Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 18.pdf/702

 THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT is he infamous. Mere manners on the bench seldom give offense in these days. Now in Massachusetts judges have con stantly been liable to removal by the gov ernor (with the consent of council) on address of the two Houses; while in Mary land a judge may be removed for misbe havior on conviction of a court of law. Widely among our states, the governor "shall" remove (or, as some commonwealths prefer the text, "may at discretion remove") on the address of two-thirds of each branch (or, in some states, the majority) of the legislature; while some constitutions leave this power to the legislature apart from the Executive. Regarding the federal judiciary, some such liability to a discretionary re moval on the part of Congress would not only prove a salutary means of efficient dis cipline in extreme cases, but would induce misbehaving judges to surrender their com mission rather than invite such procedure. And the constitutional provision might be

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so explicitly framed as to guard against the possible mischief of a sweeping national pro scription of deserving judges under the tem porary stress of political passion. BOSTON, MASS., November, 1906. NOTE. Since this article was written, Secre tary Taft seems to have dismissed all claims of successorship to the present vacancy on the Supreme Bench, and another cabinet officer, AttorneyGeneral Moody, will receive the honor. Objection has been made in some quarter, to the official bias of Mr. Moody as to certain controversies which the Supreme Court must eventually decide; but to this writer the objection appears even stronger that a wise and time-honored custom is to be disregarded in the incumbency of two justices, not only from the same section of the Union but from the same State. However, President Roosevelt is both capable and strongly desirous of advancing his personal favorites, while disposed to introduce official customs of his own; and as this newly named appointee has high character and professional talent in his favor, the executive preference is likely to prevail,