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Constitutional Law in 1925–1926: The Constitutional Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States in the October Term, 1925

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Robert E. Cushman
Robert E. Cushman
Affiliation:
Cornell University
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Extract

The Supreme Court of the United States during its 1925 term seems to have taken a vacation from the solution of major constitutional problems. Its activities provided very little newspaper copy. Most of the more important decisions could have been pretty accurately forecast upon the basis of previous adjudications, while the constitutional questions raised which could be deemed in any sense novel related to more or less technical or trivial matters. A considerable number of the more interesting cases dealt merely with matters of statutory construction and did not present constitutional issues at all. This comparative dullness of the judicial year's work is in sharp contrast with the achievements of the preceding term of 1924, in which at least six cases of genuinely first-rate importance were decided; while the Court has begun its 1926 term by handing down its epoch-making decision in the Myers case relating to the President's power of removal, and has followed it by the far-reaching ruling in the municipal zoning law case. This absence of judicial fireworks in the 1925 term may well serve to emphasize two facts sometimes overlooked in an appraisal of the work of the Supreme Court. The first is that in any judicial year an overwhelming proportion of the work of that tribunal is and must necessarily be of a humdrum and inconspicuous variety; useful and important in the sense that technical, detailed, and even trivial questions need to be answered authoritatively, but certainly not spectacular.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , February 1927 , pp. 71 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1927

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References

1 Ex parte Grossman, 267 U. S. 87 (sustaining the President's power to punish for contempt); Michaelson v. United States, 266 U. S. 42 (upholding jury trial requirement in cases of criminal contempt); Carroll v. United States, 267 U. S. 132 (search and seizure case); Gitlow v. New York, 268 U. S. 652 (upholding New York criminal anarchy statute); Pierce v. Society of Sisters of Holy Name, 268 U. S. 510 (Oregon school law case); Frick v. Pennsylvania, 268 U. S. 473 (extra-territorial inheritance taxation by states). All of these are commented on in the Review, vol. 20, p. 80 et seq.

2 Decided October 25, 1926.

3 Decided November 22, 1926.

4 Houston, E. & W. T. R. Co. v. United States, 234 U. S. 342.

5 271 U. S. 153.

6 270 U. S. 287.

7 266 U. S. 474. See comment in the Review, vol. 20, p. 83.

8 233 U. S. 16. See also General Railway Signal Co. v. Virginia, 246 U. S. 500 and York Mfg. Co. v. Colley, 247 U. S. 21.

9 269 U. S. 148.

10 See an excellent note on this case in 39 Harvard Law Review, 489.

11 Act of Feb. 28, 1920, 41 Stat. at L. 456.

12 271 U. S. 244.

13 Act of Feb. 19, 1903, 32 Stat. at L. 847.

14 270 U. S. 512.

15 266 U. S. 127. See comment in the Review, vol. 20, p. 81. Cases dealing with various aspects of the work of the Interstate Commerce Commission are Turner, D. & L. Lumber Co. v. C. M. & St. P. Ry. Co., 271 U. S. 259; Western Paper Makers' Chemical Co. v. United States, 271 U. S. 268; Patterson v. L. & N. R. Co. 269 U. S. 1. In Moore v. New York Cotton Exchange, 270 U. S. 593, it is held that the New York Cotton Exchange is not engaged in interstate commerce and therefore its refusal to allow the plaintiff to secure its quotations is not a violation of the Sherman Act.

16 269 U. S. 514.

17 Act of Oct. 3, 1917, 40 Stat. at L. 300.

18 11 Wall. 113.

19 259 U. S. 44.

20 Act of Aug. 24, 1921, 42 Stat. at L. 187.

21 269 U. S. 475.

22 Bailey v. Drexel Furniture. Co., 259 U. S. 20.

23 Note 19 supra.

24 271 U. S. 170.

25 Eisner v. Macomber, 252 U. S. 189, at page 207.

26 The following cases involving the construction of the federal income tax acts were decided by the Court: Keith v. Johnson, 271 U. S. 1; United States v. Mitchell, 271 U. S. 9; New York Life Insurance Co. v. Edwards, 271 U. S. 109; Burk-Waggoner Oil Assoc. v. Hopkins, 269 U. S. 110; Edwards v. Chile Copper Co., 270 U. S. 452. In Provost v. United States, 269 U. S. 443, it is held that loans of corporate stock to enable the borrower to complete a short sale and the subsequent return of the stock are subject to the stamp tax imposed under the War Revenue Act of 1917 upon all tales and transfers of stock.

27 269 U. S. 302.

28 New Jersey v. Sargent, 269 U. S. 328. The statute is that of June 10, 1920, 41 Stat. at L. 1063.

29 271 U. S. 528.

30 270 U. S. 59.

31 Grant Smith-Porter Ship Co. v. Rohde, 257 U. S. 469.

32 244 U. S. 205.

33 253 U. S. 149.

34 270 U. S. 9; 270 U. S. 36; 270 U. S. 44.

35 Section 33 of the Judicial Code as amended Aug. 23, 1916, 39 Stat. at L. 532.

36 National Prohibition Act, Oct. 28, 1919, sec. 28.

37 Tutun v. United States, 270 U. S. 568, holds that the circuit court of appeals may hear appeals from the lower courts in naturalization cases, since naturalization is a judicial function so that proceedings relating to it give rise to a “case” within the meaning of the court of appeals act. Cases of minor importance dealing with matters affecting the jurisdiction of the lower courts are Central Union Telephone Co. v. Edwardsville, 269 U. S. 190; Live Oak Water Users' Assoc. v. R. R. Commission of California, 269 U. S. 354; Venner v. M. C. R. Co., 271 U. S. 127; Independent Wireless Teleg. Co. v. Radio Corporation of America, 269 U. S. 459; Great Northern Ry. Co. v. Galbreath Cattle Co., 271 U. S. 99.

38 269 U. S. 36.

39 271 U. S. 354.

40 271 U. S. 323.

41 206 N. W. 532. See the Review, vol. 20, p. 595.

42 267 U. S. 132. See comment in the Review, vol. 20, p. 87.

43 269 U. S. 20.

44 Act of Dec. 17, 1914, 38 Stat. at L. 785 as later amended.

45 269 U. S. 93.

46 Act of May 20, 1918, 40 Stat. at L. 555.

47 253 U. S. 170.

48 271 U. S. 500.

49 269 U. S. 269.

50 271 U. S. 298.

51 Two minor cases arising under the Fifth Amendment are: United States ex rel. Hughes v. Grant, 271 U. S. 142 (due process in criminal procedure), and Old Dominion Land Co. v. United States, 269 U. S. 55 (determination of just compensation in eminent domain proceedings).

52 270 U. S. 215.

53 Joint Resolution of May 12, 1917, 40 Stat. at L. 75.

54 Executive Order of June 30, 1917.

55 271 U. S. 272.

56 269 U. S. 283.

57 Act of Oct. 6, 1917, 40 Stat. at L. 411.

58 269 U. S. 372.

59 271 U. S. 344.

60 Act of April 22, 1908, 35 Stat. at L. 65.

61 270 U. S. 402.

62 264 U. S. 504.

63 Adkins v. Children's Hospital, 201 U. S. 525.

64 Supra, note 62.

65 269 U. S. 385.

66 See note in 39 Harvard Law Review 871.

67 Atkin v. Kansas, 191 U. S. 207.

68 270 U. S. 230.

69 Supra, p. 84.

70 271 U. S. 577

71 270 U. S. 69.

72 270 U. S. 367.

73 Other cases involving due process in state taxation are: Browning v. Hooper, 269 U. S. 396 (special assessments), and Roberts & S. Co. v. Emmerson, 271 U. S. 50 (taxation of corporations).

74 266 U. S. 570. See comment in the Review, vol. 20, p. 104.

75 271 U. S. 583.

76 271 U. S. 23.

77 270 U. S. 587.

78 270 U. S. 424.

79 271 U. S. 40

80 271 U. S. 208.

81 270 U. S. 87.

82 Act. of Aug. 20, 1912, 37 Stat. at L. 315, and later amended.

83 271 U. S. 124.

84 Act of Feb. 28, 1920, 41 Stat. at L. 456.

85 270 U. S. 550.

86 271 U. S. 609.

87 270 U. S. 555.

88 269 U. S. 167.

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