Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 21.pdf/330

 limine WW

m

raw 11

The

ilillllll II 11

Edito

II II M 11

MR. JUSTICE MOODY MR. JUSTICE MOODY'S conserva tism as exhibited in his recent decision in Twining v. New Jersey (211 U. S. 78) is even more clearly denned in Mr. George Whitelock's able character ization which forms the leading article for this issue of the Green Bag. Mr. Whitelock will in some quarters be re called as the author of a resolution intro duced at the meeting of the American Bar Association at Portland, Me., in August, 1907, deprecating the attitude of the President toward the judiciary in the beef trust cases as "subversive of their independence and destructive of the constitutional distinctions between the executive and judicial departments of our government," and as showing "a want of proper respect for the legally constituted authority of the courts" and a disposition to transcend executive power. This resolution was tabled largely on account of the influence of Judge Parker. The opinion, however, has* been expressed that an actual poll of the meeting would have shown that the majority disapproved, with Mr. Whitelock, of Mr. Roosevelt's criticism of Judge Humphrey. Mr. Whitelock's attention was first called to Justice Moody, then Attorney-General, by these cases. The recent final decision of the Shipp's case just reached by the Supreme Court

draws attention to the part that Mr. Moody bore in this case as AttorneyGeneral. Mr. Moody earnestly resisted the release of the persons charged with contempt of the United States Supreme Court, on account of their participation in the lynching of a negro in whose be half this Court had granted a stay of proceedings. The Court has thus sus tained Mr. Moody's energetic champion ship of the writ of habeas corpus then, and has rendered a decision in which Mr. Moody would doubtless have con curred, had propriety admitted of his taking part in it. MR. TAFT'S APPOINTMENTS THERE has been a great deal of foolish adulation in the news papers, which our admired President may deserve truly enough but which neither he nor any other thoughtful person can greatly care for, in view of his disregard of political party consid erations in his judicial appointments. Was Mr. Roosevelt really as bad as that? As a matter of fact Mr. Taft's predecessor realized that the bench is superior to politics, and pursued the eminently commonplace policy of choos ing judges for merit rather than for party affiliation. In making such nomi nations as that of Associate Justice Henry Groves Connor of the Supreme Court of North Carolina to be Judge of