Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 16.pdf/381

 334

Supreme Court evidence the unremitting zeal and vigor with which he has performed that portion of his oath by which he bound him self to "defend the Constitution of the United States." The State of Kentucky is doubtless more celebrated for certain of its products which are essential to the happiness of man and the continuance of the race, and to a certain other which conduces to his exhiliration, than it is by virtue of its being the birthplace of Justice Harían. No son of that State, how ever, has ever reflected more glory upon it than has he. Few, if any, of the names which are inscribed upon the roll of the Supreme Court stand sponsors more frequently for its decisions than does he. Justice Harían delivered his first opinion, in the case of National Bank v. Insurance Co., 95 U. S. 673; his first dissenting opinion in United States v. Clark, 96 U. S. 37; and his first opinion in a case involving a Con stitutional question in Ford v. Surget, 97 U. S. 594. Everyone is cognizant of the con spicuous part which he took in the decision of the so-called "Merger Case." ' Justice Harían possesses the faculty of infusing his writings with the very tones of his voice so that one who is familiar with the latter must invariably hear it in the former. • My first recollection of Justice Harían is of a mammoth man shaking the church as he slowly walked up the aisle to his pew on Sunday mornings. The immense bulk of the man effectively' killed any germs of incipient scepticism which may have been lurking in my young mind in regard to the absence of youth on the part of Adam, for no one pos sessed of a normal imagination can so adjust his mental lenses as to reduce John Marshall Harían to infantile proportions. His laugh and his voice are in proportion to his body, which is a fitting tabernacle for his heart and his mind. No man is so small as to be be neath his notice—none so great as to be above it. For years he has been a regular at

tendant upon the annual Shad-Bakes of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, and on these festive occasions he spends a great portion of his time in the shooting gal lery, where he defends against all comers the reputation of his State. Several decision's of general interest were handed down by the Supreme Court on the fourth day of last month, and another is in process of argument at the present writing. One of the former is that involving the right of the Interstate Commerce Commission to compel certain railroad companies to produce certain of their contracts before that Com mission, the decision being against the com panies. Another is that in which the Court upholds the Constitutionality of the "Elec tion Law" of 1902 of the State of Maryland, in regard to its requirements relative to the "declaration of intention" on the part of prospective voters. Numerous Southern States, in recent years, have amended their constitutions for the os tensible purpose of eliminating the illiterate vote, the real purpose and the actual effect of such amendments being to eliminate the negro vote. Virginia recently followed the example of her sister States in this respect. Two cases involving the Constitutionality of that clause of its new constitution which, in this respect, is obnoxious to the negro, were argued before the Supreme Court during the month of April. The pendency of these cases was heralded by the shepherds of the various colored flocks of this city, and the members of their folds were exhorted to attend Court on the following day. The consequence was that of the many who were called, few were chosen, so far as admission to the court room was concerned, but, like that historic little follower of Mary "whose fleece was"— of another color, those who were cast into the outer darkness of the corridor "lingered near and waited patiently about" until the hour of adjournment. ANDREW Y. BRADLEY