430 WRIGHT— UNDERSTANDINGS CONCERNING 



Thus, Congressmen and Senators would not be violating their oaths 

 to support the Constitution if, honestly believing the decision erro- 

 neous, they repassed a statute which had just been declared un- 

 constitutional nor would the President if he signed it. Likewise 

 the treaty power and the President are not legally bound to fol- 

 low judicial decisions as to the scope of their powers in conducting 

 foreign relations and as we have seen foreign nations are entitled 

 to regard the statements of the President on the subject as practi- 

 cally authoritative. However, it is believed that the other organs 

 of government ought to regard the interpretation of law by the 

 Supreme Court as final and to be departed from only in extreme 

 cases. ^^ But adherence to this understanding implies acceptance 

 by the court of its converse, namely, that in making decisions on 

 constitutional questions affecting the competence of independent 

 organs, the court must carefully weigh the opinions of these de- 

 partments and follow them if possible. This understanding has 

 been accepted by the court in its repeated assertion that it will 

 hold the view of the political departments, as evidenced through the 

 formal conclusion of a statute or treaty, in the highest respect and 

 will not regard such acts as unconstitutional unless the case is 

 clear.^^ 



251. Acts of the President. 



The President, as well as the courts, may need the cooperation 

 of other organs in order to make his acts effective. In the per- 

 formance of political acts within his power, the courts have con- 

 sidered themselves bound to give effect to his decisions. Thus the 

 courts have held themselves bound to give effect to his decisions as 

 to which of two contending governments in a state of the Union is 

 legitimate, as to whether the government in a state is republican in 

 form, as to the extent of American territory, as to the existence of 

 a contingency requiring a calling forth of the militia, as to the 

 existence of civil war in the United States, as to the condition of 



22 The President and Congress may, of course, adhere to stricter canons 

 of constitutional interpretation than the court. Wright, Col. L. R., 20: 140; 

 Willoughby, op. cit., p. 1306; Taft, op. cit., p. 136; Finley-Sanderson, op. cit., 

 p. 218; Cushman, Minn. Law Rev., 4: 275. 



23 Willoughby, op. cit., p. 20. 



