Memoir of Roger Brooke Taney, LL.D.: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
From inside the book
Page 411
... the evils of a different practice . At the same time , the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government , upon vital questions affecting the whole people , is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court ...
... the evils of a different practice . At the same time , the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government , upon vital questions affecting the whole people , is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court ...
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administration Annapolis appointed Attorney-General authority Baltimore bank Brooke Cabinet Calvert County character Chief Justice Chief-Justice Taney Circuit Court citizens colonies Constitution decided decision declared defendant delivered deposits District doctrine Dred Scott duty election electors England ernment established executive exercise favor Federal Government Federal party Federalists feel Fort McHenry Frederick Frederick County friends George Cadwalader George Town habeas corpus honor House Jackson Judge judgment judicial jurisdiction jury knew lawyer legislation Legislature letter Marshall Maryland matter ment nations negro never offence opinion passed persons plaintiff plea in abatement political President principles proceedings provisions question R. B. TANEY race received regard respect Robert Brooke Roger Brooke Taney Senate slave slavery sovereignty speak statute supposed Supreme Court Taney's territory thought tion Treasury tribunal Union United vote Washington words writ of error writ of habeas
Popular passages
Page 579 - They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations ; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect ; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit.
Page 411 - At the same time the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court the instant they are made, in ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions, the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal.
Page 268 - To what purpose are powers limited, and to what purpose is that limitation committed to writing, if these limits may at any time be passed by those intended to be restrained ? The distinction between a government with limited and unlimited powers is abolished if those limits do not confine the persons on whom they are imposed, and if acts prohibited and acts allowed are of equal obligation.
Page 269 - Certainly all those who have framed written Constitutions contemplate them as forming the fundamental and paramount law of the nation, and consequently the theory of every such government must be that an act of the Legislature repugnant to the Constitution is void.
Page 632 - If any Person guilty of, or charged with treason, felony, or other high misdemeanor in any state, shall flee from Justice, and be found in any of the united states, he shall upon demand of the Governor or executive power, of the state from which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the state having jurisdiction of his offence.
Page 567 - The constitution vests the whole judicial power of the United States in one Supreme Court, and such inferior courts as congress shall, from time to time, ordain and establish.
Page 259 - It is inherent in the nature of sovereignty not to be amenable to the suit of an individual WITHOUT ITS CONSENT. This is the general sense, and the general practice of mankind; and the exemption, as one of the attributes of sovereignty, is now enjoyed by the government of every State in the Union.
Page 411 - ... forget the position assumed by some, that constitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court; nor do I deny that such decisions must be binding, in any case, upon the parties to a suit, as to the object of that suit, while they are also entitled to very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all other departments of the government. And while it is obviously possible that such...
Page 404 - Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South.
Page 547 - Government, and reserves and secures the same rights and privileges to the citizen; and as long as it continues to exist in its present form, it speaks not only in the same words, but with the same meaning and intent with which it spoke when it came from the hands of its framers, and was voted on and adopted by the people of the United States. Any other rule of construction would abrogate the judicial character of this court, and make it the mere reflex of the popular opinion or passion of the day.