Title: Congress and the Appellate Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court
Abstract: A DEMOCRATIC government such as ours, based upon the theory 1'1 of popular sovereignty, presents many curious political phenomena.For example: in order to insure a proper balance of the powers, it has been necessary for the Supreme Court to assume the onerous task of passing upon the constitutionality of congressional legislation.It is unfortunate, but necessary, that the Court be obliged to exercise this power of judicial review at a time when the entire country is suffering from the effects of a severe and sustained economic depression.It is unfortunate, too, that the legislation under judicial examination should involve questions of great economic, social, and political consequence.How much simpler it would be for the personnel of the Court if they could shirk this duty, and by their evasion avoid the censure and criticism which seems of necessity to follow any decision involving momentous issues.That the Court has had the courage to see its duty and to discharge it, is a factor which has contributed in no small measure to the success of our experiment in "government by the people"-and it was an "experiment" at the time our Federal Constitution was drafted.Today, whether one feels more or less kindly toward the Supreme Court is apt to depend upon whether one is a proponent or an opponent of the New Deal.At a White House press conference, held four days after the NIRA was invalidated by a unanimous Court, 1 President Roosevelt was reported to have termed the Schechter decision the most important rendered since that in the Dred Scott case 2 in I 8 57.The Washington correspondent for The New York Times reported that: "The right of the government to regulate nation-wide economic and social conditions in the United States was made the paramount political issue by President Roosevelt today.He thrust forward the problem which is expected to be fought on the field of the 1936 elections when . . . he said that the implications of the Supreme Court's NRA decision deprived the government of all control over economic and social conditions, by interpretation of