The Attorney General's Position

The Attorney General argues his point on the constitutional rights of citizens in the state of Virginia.

The very able, logical, convincing argument of the Attorney General R. Taylor Scott before the Supreme Court of Appeals on the 15th inst. in defining the constitutional rights of a citizen and defending the Chief Executive in his course in carrying out the guarantees of the Bill of Rights of Virginia marks an epoch in the history of this commonwealth and demonstrates beyond the shadow of a doubt, the fact that there are Democratic white men in the South in whose hands can be safely intrusted the liberties of all the people.
When he declared that the purpose of all law was to protect human life, he stated a bed-rock principle of our free institution and sent the rear on short notice the carping critics who had essayed to pass upon his actions.
Whether the Supreme Court of Virginia sustains him or not in his contention, the great body of American people will, and the scholars of this age and the legal luminaries of others will bear him out in the glorious declaration of truths which form the foundation of our government and the removal of which will doom our free institution not only to decay, but to destruction.
Thank God! that the Virginia chivalry of the past, the love of fair-play of the present and a practical demonstration of the justice of the future have been resurrected.
Citizens of Virginia a better day is dawning. It will not be long before the effulgent sun of righteousness will shine upon the full realization of all our hopes. Lynch-law must go!

“The Attorney General's Position,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed September 14, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/1482.