediately apparent that one of the President’s purposes in securing the proposed legislation is to nullify possible adverse rulings on New Deal acts by older justices - who have been in the habit of vot ing to declare New Deal legislation unconstitutional. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, seventy-five, has voted sometimes to uphold, sometimes to nullify New Deal acts; he once ran as the Republican candidate for the Presidency. Louis Dembitz Bran deis, eighty, has voted to sustain all New Deal legislation except in the case of the NRA in which the vote was unanimously against. But Justices Willis Van Deventer, sev enty-eight; James Clarke Mc- ReynoHs, seventy - five; George Sutherland, seventy-five; and Pierce Butler, seventy-one, have voted in variably against the New Deal. • The New Deal has suffered de feat in 9 out of 11 major decisions of the court. In at least four cases a change of four votes could have reversed the decision. Up to June, 1935, the Supreme court had held a total of 73 acts of congress unconstitutional. Fifty-five of these were in the period from 1789 to Juoe, 1921. Then in 11 years, the court held unconstitutional 18 acts. Decisions Make History. The court hss hardly ever ceased to be the subject of much political •peculation and controversy in the "hot stove league.” Perhaps this is because the court as an institu tion is umquo among governments, ia its function of interpreting and halting encroachments upon the basic law of (He courtrv, "Every decision becomes a page of history,” wrote Charles Warren, in his noted work on the Supreme court. "The history of the United States has been written not merely in the halls of congress, in the exec utive offices and on the battlefields, but to a great extent in. the cham bers of the Supreme court of the United States.” Historians outline the career of the court by (a) the period of na tionalism, from 1789 to 1835; (b) the era of states’ rights, from 1835 to 1861; (c) the period of broad in terpretation, from 1861 to 1930, and (d) the present period. . The Supreme court met and or ganized for the first time in the Royal Exchange at the foot of Broad street in New York on February 1, 1790. The number of its justices (five) had been set by the judiciary act of September 24, 1789. Edicts Free of Politics. The present chief justice, Mr. Hughes, once said of the court, "at all times it has had the most se vere critics.” Tradition has it that all decisions are rendered without consideration of political partisan ship, and indeed there are more than a few incidents to uphold the tradition. Justices appointed by President Jefferson helped to de velop the nationalistic interpretation of the Constitution which he de plored; justices appointed by Pres ident Jackson differed with his opin ion and wishes in important inter pretation, and his own appointees held President Lincoln’s legal ten der policy unconstitutional. "Nothing is more striking in the history of the court,” wrote Warren, "than the manner in which the hopes of those who expected a judge to follow the political views of the President who appointed him have been disappointed.” Changes in membership of the court began early. In the election of 1800, the Federalists suffered an overwhelming defeat. The lame duck congress, between the time of Jefferson’s election a ! h3 his inaug uration, to prevent the new Presi dent from filling a vacancy on the bench with one of his own appoint ees, reduced the number of justices to five. It also relieved Supreme court justices from circuit court duties, established six new circuits with sixteen new judges and at taches, and filled all the vacancies with staunch Federalists. Adams’ appointments were confirmed by the senate the day before Jefferson’s inajuguration. The next congress, controlled by Jefferson, abolished two terms of court, repealed the judiciary act of the'Adams congress, abolished the new circuits and restored the Su preme court to its original member ship of six. Ironically enough, it was the Federalist - appointed Su preme court which, in 1803, upheld the constitutionality of Jefferson's repeal act. This was in the case of Marbury vs. Madison. The former had been appointed to a judgeship of the peace in the District of Columbia by President Adams, but his com mission had not been delivered to him at the time of Jefferson’s in auguration. He sought a writ of mandamus to compel the secretary of state to deliver his commission. The court ruled that the manda mus wss the proper procedure, but that congress in delegating to the court the power to issue WATCHo yout sXtANtE Medical Authorities reoofnbt lbs value of a bsltnced Alkaline Re- •erre a* an aid to cold prerentioo. - LUDEN’S contribute to your Alkaline Re- serve because they contain an ALKALINI FACT OB & Temptation and Curiosity So often Temptation is accom panied by another fellow, arm in fimrt rnriftftltv — OX SIX VJ'wKX SWOIvjr • such a writ (by the judiciary act of 1789) had acted in excess of the powers granted to it under the Con stitution. This was the first instance in which the court had acted upon the constitutionality of an act of congress, and established its right to do so. Jackson Battles Court. The first time that any complete act of congress was actually de clared unconstitutional was in the Dred Scott case 50 years later. The court held only four federal statutes unconstitutional during the first 80 years of its existence. By 1825, however, it had under Marshall strengthened the federal Tff^cture considerably. It had invalidated 10 laws made by the states as un constitutional. During Andrew Jackson’s tenure of office the state of Georgia passed a law of division of some land in the state to which the Cherokee In dians held title; the Supreme court decided this was outside its jurisdic tion. The state then passed a law requiring all whites in the Cherokee territory to take an oath of alle giance to the state. When two mis sionaries refused they were impris oned. The Supreme court issued a writ of error and declared that the statute was unconstitutional because the federal government alone had jurisdiction over the Cherokees and their territory. The country was growing, and crowded court dockets made it ad visable, on the last day of the Jack- son administration, to increase the number of justices to nine (there were then eight, one having been added in 1807). As the West began to expand another justice was added in 1863. During the reconstruction period in 1866 President Johnson was on trial on impeachment charges, his leniency toward the South having angered party leaders. Congress passed a statute returning the num ber of justices to seven. Johnson vetoed it, but the reduction was car ried over his veto. A bill requiring a two-thirds vote of the court to de clare a law unconstitutional failed to pass in congress about that time; it had been drawn in the fear that the court would declare the recon struction laws invalid. , Grant Appoints Two. President Lincoln clashed with Chief Justice Taney when, soon after Fort Sumter was attacked, John Merryman, a Confederate lieu tenant, was arrested on charges of aiding the enemy. Taney gave him a habeas corpus to get released from Fort McHenry, but the officer in charge, acting under the Presi dent’s instructions, refused to obey the writ. Taney ordered the arrest of the officer, but the civilian who bore the writ Was refused admission to the fort. Taney wrote an opinion declaring that a writ of habeas corpus could not be suspended. The number of justices was in creased from seven to nine shortly after Ulysses S. Grant * became President. The court, by a vote of 4 to 3, held unconstitutional the le gal tender act which was passed during the Civil war; there were two vacancies on the bench at that time. The day the opinion was de livered by Chief Justice Chase, President Grant nominated two new members, and soon after the court ordered that the "greenbacks” case be re-argued. There was a great storm of in dignation when the new justices joined with the three who had voted to uphold the act, and the legal tender act was declared constitu tional. Most persons, of course, believed that Grant had intentionally packed the court to secure this decision, but historians do not agree In the last week of our Land’s ministry on earth many important events took place, but we pass most of them in our present series of studies. The incident related in our lesson of today is of interest in and of itself, but it is of peculiar sig nificance because it introduces a marvelously instructive disco arse of our Lord. Whatever had prompted tueir in quiry, we are delighted to note that the Greeks came with an earnest desire to see Jesus. I. Seeking Jesus (12 20-22). A man has progressed far on the road to blessing when he makes known his desire to see Jesus. Com ing to him means coming to the One who has the words of eternal life. Note that the disciples were wise enough to bring the men to Jesus. The true function of every Christian worker is to bring men to him. On the back of the pulpit in one of America’s greatest churches, direr t- ly where the preacher can see them as he arises to preach, are the words of our lesson, "Sir, we wiuld see Jesus." Little wonder that a strong and true gospel is preached in that church. II. Finding the Cross (w. 23-33). The reply of our Lord to the Greeks and to the disciples who brought them to him, seems a bit singular at first glance. Did he not wish to receive them? They had probably come to see the great re ligious leader, the King of the Jews —why does he talk about death— why is his soul troubled? The words of our Lord are clear. Men do not need an example, a leader, a teacher, they need a Sav iour. It is as a sacrifice for sin that Christ will draw all men unto himself (v. 32). We need to relearn that lesson. Leaders of the church are earnestly seeking the explanation of the rapid decline in the influence of the Chris tian church. It is a good sign that some are beginning to realize that the difficulty is in the realm of the spiritual. The barrenness of so- called modem theology has become apparent to its leaders and they have begun to talk about a "spirit ual revival." But unfortunately we soon find that they use the expres sion to stand for something entire ly different from a real scriptural revival. "The voice is Jacob's voice but the hands are the hands of Esau” (Gen. 27:22). Let us make no mistake about it, a real revival will center in the cross and will manifest itself in denial of self for the glory of God. One cannot forego mention of the fact that the last part of verse 26, "If any man serve me, him will my Father honor," was the motto of the late Dr. James M. Gray, whose life gloriously exemplified the truth of the passage. God is willing and ready to do as much for you and for me. III. Loving One Another (John 13: 34, 35). When these words were uttered our Lord was two days further in the last week before he was cruci fied. He was alone with his disciples in the upper room. What message does he have for them in that sol emn hour? That they should love one another. That is a message that needs renewed emphasis in our day. The strife which fills the world has almost engulfed the church, and there is bitterness and strife where love should reign. Let us observe carefully that it is as his disciples that we are able to love one another. There are two erroneous extremes to be avoid ed. First, we have the out and out conservative, who proclaims his be lief in the Bible as God’s Word, who is anxious that he be absolutely correct in doctrine, a really saved man, and who then becomes the kind of "fighting” fundamentalist who dismally fails God in the testi mony referred to in these verses. On the other hand we have the lib eral who has abandoned the scrip tural basis of discipleship and who then boasts of his great love for his brethren. Love is no substitute for regeneration, and regeneration is no excuse for lack of love. Pattern 5740 the glory of its natural coloring or in two shades of a color for a more subdued effect. The crosses are 10 to-the-inch—the col ors are clearly given in a color chart. With two patterns a hand some scarf could be made. In pattern 5740 you will find a trans fer pattern of a large motif 13 by 16 inches, and two smaller owes 4\4 by 6 inches; material require ments; color chart and key; illus trations of all stitches used. To obtain this pattern, send 15 cents in stamps or coins (coins preferred) to The Sewing Circle Household Arts Dept., 259 W. Fourteenth St., New York, N. Y. Write plainly your name, ad dress and pattern number. SMALL SOX. 60c LAKGf SIZE $1.80 RcnMtdy- mi Nnrltli wtferm. A pmittk Blood Porllior. Moltet ttrin Blood Rich oad Hoolthy. Build* Strongth tod Vigor. Alwoy* Effective . . . Why tnffer? AT ALL GOOD DRUG STORES \ Devouring tho Deed He that is proud eats up him self; pride is his own glass, his own trumpet, his own chronicle; and whatever praises itself but n the deed, devours the deed in the praise.—Shakespeare. CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT CARTOONING LEARN MODERN CARTOONINO Tom Doorer Method—-IndivtdudUy tuuftrt by recognized master. Pint lesson FREE. Send Sc postage only. Nation*! 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