The Editor’s Bag
APPEALS TO THE SUPREME COURT HE measures suggested by President Taft for the relief of the over
burdened docket of the United States Supreme Court are not altogether new, for the need of some such remedies was perceived two years ago by the Amer
ican Bar Association's special committee investigating the delays and unneces
sary cost of litigation. The committee Said in its first report 2-‘ i
involving fundamental legal rights, and not simply that of a court of final resort for the consideration of appealsfrom federal and state courts. Any step tending to increase the dignity of the Court in the popular estimation should be welcomed, and its business should be
expedited not solely for the benefit of litigants but‘ to afford a salutary example to all the other courts of the land. The American Bar Association has endorsed measures now pending in Congress which are framed upon the
The railroad legislation which has been adopted by Congress will throw upon the Supreme Court a great amount of additional work. Even now its docket is overcrowded. We have to rely upon that Court for the unifonnity of our commercial law. but the pressure of business is such that it grants a cem'omn' to review the decisions of the Circuit Courts of Appeals very reluctantly, and dismisses many cases which do come before it on the ground that only questions of fact are involved, where formerly the cause would have been heard upon the merits.
exercise and which ought not to be shifted anywhere else. They are also
There is possibly a popular tendency to exaggerate somewhat the hardship
in harmony with the approved tendency of recent legislation to deny to litigants more than a single appeal. It would
imposed by the present arrears of the work of the Supreme Court, but wholly apart from the consideration of in
not of course be advisable to restrict the number of appeals to one under all circumstances, and the President does
convenience, the work of the Court should be arranged as far as possible in accordance with its legitimate func
not go so far as that, but generally a
tion in relation to the judicial machinery
wise to curtail the powers of the Supreme Court to review the decisions of the Circuit Courts of Appeals when it can thereby be relieved of the consideration
of the country, which is the function
of a supreme tribunal interpreting the Constitution and handling only business lkcpom of Am. Bar Ass‘n. vol.
p. 547.
principle that no inan should in all cases have an appeal to the Supreme Court as a matter of right, and its most distinguished member has emphasized the same principle in his latest Message.
His recommendations contemplate giv ing to the Circuit Courts of Appeals the responsible authority which they should
single appeal is amply suflicient to protect all rights of the parties, and it is
of eighty cases annually.
