Highest's Holiday

Last week the Supreme Court of the U. S. adjourned its 1931 term for the summer. So great was the excitement at the House and Senate ends of the Capitol that little public notice was taken when the highest tribunal quietly vacated its chamber in the building's centre. It will reassemble for its 1932 term Oct. 3. Box score for the court's 1931 term:

Cases put on docket ....... 1,023

Cases disposed of ....... 884

Cases carried over ....... 139

During its term the court denied modification of the packers' anti-trust Consent Decree; sustained Oklahoma's oil proration law; voided a Texas law designed to bar Negroes from Democratic primaries; upset reapportionment legislation in Missouri, Minnesota and New York; approved the jailing of Alphonse Capone and the fining of Harry M. Blackmer, oil runaway, for contempt of court (see p. 12); invalidated Oklahoma's law to limit ice dealers by "convenience & necessity" license; denied the Senate's right to oust George Otis Smith from the Federal Power Commission after sending his confirmed nomination back to the President.

Before going on a holiday the court last week decided:

P: To review the case of seven Negroes convicted at Scottsboro, Ala. of raping two white girls and sentenced to death (TIME, JUNE 22). Defense attorneys claimed their clients were denied their constitutional rights and were tried amid scenes of mob passion under military guard by an all-white jury before a biased judge. Because this case has been befogged by Communist agitation, the Supreme Court was under special guard last week. The grant of a review will automatically save the young blackamoors from execution June 24, postponing their fatal day at least until after Oct. 10 when the court will hear argument between defense counsel and the Attorney General of Alabama.

P: To relieve the President of hasty trips to the Capitol to sign bills the last day of an expiring Congress. For a century Presidents have been confused as to their Constitutional time-limit under such circumstances. To play safe they went to the President's room outside the Senate chamber and there raced through last-minute measures passed before noon on March 4. President Hoover signed a minor claim bill on March 5, 1931. The Supreme Court held this perfectly legal, ruling that a President has ten days in which to act on legislation after a Congress ceases to exist, just as he has after an adjournment.

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