Page:The Supreme Court in United States History vol 1.djvu/250

222 V. Biddle overturned the most important land-claimant laws of Kentucky on the ground of unconstitutionality.* While this correspondence presents such aflSrmative proof of the reasons for hostility to the Federal Courts, it contains also negative proof that there was no partic- ular antagonism to the power of the Judiciary in general to pass upon the constitutionality of Acts of Congress. For, while Senator Breckenridge had attacked the existence of this power in the debates in Congress, nevertheless, not one of the mass of letters which he received from constituents congratulating him on his services in securing the repeal of the Circuit Court Act and setting forth at length the writers' views as to the defects of that Act, contained a single expression deny- ing or even questioning the lawful existence of judicial supremacy.*

As soon as the Republicans passed their Act repealing the Federalist statute, they determined upon another even more radical exercise of Legislative power. Real- izing that the question of its constitutionality would be at once questioned in the Courts and presented to the Supreme Court for final decision, they resolved to pre- vent, or at least postpone, any such decision until at least after lapse of time sufficient to strengthen the polit- ical power of the Administration. Accordingly, im- mediately after the enactment of the Repeal Law, a further bill was introduced, and after a short debate passed, abolishing the new June and December Terms of the Supreme Court (created by the Act of 1801), and restoring the old February Term but not the old August Term. By this extraordinary Legislative maneuver, an

^ See Chapter Fifteen, infra,


 * Breckenridge Papers M88, For leading letters of congratulations received in 1802, see letter of William Vawter, Feb. 20, Robert Breckenridge, Feb. 19, Richard P. Barry, Feb. 21, Judge Barry Innes, Feb. 22, April 8, James Morison, Feb. 27, James Blair, March 2, Bartlet Collin, Blarch 5, John Shore, March 14, Mathew Lyon, March 19.