Supreme Court of Washington

“ The Washington statute suffers from additional difficulties on vagueness grounds. A person is subversive not only if he himself commits the specified acts but if he abets or advises another in aiding a third person to commit an act which will assist yet a fourth person in the overthrow or alteration of constitutional government. The Washington Supreme Court has said that knowledge is to be read into every provision and we accept this construction. ”

“ Judge Washington having demonstrated the necessity of the proprietor's complying with the provisions of the act of congress, in order to obtain the benefit conferred by that act, declares 'if he has not that right, he can have no remedy of any kind.' The right thus referred to, was one purely under the statute. But it was the only available one [p630] that could exist; the only one that could carry with it, or be productive of any remedy. ”

“ We are of opinion that Initiative Measure Number 8, as constructed by the supreme court of Washington, is arbitrary and oppressive, and that it unduly restricts the liberty of appellants, guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, to engage in a useful business. It may not therefore be enforced against them. ”

“ To the extent that the decision of the Supreme Court of Washington on that issue arguably conforms to reasonable expectations, we must of course accept it as conclusive. But to the extent that it constitutes a sudden change in state law, unpredictable in terms of the relevant precedents, no such deference would be appropriate. For a State cannot be permitted to defeat the constitutional prohibition against taking property without due process of law by the simple device of asserting retroactively that the property it has taken never existed at all. ”

“ Judge Johnson resigned rather than undertake the labor. Finally, President Washington himself wrote, in August, 1791, that he hoped that Congress would give "relief from these disagreeable tours." [66] Besides the laborious duties it entailed, the system was defective for other reasons. "It has happened in more than one instance," wrote Jay to Rufus King, "that questions in the Circuit Court decided by one set of Judges in the affirmative had afterwards in the same Court been decided by others in the negative. As writs of error do not reach every case, this evil has no remedy. ”

“ The Washington statute as authoritatively interpreted by its Supreme Court in the Murphy and Guthrie cases means not only that defendants are entitled under Washington law to have indictments against them returned by impartial grand jurors but also that Washington State judges are specifically charged with the duty and responsibility of making all inquiries necessary to insure defendants against being tried on indictments returned by prejudiced grand jurors. Neither the legislature nor the State Supreme Court has ever changed that statute or its interpretation. ”

“ It would be an additional satisfaction to be distinguished by your appointment, Sir, and to assist in distributing equal justice to a well-governed people." As to this letter Washington, writing to Madison in Aug., 1780, said: "What can I do with A (rthur) L (ee) ? He has applied to be nominated one of the Associate Judges; but I cannot bring my mind to adopt the request. The opinion entertained of him by those with whom I am most conversant is unpropitious; yet few men have received more marks of public favor and confidence than he has. ”

“ There is no question before us as to the power of the state courts of Washington, under its laws, (1) to order petitioner to deliver the specified bonds to the receiver, (2) to adjudicate petitioner in contempt for failure to do so, or (3) to dismiss petitioner's appeal upon failure to purge itself of contempt by delivery of the bonds. Those questions have been settled by the Supreme Court of Washington. ”

“ The volume of law business done in Washington is very considerable. There are multitudinous claims prosecuted before the departments by attorneys midway between lobbyists and lawyers, and also the business naturally arising in a city of this size and character, of which the courts of the District have jurisdiction. The important work, however, is that before the Supreme Court and the Court of Claims. Practice before the latter is chiefly in the hands of lawyers living in this city ”

“ Adams had come to Washington hoping to support the Executive in a policy of breaking down the Senate, but he never dreamed that he would be required to help in breaking down the Supreme Court. Although, step by step, he had been driven, like the rest of the world, to admit that American society had outgrown most of its institutions, he still clung to the Supreme Court, much as a church man clings to his bishops, because they are his only symbol of unity; his last rag of Eight. Between the Executive and the Legislature, citizens could have no Rights; they were at the mercy of Power. ”

“ Life of Washington (1807) , by John Marshall, V, 215. Washington wrote to Lafayette, June 8, 1790, that his appointments of Jay at the head of the Judiciary and of Jefferson, Hamilton and Knox as Cabinet officials "generally have given perfect satisfaction to the public." ↑ Washington, X, letter of Aug. 10, 1789; Arthur Lee had applied for appointment, May 31, 1789 (see letter in Library of Congress) , as follows: "It is not without apprehension of presuming too much on the favor you have always shown me that I offer you my services as a Judge of the Supreme Court which is now establishing. ”

“ From the first a supporter of Washington’s Administration, he was gradually thrust into the position of Federalist leader in Virginia. In 1794 he declined the post of Attorney-General, which Washington had offered him. In the following year he became involved in the acrimonious struggle over the Jay Treaty with Great Britain, and both in the Legislature and before meetings of citizens defended the treaty so aggressively that its 44 opponents were finally forced to abandon their contention that it was unconstitutional and to content themselves with a simple denial that it was expedient. ”

“ It was the extraordinary fortune of Washington that, having been intrusted, in revolutionary times, with the supreme military command, and having fulfilled that trust with equal renown for wisdom and for valor, he should be placed at the head of the first Government in which an attempt was to be made, on a large scale, to rear the fabric of social order on the basis of a written Constitution and of a pure representative principle. A Government was to be established, without a throne, without an aristocracy, without castes, orders, or privileges ”

“ The Government was now settling down into what became its normal routine. The Cabinet was completed by the appointment of Jefferson as Secretary of State and Edmund Randolph as Attorney-General. Jefferson would have preferred to go back to France as American Minister, but in a fulsome letter he declared himself willing to accept any office which Washington wished him to fill. The Supreme Court was organized with John Jay as Chief Justice, and five Associate Justices. Washington could not fail to be aware that parties were beginning to shape themselves. ”

“ But in spite of the defects of his early education, Henry's attainments were considerable, and the profoundest lawyers, like Wirt, Nicholas, and Jay, acknowledged his great forensic ability. Washington always held him in great esteem and affection; and certainly had Henry been a shallow lawyer, Washington, whose judgment of men was notably good, would not have offered him the post of Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court,--although, as Jefferson sneeringly said, "he knew it would be refused." ”

“ The Supreme Court of the United States has, however, made some grave mistakes—witness the famous decision of Justice Taney—but, for the most part, time has only verified their decisions.
56The men who have sat here have not only been fair representatives of the legal knowledge of their day, but also men of unimpeachable integrity and of the highest patriotism. Many of them have been devout Christians. Some on the bench at present are among the best church workers of Washington. ”

“ In spite of these arguments, Washington decided to appoint Cushing, who had served for nine years as Chief Justice in Massachusetts and was then fifty-seven years old—the oldest man chosen on the new Court.
In Pennsylvania, the President's field of choice was wide, for eminent lawyers were numerous. ”

“ It is a prevailing feeling, and none can doubt that a man's book is his book-is his property. It may be true that it is property which requires extraordinary legislative protection, and also limitation. Be it so.
But the appellants are entitled to protection under the statute. It is a clear case. All the statutes should be taken together. The decision of Judge Washington in Ewer v. Coxe, was not appealed from; and the question is for the first time before this court.
Is the deposite of the copy in the office of the secretary of state a condition precedent or subsequent? ”

“ So there is absolutely no reason for Republican Senators to deny him the basic courtesy of a hearing and a vote – the same courtesy that has been extended to others. This refusal to treat a Supreme Court nomination with the seriousness it deserves is what makes people so cynical about Washington. ”

“ Wilson now became a leader of the Federalists. In the convention of 1789-'90 for framing a new state constitution he successfully advocated the plan of the direct election of state senators. He was appointed on the drafting committee, and prepared the form of the instrument. In October, 1789, President Washington appointed him an associate justice of the U. S. supreme court, and he remained in this office till his death. ”

“ The Supreme court sits at Washington from October till July in every year." J. Bryce, The American Commonwealth, part 1, chapter 22 (volume 1) . "It is, I believe, the only national tribunal in the world which can sit in judgment on a national law, and can declare an act of all the three powers of the Union to be null and void. No such power does or can exist in England. Anyone of the three powers of the state, King, Lords, or Commons, acting alone, may act illegally; the three acting together cannot act illegally. An act of parliament is final ”

“ As the Washington Supreme Court recognized, the treaty’s terms permit regulations that allow the Yakamas and non-Indians to share the road in common and travel along it safely together. But they do not permit encumbrances on the ability of tribal members to bring their goods to and from market. And by everyone’s admission, the state tax at issue here isn’t about facilitating peaceful coexistence of tribal members and non-Indians on the public highways. It is about taxing a good as it passes to and from market–exactly what the treaty forbids. ”

“ In 1793, President Washington sought to take the opinion of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States as to various questions arising under out treaties with France, but they declined to respond. ”

“ Now it is manifest from this record, not only that the constitutionality of the statute of the 8th of April 1826, was drawn into question, and was applicable to the case, but that it was so applied by the judge, and formed the basis of his opinion to the jury, that they should find in favour of the plaintiff, if in other respects she was entitled to a verdict. It is equally manifest that the right of the plaintiff to recover in that action depended on that statute; the effect of which was to change the law, as the supreme court had decided it to be in this very case in the year 1825. ”

“ The description, when taken to include others not named, but which are of the same general character, embraces nearly every civil right for the establishment and protection of which organized government is instituted. They are, in the language of Judge Washington, those rights which the fundamental. Throughout his opinion, they are spoken of as rights belonging to the individual as a citizen of a State. They are so spoken of in the constitutional provision which he was construing. ”

“ This requires us to determine whether, by custom or by the statute law of the state of Washington, the courts of that state had the power of administering the relief prayed for on that subject in the bill by an independent suit, as distinguished from the exercise of probate jurisdiction originally or merely ancillary. There is no pretense of any custom in the state of Washington beyond the scope of authority conferred upon the courts of the state by the laws thereof. ”

“ Now, it is enough to say that our examination of legislative reasonableness should consider the fact that the Legislature of the State of Washington is no more obviously at fault than this Court is in being uncertain about what would happen if respondents prevailed today. We therefore have a clear question about which institution, a legislature or a court, is relatively more competent to deal with an emerging issue as to which facts currently unknown could be dispositive. ”

“ The final argument under the Equal Protection Clause is that Washington has singled out petitioner for special treatment by denying him the procedural safeguards the law affords others to insure an unbiased grand jury. But this reasoning proceeds on the wholly unsupported assumption that such procedures have been required in Washington in all other cases. [5] Moreover, it is contrary to the underlying finding of the Superior Court, in denying the motion to dismiss the indictment, that the grand jurors were lawfully selected and instructed. ”

“ But as the eminence which fits a man for the high station is not attained until past the middle period of life, the changes are necessarily somewhat rapid. Washington in his Presidency of eight years nominated, for a Court of six members, eleven judges who served, besides one who declined and one who was rejected. ”