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BIX
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
AUGUST 3, 1957,
Catholic 'lineman a, page
EDITED BY MRS. ERNEST DINKINS
DIOCESAN COUNCILS OF CATHOLIC WOMEN
The Committee On Legislation Is One Of
MCI
! (By Mrs. J. S. Correll,
National Vice Chairman)
GOAL OF THE LEGISLA
TION COMMITTEE: Every Cath-
>lic woman better informed and
nterested in legislation and good
government — the basis for this
n an informed registered voter.
THE PURPOSE OF THIS
COMMITTEE: To be non-parti
san and non-political, but inter
ested and determined that Cath
olic women develop a “Catholic
nind” with which to evaluate
ixisting social problems and pro-
oosed legislation. This committee
'is basically a STUDY committee
:hat as Catholics we may be well
informed.
DATE OF ORIGIN OF THIS
NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Com
mittee on Legislation was estab
lished at the National level in
'February, 1951, prior to that time,
however, many Dioceses through
out the country had this commit
tee already in operation. At pres
ent there are approximately 65
Diocesan Legislation Committees
functioning within the Council
out of a possible 98 affiliated!
Dioceses.
MRS. ANDREW P. BACKUS
National Chairman, Commitiee
of Legislation, National Council
of Catholic Women ,
MONTHLY MESSAGE which
carries the National Committee
on Legislation Study suggestion
for the year. — The Judicial
I Power: Our Supreme Court —
, When you have read this, per-
\\ HO IS INTERESTED IN h aps you will say “this is far re-
■_,E>_tISLATION? Every Catholic j moved from me, or it is too con-
woman no matter what her vo-1 troversial a matter” — in the
nation must necessarily interest ], ght of National Committee
aerself m this- committee — this P i annin g, we would hope that
committee is not “high flown.” [ many of our 65 or more Legisla .
One need not be a political j +jon Chairmen in the Dioceses of
science major to be interested — j the United States would adopt as
every level of life today is affect-! a part of their program for the
sd in one way or another by leg
islation of some kind.
WHERE DO LOCAL COM-1 will know a bit of the history of
VHTTEES FIND A PLAN TO ' our Supreme Court. In past years
FOLLOW? Printed below is the'the National Committee has dealt
Committee on Legislation page'with the Natural Law, Our
MISS IRMA PIEPHO
Administrative Assistant, NCCW
Staff Consultant, Committee on
Legislation
may, from time to time, ordain
and establish.”
That was conceived the highest
Court of the land —- a judicial
power that under Chief Justice
John Marshall, who served from
1801 to 1835, became a living
thing. But the Supreme Court,
while provided for in the Con
stitution, did not spring full
blown from the wording of that
instrument. The organization of
the Court was left entirely up
to Congress. In 1789 Congress
passed the Judiciary act, provid-
year, at least the reading of this j ing for the organization of the
page, so that their committees J Supreme Court, establishing in
ferior and circuit courts, and in
: r o m the August-September
“Save With Safety”
Each Account Insured
to $10,000 by an
Agency of the U. S.
Government.
Accounts Opened in
Person or By Mail
STANDARD
FEDERAL
Savings and Loan Ass'n.
43 Broad St., N. W„ Grant Bldg.
J. L. R. Boyd, Sec'y and Atty.
ATLANTA, GA.
American Constitution and Bill
of Rights: and The National
Budget, A blueprint of the Dem
ocratic Process. At first glance
these pages may have seemed
too far away too, but what is
dearer to us than our personal
freedom which in effect is based
on our Constitution: and what is
more down to earth to any wo
man than a budget — we all
either live on a budget, or are
constantly striving to “make ends
meet without one.”
THE JUDICIAL POWER: OUR
SUPREME COURT: “TO FORM
A MORE PERFECT UNION"
Realizing through past strug
gles that where there is no law
there is no liberty, the framers
of the United States Constitu
tion made provision to supple
ment the Legislative and Execu-
a general way, establishing the
procedure of these courts. Chang
es were made to the Judiciary
Act by the Congressional Act of
1911 and a revision in 1948. In
the federal government we have
now the Supreme Court, eleven
circuit courts of appeals, and
eighty-seven district courts. Each
of the forty-eight States has at
least one district court and the
States of larger population have
several.
It is interesting to note that
the Court as now composed, con
sists of the Chief Justice and
eight Associate Justices. The
number was not always “nine.”
In 1787 is started at six; in the
intervening period until 1869 it
varied from five to ten; in 1869
it reached nine for the second
time, and there it has stayed. No
particular number of Justices is
prescribed by the Constitution.
The Congress has complete au
thority to determine the number,
tive branches of our government; Qne advantage of the small group
w/h a Judiciary. In the nature j is thg abilit to work easily to _
of things there would be in the| gether _ Xhat the Court does not
future, as there had been in the always achieve unanimitv is per -
past as James Madison phrased | haps a good thing . By the dissent _
it, he difficulty that ‘you must mg opinions are brought out the
tirst enable the government to
control the governed: and in the
next place oblige it to control
itself.” In Article III, Section I
of the Constitution, therefore,
was the provision that the third
branch of our government, the!
Judicial power, “shall be vested j ^ aymen *° know that all Judg-
in one supreme court, and in such j es of the Court do not have pre
inferior courts as the Congress'Court judicial training. They
lines of argument, of delibera
tion and of compromise leading |
to the final results. That the!
Judges’ background and v i ,e w- j
point is important is obvious. It j
may be something of a surprise 1
MRS. F. P. ROSSMAN
Diocesan Chairman, Pro-Tem,
Ailanla Diocesan Council of
Catholic Women
come from varied pursuits of
life, from many sections of the
country and have diverse beliefs
and social backgrounds. Many
Bar Associations are pressing for
more judicial pre-Court training
for the appointees, pointing out
that the great volume of work
puts excessive pressure on a man
without such judicial back
ground. About 1400 . cases a year
are presented to the Court; all
of these must be looked into,
but only about 200 cases are heard
and decided. The Court’s decis
ions, combining philosophy as
well as law and statesmanship,
have in recent years attracted the
attention of the nation by their
far-reaching implications.
The way in which the Court
works is worth consideration.
The Constitution is a written
document and against the legis
lation adopted by the Legislative
branch, may be tested. The test
ing is done by the Judges through
decisions in lawsuits, quite often
private lawsuits in which the
United States is not a party.
The Constitution as written con
tains phrases which are vague
and do not specifically cover
certain situations. So the Court
tests and determines the con
stitutional power with reference
to a given situation. Thus are set
up precedents which form a
backlog of the Court’s opinions.
The precedents cover interpre
tations of many powers of Con
gress under the Constitution and
highlight many political and ec
onomic problems brought to the
Court. The interpretations come
after statutes have been passed
by the Legislative branch and
they have.' been put into action.
The province of the Court is
to interpret the Constitution and
the statutes, and if the statute
is inconsistent with the Constitu
tion, the Constitution prevails.
Thus, like a satellite, the Consti
tution is surrounded by a body
of decisions which explain, dis
tinguish and define its phrases in
different situations.
Section 2 of Article HI of the
Constitution outlines the matters
to which the judicial power of
the Supreme Court shall extend.
In brief, the Supreme Court has
original jurisdiction in contro
versies between the States; has
appellate jurisdiction over all
the lesser federal courts, and has
appellate jurisdiction over State
courts in matters covering federal
questions. Early in our -history
and in the history of the Court
was the McCulloch vs. Maryland
decision holding the supremacy
of the national government as
against State governments. No
where in the Constitution are
there any restrictions which
would prevent its receiving a
fair interpretation. While these
interpretations have changed
somewhat the meaning of the
oath to support the Constitution
taken by members of Congress
and State legislatures, the idea
expressed in Article VI of the
Constitution has not changed:
“This constitution, and the laws
of the United States, which shall
be made in pursuance thereof—
shall be the supreme law of the
land; . . .”
DOROTHY K. CORRELL
(Mrs. John S.), Vice Chair
man.
MARION F. BACKUS (Mrs,
Andrew P.), Chairman.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Constitution of the United
States of America, Government
Printing Office, Washington 21,
D.C. 10 cents.
“The Supreme Court in Tran
sition” — Philip Yeager and John
Stark. New York Times Maga*
zine Section, Sunday, March 10,
1957.
“Historic Opinions of the Unit-
(Continued on Page 7)
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