Holmes

Peckham

Brown

Copyright by Clinedinst.

Harlan

Brewer

C. J. Fuller THE JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT.

White

McKenna

Day

sessions, and jurisdiction.

190. The Supreme Court consists of one chief Organization, justice and eight associate justices appointed by the President. Every year at Washington the court holds a long session lasting from October to late the next spring. It tries two kinds of cases: those that are begun in this court, including cases in which the states of the Union are parties and cases affecting our representatives abroad. The second kind includes cases brought from one of the lower national courts or cases involving national law which have been begun in state courts, but only very important cases may be appealed from these lower courts to the Supreme Court.

courts, attor

191. Inferior National Courts. The least important cases are tried first in the district courts of which there are from one to four in each state. To District each district, in addition to the United States judge, neys, and is assigned a district attorney, who represents the marshals. United States in all suits tried in national courts within his district, and a marshal, who executes the decisions of the United States courts and who may call out a posse or ask aid from the President in the performance of his duties.

courts and

The circuit court judges, of whom there are twenty-seven assigned to the nine circuits into which this country is divided, try cases that do not come Circuit up for the first time in either the Supreme Court or the district courts. The circuit courts of appeals, on the other hand, do not try any cases unless they have been brought first in either the district or circuit courts and have not been settled finally.

circuit courts of appeals.

TEXT QUESTIONS

1. How has the Supreme Court greatly influenced our national government through its interpretation of the Constitution?

2. How do the courts interpret the Constitution? 3. What series of national courts are there? judges for these courts selected?

4. What cases may be tried in national courts ?

How are the

5. What is the difference between the two kinds of cases tried by the Supreme Court?

6. Explain the meaning of the following expressions: "interpret the Constitution" (§ 186), "law is declared unconstitutional" (§ 187).

SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS

1. Is it better to appoint judges for good behavior than for terms of a definite length?

2. Has the Supreme Court too much power over our system of government?

3. What has been the influence of the Supreme Court decisions? (Scribner's Magazine, XXXIII (1903), pp. 275-283.)

4. In what circuit do we live? What states are included in it? 5. What are the limits of this district? Where is the court held? 6. Fill out the following table:

CHAPTER XVII

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

terests which must be

192. The Importance of our Foreign Interests. — Foreign inBecause the state and local governments do so much more for us than is done by the national government, cared for. some people refer to the government of the United States as our government for foreign affairs. While this is very far from being true, it certainly is the case that many of the most essential duties of Congress and of the President and his advisers deal with international relations. Among these are the topics of war and peace, the making of treaties, and the farreaching subject of foreign commerce. To maintain our position as one of the greatest of the powers, to preserve our dignity and honor at all hazards yet keeping peace with all the world, to aid in the extension of civilization, to protect and promote the interests of America and her citizens in all parts of the globe- these are tasks of no little difficulty and importance.

193. The Waging of War. When the Constitution was adopted, no one thought of granting war powers

War powers of Congress

and the

to the states, and in fact the states were specifically President. forbidden to keep troops or ships of war in time of peace or to engage in war unless actually invaded. Congress is permitted to declare war, although the

185

of war.

President as commander in chief of the army and navy may provoke hostilities by an invasion of a foreign country. Congress alone, however, can raise an army, create a navy, maintain the militia, and make rules for the regulation of the land and naval Declarations forces. War is not ordinarily carried on between civilized nations without a formal declaration from one or the other that "a state of war exists" between them. Our greatest wars, those of the Revolution. and of Secession, have not required such a statement, because at the opening of each conflict one of the parties to the struggle was not recognized as a -nation. In the minor conflicts the declaration of war has always been made by the United States.

Why we have had a small army.

Training of army officers.

194. The American Army. - As we have not been surrounded by powerful nations, it has not been found necessary to maintain a vast military establishment such as exists in every European country. Furthermore, public sentiment has compelled Congress to make our army as small as possible, since we have to-day the same dread of military despotism that made our forefathers insert in the Constitution the clause which denied to Congress the power to vote money for an army for a longer period than two years. This feeling showed itself in the law which was in force until 1898, that the regular army should not contain more than twenty-seven thousand enlisted The number is, however, now much larger. Many officers are trained at our very excellent military academy at West Point, New York, appointments of cadets to the academy being made by the President and members of Congress.

men.