e
power to regulate or tax the business or property of corporations.[94]

These decisions have been almost uniformly advantageous to the
capital-owning class in preserving property rights and corporate
privileges which the unhindered progress of democracy would have
abridged or abolished. But we need not confine our attention to these
comparatively few instances in which laws have actually been declared
null and void. There is a much more numerous and more important class of
cases in which the Supreme Court, while not claiming to exercise this
power, has virtually annulled laws by giving them an interpretation
which has defeated the purpose for which they were enacted. The
decisions affecting the powers of the Inter-State Commerce Commission
may be cited as an illustration. This body, created by Congress for the
purpose of regulating the railway traffic of the country, has, as Mr.
Justice Harlan observes,[95] "been shorn by judicial interpretation, of
authority to do anything of an effective character." Both the general
and the state governments in their efforts to grapple with this problem
have encountered the restraining arm of the Federal judiciary which has
enlarged its jurisdiction until nearly every important case involving
corporate interests may be brought before the Federal court.

It is not, however, in the laws which have been annulled or modified by
interpretation that we find the chief protection afforded to capital,
but rather in the laws which have not been enacted. The mere existence
of this power and the certainty that it would be used in defence of the
existing social order has well-nigh prevented all attacks on vested
rights by making their failure a foregone conclusion.

It is but natural that the wealthy and influential classes who have been
the chief beneficiaries of this system should have used every means at
their command to exalt the Supreme Court and thereby secure general
acquiescence in its assumption and exercise of legislative authority. To
the influence of these classes in our political, business, and social
life must be attributed in large measure that widespread and profound
respect for the judicial branch of our government which has thus far
almost completely shielded it from public criticism.

There are many indications, however, that popular faith in the
infallibility of the Supreme Court has been much shaken in recent years.
This is not surprising when we consider the wavering pol