mmni was MINNEAPOLIS, MINN., SUNDAY, MARCH 27, 1932. SUPREME TUSTICES HUMANIZING COURT Bound by Tradition, Set Apart by Necessity, Highest Tribun al Brings New Angle to Work. By ORLIN FOLWICK. nET APART from their fellow men by the tradi- tions of their calling, seven men who play an impor tant part in the affairs of Minnesota are demonstrating that the administration of justice can be a very human business. Faced with popular miscon ceptions of their position in me, tnese seven men jus tices of the state supreme court are constantly endeav oring to be regarded as ordi nary, human men. From the time that justice was portrayed as blindly holding the affairs of her fellow men in the scales, judges have been thrust apart from other men. They have been lifted to new planes, and their high benches m the courtrooms have symbolized the public re gard of their business. But in the newer order of things, a supreme court jus tice wants nothing more than the common fellowship in which other men participate, ro longer noes a supreme court justice set himself entirely apart, to pore over for gotten laws and search dusty tomes for precedent and set down opinions that only the legally trained can under stand. The public, however, fails to understand. A judge is a judge, year in and year out. He is an awesome being. lo break down such a conception, the supreme court of Minnesota has become a bus iness" institution. Its mem bers are hard working men, beginning their tasks at dawn and finishing long after the last ray of the setting sun has been glinted in the capi-tol windows. And in making the administration of law a business, these justices have sought to humanize their tasks and keep apace of their fellow men. Beyond an occasional mention in the newspapers, these men are little known to the public. Their field is in the law, and the public cares little for the law. Nevertheless, the public calls upon them to settle its most important problems. Quickly and impartially they respond. On the Minnesota supreme bench are Samuel B. Wilson, chief justice; Andrew Holt, associate, who has been there since 1912; Clifford L. Hilton, associate. Charles M. Loring, associate; I. M. 01-nen, associate, and Royal A. Stone, associate. w, ' ' 4 , " " a ' ' ' ''''& I ' ' A ' V ' ' t i A ' - ,tuM4AyMm,f'' - rJx tsp dJ -v ; - ; 1 T ' . ! Iiilllf IBN x, . A )-'' mmmmk mmmm ; y x ; ' i & iiiiiiai i- ' ', - i K" - A taw f ' - ' '"' . i ' i0mmm I "- h f I I : ' BllliliS i , ' v, v t m ' a ' ' . 1 ; - )'.' ' ' " . ' ; . n ' ' k ' , ' i m , l r , i - A ' ' ' , y , ' : 'i ' i - , VV; y I ; ' ' ' : ', ' , VWfa ;'-'! ' " ' m . s . - m A ; ' ' f" " ' frJ Jj 7f" 'tf '" Ammmm iiiiiiiiiiiiiw w pmwmmimiwimwwwiwh Differ From Othert Holding Public Offiee. Theirs is one of the most sacred duties entrusted to the state and their conduct is bound by iron-clad rules. It Is for them to decide who is riffht and who wrong. Im partial they must be above all For that reason, their life and dailv activities are dif ferent from others who hold public office. They must set themselves apart and regard the problems of others coldly and seeminelv without feel ing. What they do in settling those problems always has two reactions one, the feel ing of gratitude of the win . ning party and the other i feeling that justice was not served to him who lost. Although elected to this office, the supreme court judges 1 cannot try to ingratiate tnem selves with the voters by mairnificent gestures, broad nolitical sweeps or even small favors. They cannot be politicians. Whatever their favors or gestures, they come from the stern, unyielding law and are the same in, al cases. To maintain this, standard the men who sit as the state' highest tribunal must keep loof from their fellow men. Their appearance in public is rare. Much as they might like to, they do not participate in public affairs. They voice no convictions or beliefs. Many a friendship springs up between the court and those who come before it, but it utavs on a plane of strict formality. There is no social mingling between hs judges. and attorneys. The judges never see the litigants and consider only the cold facts of the matter before them. In other words, these judges must impose upon themselves almost a monastic restriction, demanding seclusion and whole-hearted devotion to the furtherance of justice. It is expected of them by the public which has placed its faith in them. To abandon any of the iron-clad rules would be to invite distrust. Court More Human Than Ever in Past. Whatever sequestration is imposed on a supreme court judge, he clings tenaciously to those privileges that keep him in contact with life about him. "The court is affected by the human side of its work,1 explains Chief Justice Wilson. "It is more human now than it ever has been. It is freer in interpretation of constitutional questions. We feel the constitution is flexible, that it is an instrument' of the people, and as such must meet all conditions of modern develop ment. We feel we have the (Photo b7 Lynn McKec, Tribune 8UU Photographer.) These seven men , comprise Minnesota s highest tribunal sitting in Judgment on decisions of the lower courts and dispensing justice as the court of last resort. Left to right, they are: Justice I. M. Olson, Justice Royal A. Stone, Justice Andrew Holt, Chief Justice Samuel B. Wilson, Justice Homer D. Dibell, Justice Clifford L. Hilton and Justice Charles Loring. - liberty to make it fit new conditions instead of binding our selves and it to precedent. "Likewise, the court has given greater recognition to the flexibility of the common law. Changing conditions have had to be met, and where the courts were reluctant to apply its flexibilities, they now take a liberal interpretation." . The long hours that the judges fix as their work day belie the popular conception of judicial work. A work day that begins at 7 or 8 a. m. means constant application until 5:30 and 6:30 p. m., with but a half hour off for lunch. Court Session Opens at 10 A. M. The time before 10 a. m. is spent studying cases they have heard in argument. Each one of the judges is assigned to study the various phases of a case and his first act of the day is to read over State's Chief Justice v mi Althaumh km It "hott" of ihm Minntftm tuprtm court, Chi JntUrm Wilmn it ant of iff harJt Worktrt. In addition to odmin itttring tht affair of tho court, Judga Wilton tptndt tight kws day pondoring the bsfii fSfum 5 M Ft fmW the documents submitted by opposing attorneys. To prove their points, the attorneys cite decisions of other courts in similar cases, hoping to convince the court that their position is right. If there were only one set of such decisions submitted, the task would be simple. But each attorney digs u.p decisions to fit his argument, and for every case the -court hears, there are opposite de cisions by various courts, From them, the justices must make their own decision. In the course of a year, the iudees read thousands of such legal rulings. At five minutes to ten, George Higgins, the marshal, walks along the corridor and informs the court that they must get ready to appear on the bench. Law books and briefs are laid down. The judges don Jong, macK now- me robes and step into the court ante room. Promptly at one minute to 0. they file to their places and at 10 o'clock are ready to hear arguments The cases are set with clock-like regulation. Since each litigant appealing to the supreme court must give no- lce iof his intention, the court prepares a calendar, which is followed rigidly, Arguments in one case may take a half hour, and the next is called for 10 :30 a. m. Coun sel in that case must be ready So the court moves until noon when a recess is called for he day. - Pending Cases Are Discussed in Afternoon After lunch, which usually takes a half hour, the judges return from their secluded offices. There, they study some more on the cases lef for the court session. During the afternoon, the judgei consult with each other, Facts are laid before the en tire group, the prevailing legal opinions are cited and read from both sides of the case and i the merits dis cussed. The judges vote their opin ion on the issues in the case The majority vote becomes the opinion of the court, a! though at times, they split in the opinion as close as four to three. The justice mos rant conviction of the crimes I the problems of others, some he majority opinion, and the rest write dissenting opinions setting forth their reasons or believing differently from he majority. There never is any feeling involved in these splits. Theirs is the difficult prob- em of administering justice, and the difference of opinion develops over interpretation of the law. Long years of ex perience with the law have taught them to respect op posing opinions, to the point that they try at times to convince each other of the law's meaning after a case has been settled. Each Friday, the court makes public its decisions of he week, sending copies of s majority and dissenting opinions to the attorneys in a case as well as filing a document for the permanent record. The constant application to duty has given the Minnesota supreme court a national reputation for speed. Al- hough it handles a large volume of appeals, it keeps up with the influx of new cases, regardless or the xnot- y problems presented. Its decisions come down sooner after a case has been argued han nearly all the rest of the state supreme courts. gained when it established courts of justice." Passes on Some , 400 Cases a Year. In the course of a year, it hears and decides 400 cases. In addition, it acts in some 75 emergency situations requir ing quick decisions. v ith al most clock-like regularity, it decides two cases a day and 14 a week during the time the court is in session. It has but little criminal work, in which defendants convicted of crimes appeal for new trials or an order setting aside the verdict. About 25 such cases come before the court during the year. In the last eight years, the supreme court has heard such pleas in 193 cases. It affirmed the convictions in 153 of theni, granted new trials in 35 and in only five did it upset the findings of the lower court, and in those cases, it found that the facts submitted by the prosecutor did not war charged. Proceeding in a leisurely way, albeit the court handles a great deal of litigation, it rarely is called upon to act in emergency cases. Once in a while an excited attorney will get a judge out of bed at night in an effort to obtain a court order or injunction. But these efforts are usu ally futile. In one instance, however, the court did grant an emer of the judges look to other fields for recreation during their idle moments. Judge Holt is a fisherman. Each summer, during adjournment of the court, he wanders from lake to lake in northern Minnesota, pitting his skill agamst wary bass and muskellunge. "It's just great recreation, that's all," Judge Holt will comment. "There are some great lakes in Minnesota, but gency order, but by the time the fishingr in many piaces s Found Tribunal's Work Far Behind This condition brought through Justice stepped it was able to handle the case, it had been settled. A taxicab firm in Minneapolis was virtu ally ruled off the streets by a city council order. Some 60 cabs were denied the privilege of cruising the streets. The firm s attorney called upon Judge Wilson for a re straining order. Judge Wil son granted as much speed as was possible and set a hearing for two days later. By that time, however, the difficulties had been threshed out. Judges Have Varied Recreations. Devoting their work days to this difficult analysis of has been about largely the vigor of Chief Wilson. When he on the bench nine years ago, he found the court years behind in its decisions. Immediately, he organized the work and through co-op eration of the other mem bers, who agreed upon the long days,-gradually reduced the amount of time between arguments and decisions until now, the court is prepared to decide a case within a week if there should be such a need. "A court must face and overcome the same prob lems as a private business," Justice Wilson comments. "If it lags and gets behind in its work, its efficiency is re duced and the public it is elected to serve does not get btern Looking, But Human Hs ff - ' - -, , 5jTi . Ua, ' 1 F1 . - ? U er epfs J I "A ItoliM Uh Un s&t; sziieslft Itrxic for. which it ha Tfc look tltrn. thft two tuprtmt court juitic: but they're ...... lumtiem Olitn. on tht Uft, lihtt to filh during hit vac uiJL.7 JuMiirm I.nrino. on tht ritht. takei hand in Amtrican Logion mftairi. Thty.aro tht mo$t rteant additions to tha Minnttota msmnas oomru not what it used to be. Never theless, I'm satisfied if I can fool a few of them during the day." To Judge Dibell, recreation from a day with the law is to pursue more law. He teaches law at the University of Min. nesota and the St. Paul Col lege of Law. That is an avoca tion he can follow the year, around. Judge Wilson is a gentle man farmer when not a jurist He owns several farms near Mankato and devotes his spare time to developing Guernsey" cows. This avocation came upon him by force, as it were. He ; acquired the property some 20 years ago and became interested in Guernsey cattle. As a lawyer in Mankato, he found the hobby an interest ing digression and found con siderable pleasure in puttering around the farm upon which he lived as a boy.' His cattle won prizes for butterf at. One became a lead- in her class. Others de veloped into leaders among the 10 highest in their respective classes. Anxious to maintain the lead, he found his farms growing in size and number. "Cattle breeding gets into your blood, and while I make no pretense at being a farmer rarely ever wearing .overalls I find now that I cannot give up my hobby," Judge Wilson explains. "I had no intention of operating great farms when I started, but in spite of that, my herds mad a name for themselves." His cattle are developed from the Cherub and May; Rose blood-lines of the Guernsey breed. The other judges find varying means of recreation. Judge Hilton travels during his vacations, Judge Stone retires to his summer cottage on the St. Croix river, Judge Loring is interested in the American Legion, and Judga Olsen goes liahing occasion ally. tJ
