Page:State Documents on Federal Relations.djvu/63

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VIRGINIA ON THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY
5

24. Reply of the General Assembly of Virginia to Pennsylvania.

January 26, 1810.

The foregoing resolutions of Pennsylvania were not concurred in by a single State. On the contrary the Legislatures of at least eleven States passed resolutions of disapproval, as follows: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee. See Journals of the Senate and House of Pennsylvania, for 1809–1812; Ames, Proposed Amendments, 160, notes, 329. The most elaborate of these replies came from Virginia. It is of unusual interest owing to both the previous and subsequent action of Virginia relative to the jurisdiction of the Federal Government.

The committee, to whom was referred the communication of the governor of Pennsylvania, covering certain resolutions of the legislature of that state, proposing an amendment to the constitution of the United States, by the appointment of an impartial tribunal to decide disputes between the state and federal judiciary, have had the same under their consideration, and are of opinion that a tribunal is already provided by the constitution of the United States, to wit: the Supreme Court, more eminently qualified from their habits and duties, from the mode of their selection, and from the tenure of their offices, to decide the disputes aforesaid in an enlightened and impartial manner, than any other tribunal which could be erected.

The members of the Supreme Court are selected from those in the United States who are most celebrated for virtue and legal learning; not at the will of a singal individual, but by the concurrent wishes of the President and Senate of the United States, they will therefore have no local prejudices and partialities.

The duties they have to perform lead them necessarily to the most enlarged and accurate acquaintance with the jurisdiction of the federal and several state courts together, and with the admirable symmetry of our government.

The tenure of their offices enables them to pronounce the sound and correct opinions they may have formed, without fear, favor, or partiality.

The amendment to the constitution proposed by Pennsylvania seems to be founded upon the idea that the federal judiciary will,