Page:The Supreme Court in United States History vol 1.djvu/29

Rh reasons nominees of eminent legal ability, has more than once influenced the course of history. The character and capacity of counsel taking part in cases have been elements which require consideration, since the arguments of great jurists and great statesmen command an attention and afford an assistance to the Court which may powerfully affect the trend of the law. The reaction of the people to judicially declared law has been an especially important factor in the development of the country; for while the Judges' decision makes law, it is often the people's view of the decision which makes history. Hence, the effect produced upon contemporary pubUc opinion has frequently been of more consequence than the actual decision itself ; and in estimating this effect, regard must be paid to the fact that, while the law comes to lawyers through the official reports of judicial decisions, it reaches the people of the country filtered through the medium of the news-columns and editorials of partisan newspapers and often exaggerated, distorted and colored by poHtical comment. Finally, it is to be noted that Congress, in its legislation enacted as a residt of judicial decisions, has always played a significant part in relation to the Court. For all these reasons, the true history of the Court must be written not merely from its reported decisions but from the contemporary newspapers, letters, biographies and Congressional debates which reveal its relations to the people, to the States and to Congress, and the reactions of those bodies to