Gentle Rule

As an epilog to the LaFollette campaign against the Supreme Court, C. William Ramseyer, U. S. Congressman from Iowa, asked the Legislative Reference Bureau of the Library of Congress for statistics:

Number of acts passed by 68 Congresses--approximately 50,000; number of acts having a public interest--29,787; number declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court--49. Forty-nine is less than 1/6 of 1% of 29,787.

The number of acts passed by State Legislatures defies statistical powers. Up to 1922, of this innumerable host, 405 have been invalidated by the Court. Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, Idaho, Wyoming have never passed an unconstitutional law. Kentucky (aged 132 years), Oklahoma (aged 18), Louisiana (aged 113), New York (aged 136--under the Constitution) have had, respectively, 28, 26, 25, 24 snubs from the Court.