In expounding this law, the judgment of the Court cannot in any degree be influenced by the construction placed upon it by individual members of Congress in the debate which took place on its passage, nor by the motives or reasons assigned by them for supporting or opposing amendments that were offered.
Sumner argues that individual opinions from Congress should not influence judicial interpretation of laws.
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According to recent calculations, its annual cost is not less than a thousand millions of dollars.
Their existence is a disgrace to civilization; for it implies the common consent of nations to the Arbitrament of War, as regulated by these laws.
They belong to a system so essentially irrational, that all the admitted virtues of many of its agents cannot save it from judgment.
The devices of party can no longer stave it off.
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