And be it further enacted, That the said Corporation shall, in future, be named and styled, 'The Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the City of Washington;' and that if there shall have been a non-election or informality of a City Council, on the first Monday in June last, it shall not be taken, construed, or adjudged, in any manner, to have operated as a dissolution of the said Corporation, or to affect any of its rights, privileges, or laws passed previous to the second Monday in June last, but the same are hereby declared to exist in full force. If it does. Whether we consider the general character of a law incorporating a City, the objects for which such law is usually made, or the words in which this particular power is conferred, we arrive at the same result. 264 (1821), could well have been the explanation of the Rule of Necessity; he wrote that a court "must take jurisdiction if it should. ("We have no more right to decline the exercise of jurisdiction which is given, than to usurp that which is not given."). This is the authoritative language of the American people, and, if gentlemen please, of the American States. There was not much reason to fear that foreign or sister States would be creditors to any considerable amount, and there was reason to retain the jurisdiction of the Court in those *407 cases, because it might be essential to the preservation of peace. Thus Congress legislates in the same act, under its exclusive and its limited powers. Were any one State of the Union to pass a law for trying a criminal in a Court not created by itself, in a place not within its jurisdiction, and direct the sentence to be executed without its territory, we should all perceive and acknowledge its incompetency to such a course of legislation. The Cohens claimed that under the supremacy clause, they were immune from state laws in selling congressionally authorized lottery tickets. *430 The jurisdiction of the Court, if acknowledged, goes no farther. 264 (1821), a case arose from the conviction of the Cohen brothers in a Norfolk court for selling District of Columbia lottery tickets in violation of Virginia laws. He shall appoint proper persons to fill up all vacancies during the recess of the Board of Aldermen, to hold such, appointment until the end of the then ensuing session. The effort now made is, to apply the conclusion to which the Court was conducted by that reasoning in the particular case, to one in which the words have their full operation when understood affirmatively, and in which the negative, or exclusive sense, is to be so used as to defeat some of the great objects of the article. Your laws reach the individual without the aid of any other power, why may they not protect him from punishment for performing his duty in executing them? In the City of Washington, the great metropolis of the nation, visited by individuals, from every part of the Union, tickets may be freely sold to all who are willing to purchase. The universally received opinion is, that no suit can be commenced *412 or prosecuted against the United States; that the judiciary act does not authorize such suits. Second, in matters of the U.S. Constitution and federal law, the Court always has the power to review State court decisions. To this argument, in all its forms, the same answer may be given. ", "And at this same Quarterly Session Court, continued by adjournment, and held for the said borough of Norfolk, the second day of September, eighteen hundred and twenty, came, as well the attorney prosecuting for the Commonwealth, in this Court, as the defendants, by their attorney, and the said defendants, for plea, say, that they are not guilty in manner and form as in the information against them is alleged, and of this they put themselves upon the country, and the attorney for the Commonwealth doth the same; whereupon a case, was agreed by them to be argued in lieu of a special verdict, and is in these words:", "Commonwealth against Cohens -- case agreed. It does not originate with him, nor is the improvement to which its profits are to be applied to be selected by him. This, we think, would scarcely be asserted. If this could be maintained, then a clause inserted for the purpose of excluding the jurisdiction of all other Courts than this, in a particular case, would have the effect of excluding the jurisdiction of this Court in that very case, if the suit were to be brought in another Court, and that Court were to assert jurisdiction. Parallel state-court proceedings do not detract from that obligation. The acknowledged inability of the government, then to sustain itself against the public will, and, by force or otherwise, to control the whole nation, is no sound argument in support of its constitutional *390 inability to preserve itself against a section of the nation acting in opposition to the general will. In inquiring into the extent of the power granted to the Corporation of Washington, we must first examine the words of the grant. This cause came on to be heard on the transcript of the record of the Quarterly Session Court for the Borough of Norfolk, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and was argued by counsel. Therefore, under its language, all cases arising under federal law are within the its grant of appellate jurisdiction. The constitution in direct terms gives an appellate jurisdiction to the Supreme Court in all the enumerated cases of federal cognizance in which it is not to have an original one, without a single expression to confine its operation to the inferior federal Courts. This opinion has been already drawn out to too great a length to admit of entering into a particular consideration of the various forms in which the counsel who made this point has, with much ingenuity, presented his argument to the Court. B. do solemnly swear or affirm, (as the case may be) that I will truly and faithfully receive, and return the votes of such persons as are by law entitled to vote for members of the Board of Aldermen, and Board of Common Council, in ward No. In these, the nature of the case is every thing, the character of the parties nothing. It may be given in a general law. Cohens v. Virginia 6 Wheat. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. In state court, the Cohens claimed that their actions were legal under federal law. These Courts did exercise appellate jurisdiction over those cases decided in the State Courts, to which the judicial power of the federal government extended. The Court decided and we think very properly, that the legislature could not give original jurisdiction in such a case. 10. State officers of Ohio entered the vaults of a branch of the Bank of the United States and forcibly collected over $100,000 in state taxes. And would not this be its effect? The primary focus of the unanimous Court opinion, written by Chief Justice Marshall, involved the State of Virginias motion to dismiss the matter for lack of jurisdiction. In the enumeration of the powers of Congress, which is made in the 8th section of the first article, we find that of exercising exclusive legislation over such District as shall become the seat of government. 3d. Nonetheless, the Court has exercised discretion and declined to hear cases that fall within the terms of its original jurisdiction. What, then, becomes the duty of the Court? And be it further enacted, That the Levy Court of the county of Washington shall not hereafter possess the power of imposing any tax on the inhabitants of the City of Washington. We are not restrained, then, by the political relations between the general and State governments, from construing the words of the constitution, defining the judicial power, in their true sense. * And the Supreme Court has suggested that prudential standing could be on its last . Yet the federal Courts have no cognizance of the case. The solution, and the only solution of the difficulty, is, that the power vested in Congress, as the legislature of the United States, to legislate exclusively within any place ceded by a State, carries with it, as an incident, the right to make that power effectual. September 9, 2020. art. . The Court found that Congress did not intend to authorize the sale of National Lottery tickets outside the District of Columbia. And be it further enacted, That the first election of members of the City Council, shall be held on the first Monday in June next, and in every year afterwards, at such place in each ward as the judges of the election may prescribe. Martin v. Hunter's Lessee 1816 . We have no more right to decline the exercise of jurisdiction which is given, than to usurp that which is not given. That whenever the proprietors of two-thirds of the inhabited houses, fronting on both sides of a street, or part of a street, shall by petition to the two branches, express the desire of improving the same, by laying the curbstone of the foot pavement, and paving the gutters or carriage way thereof, or otherwise improving said street, agreeably to its graduation, the said Corporation shall have power to cause to be done at any expense, not exceeding two dollars and fifty cents per front foot, of the lots fronting on such improved street or part of a street, and charge the same to the owners of the lots fronting on said street, or part of a street, in due proportion; and also on a like petition to provide for erecting lamps for lighting any street or part of a street, and to defray the expense thereof by a tax on the proprietors or inhabitants of such houses, in proportion to their rental or valuation, as the two Boards shall decide. It therefore embraces both objects; and its meaning is, that the judicial power shall not be construed to extend to any suit which may be commenced, or which, if already commenced, may be *409 prosecuted against a State by the citizen of another State. The subject on which Congress was employed when framing this act was a local subject, it was not the establishment of a lottery, but the formation of a separate body for the management of the internal affairs of the City, for its internal government, for its police. Virginia, 6 Wheat. It would be organized by law, and agents for its execution would be appointed by the President, or in such other manner as the law might direct. Those who were inhibited from commencing a suit against a State, or from prosecuting one which might be commenced before the adoption of the amendment, were persons who might probably be its creditors. In 1820, P.J. 11. Let it be admitted, that the cases which have been put are extreme and improbable, yet there are gradations of opposition to the laws, far short of those cases, which might have a baneful influence on the affairs of the nation. This hypothesis is not founded on any words in the constitution, which might seem to countenance it, but on the unreasonableness of giving a contrary construction to words which seem to require it, and on the incompatibility of the application of the appellate jurisdiction to the judgments of State Courts, with that constitutional relation which subsists between the government of the Union and the governments of those States which compose it. It may be true, that the partiality of the State tribunals, in ordinary controversies between a State and its citizens, was not apprehended, and therefore the judicial power of the Union was not extended to such cases, but this was not the sole nor the greatest object for which this department was created. Their reputation helped the firm later become successful in the insurance and banking fields. What power of the government could be executed by its own means, in any State disposed to resist its execution by a course of legislation? "Treason to the Constitution" is suitably strong language. For the act of Congress directs, that "no other error shall be assigned or regarded as a ground of reversal, in any such case as aforesaid, than such as appears on the face of the record, and immediately respects the before mentioned questions of validity or construction of the said constitution, treaties," &c. The whole merits of this case, then, consist in the construction of the constitution and the act of Congress. A writ of error, then, is in the nature of a suit or action when it is to restore the party who obtains it to the possession of anything which is withheld *410 from him, not when its operation is entirely defensive. Congress has not enlarged the corporate power by restricting its exercise to cases of which the President might approve. While the Court today rightly abandons much The first impression made on the mind by this amendment is, that it was intended for those cases, and for those only, in which some demand against a State is made by an individual in the Courts of the Union. ", " Sec. On consideration whereof, it is ADJUDGED and ORDERED, that the judgment of the said Quarterly Session Court for the Borough of Norfolk, in this case, be, and the same is hereby affirmed, with costs. What is a suit? We understand it to be the prosecution, or pursuit, of some claim, demand, or request. And what clear legal distinction can be taken between a power to draw a lottery in a place where it is prohibited by law, and a power to establish an office for the sale of tickets in a place where it is prohibited by law? Its intrinsic merit entitles it to this high rank, and the part two of its authors performed in framing the constitution, put it very much in their power to explain the views with which it was framed. If, says my Lord Coke, by the writ of error, the plaintiff may recover, or be restored to any thing, it may be released by the name of an action. After bestowing on this subject the most attentive consideration, the Court can perceive no reason founded on the character of the parties for introducing an exception which the constitution has not made, and we think that the judicial power, as originally given, extends to all cases arising under the constitution or a law of the United States, whoever may be the parties. The constitution declares, that in cases where a State is a party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction, but does not say that its appellate jurisdiction shall not be exercised in cases where, from their nature, appellate jurisdiction is given, whether a State be or be not a party. In expounding them, we may be permitted to take into view those considerations to which Courts have always allowed great weight in the exposition of laws. Whether it be by writ of error or appeal, no claim is asserted, no demand is made by the original defendant, he only asserts the constitutional right to have his defence examined by that tribunal whose province it is to construe the constitution and laws of the Union. Cohens v. Virginia, 19 U.S. (6 Wheat.) (from 10 cases), Explaining that Article III does not extend the judicial power to every violation of the constitution which may possibly take place 2. Can it be imagined, that the same persons considered a case involving the constitution of our country and the majesty of the laws, questions in which every American citizen must be deeply interested, as withdrawn from this tribunal, because a State is a party? 2435 United States United States District Courts. The whole subject would be under the control of the government, or of persons appointed by the government. One gentleman has said that the judiciary act does not give jurisdiction in the case. The confederation gave to Congress the power "of establishing Courts for receiving and determining finally appeals in all cases of captures.". Those who contend that acts of Congress, made in pursuance of *425 this power, do not, like acts made in pursuance of other powers, bind the nation, ought to show some safe and clear rule which shall support this construction, and prove that an act of Congress, clothed in all the forms which attend other legislative acts, and passed in virtue of a power conferred on, and exercised by Congress, as the legislature of the Union, is not a law of the United States, and does not bind them. On the information of William H. Jennings. In legislating for the District, they necessarily preserve the character of the legislature of the Union, for, it is in that character alone that the constitution confers on them this power of exclusive legislation. And be it further enacted, That so much of any former act as shall be repugnant to the provisions of this act, be, and the same is hereby repealed. Of the last description, is every case between a State and its citizens, and, perhaps, every case in which a State is enforcing its penal laws. The second objection to the jurisdiction of the Court is, that its appellate power cannot be exercised, in any case, over the judgment of a State Court. Such a law would be a direct attempt to counteract and defeat a measure authorized by the United States. It seems to be a corollary from this political axiom, that the federal Courts should either possess exclusive jurisdiction in such cases, or a power to revise the judgment rendered in them, by the State tribunals. v. Varsity Brands, Inc. In making peace, we are one people. The jurisdiction of the Court, then, being extended by the letter of the constitution to all cases arising under it, or under the laws of the United States, it follows that those who would withdraw *380 any case of this description from that jurisdiction, must sustain the exemption they claim on the spirit and true meaning of the constitution, which spirit and true meaning must be so apparent as to overrule the words which its framers have employed. The State tribunals might be suspected of partiality in cases between itself or it citizens and aliens, or the citizens of another State but not in proceedings by a State against its own citizens. "Pleas at the Court House of Norfolk borough, before the Mayor, Recorder, and Aldermen of the said borough, on Saturday, the second day of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, and in the forty-fifth year of the Commonwealth. The first opinion, containing the major rulings of constitutional and historical significance, concerned Virginia's motion to dismiss for purported lack of US Supreme Court jurisdiction. It upheld the convictions of the Cohens in Virginia. The Corporation may authorize, or not authorize it, and may select the purposes to which the proceeds are to be applied. The framers of the constitution were, indeed, unable to make any provisions which should protect that instrument against a general combination of the States, or of the people for its destruction, and, conscious of this inability they have not made the attempt. One of the instruments by which this duty may be peaceably performed, is the judicial department. But, it has been already shown that neither of these consequences necessarily follows. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall be in force for two years from the passing thereof, and from thence to the end of the next session of Congress thereafter, and no longer. This principle is a part of the constitution, and if there be any who deny its necessity, none can deny its authority. These provisions of the constitution are equally obligatory, and are to be equally respected. America has chosen to be, in many respects, and to many purposes, a nation, and for all these purposes, her government is complete; to all these objects, it is competent. "A complete consolidation of the States, so far as respects the judicial power," would authorize the legislature to confer on the federal Courts appellate jurisdiction from the State Courts in all cases whatsoever. But, if it be intended to give its acts a binding efficacy beyond the natural limits of its power, and within the jurisdiction of a distinct power, we should expect to find, in the language of the incorporating act, some words indicating such intention. Cohens v. State of Virginia, 19 U.S. (6 Wheat.) It is not then within the amendment, but is governed entirely by the constitution as originally framed, and we have already seen, that in its origin, the judicial power was extended to all cases arising under the constitution or laws of the United States, without respect to parties. Cohens v. Virginia - 19 U.S. (6 Wheat.) The People vested this Court with mandatory ju-risdiction over interstate disputes for a reason. "Thirteen independent Courts," says a very celebrated statesman, (and we have now more than twenty such Courts,) "of final jurisdiction over the same causes, arising upon the same laws, is a hydra in government, from *416 which nothing but contradiction and confusion can proceed.". 19 U.S. 264, 5 L. Ed. 264 264 (1821). Cohens v. Virginia, 19 U.S. (6 Wheat.) It is, we think, apparent, that to give this distributive clause the interpretation contended for, to give to its affirmative words a negative operation, in every possible case, would, in some instances, defeat the obvious intention of the article. This is a writ of error to a judgment rendered in the Court of Hustings for the borough of Norfolk, as an information for selling lottery tickets, contrary to an act of the Legislature of Virginia. Agreeably to the remark already made, the national and State systems are to be regarded as ONE WHOLE. 264 1821 (See 3.2.1 , no. Every argument, proving the necessity of the department, proves also the propriety of giving this extent to it. These abstract propositions are to be determined; for he who demands decision without permitting inquiry, affirms that the decision he asks does not depend on inquiry. And be it further enacted, That the polls shall be kept open from eight o'clock in the morning, till seven o'clock in the evening, and no longer, for the reception of ballots. Nor shall any person or persons buy or sell within this Commonwealth any lottery ticket, or part or share of a lottery ticket, except in such lottery or lotteries as may be authorized by the laws, thereof; and any person or persons offending herein, shall forfeit and pay, for every such offence, the sum of one hundred dollars, to be recovered and appropriated in manner last aforesaid. 4. The lottery had been established by Congress to be able to operate in the District of Columbia. It is a part of our history, that, at the adoption of the constitution, all the States were greatly indebted; and the apprehension that these debts might be prosecuted in the federal Courts, formed a very serious objection to that instrument. *405 This may be very true, but by no means justifies the inference drawn from it. But an appeal might be given, and might be so regulated as to effect every purpose of a writ of error. The argument considers the federal judiciary as completely foreign to that of a State, and as being no more connected with it in any respect whatever, than the Court of a foreign State. He shall, ex officio, have, and exercise all the powers, authority, and jurisdiction of a Justice of the Peace, for the County of Washington, within the said county. 3. [2] The Cohen firm was a leading vendor of lottery tickets in the United States through its offices in New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Norfolk and nationwide through the mail. . ", " Sec. Blackstone then proceeds to describe every species of remedy by suit; and they are all cases were the party suing claims to obtain something to which he has a right. Coming in aid of the City revenue, they are of the same character with it; the mere creature of a corporate power. The act proceeds to direct, that the body of the criminal, after execution, may be delivered to a surgeon for dissection, and punishes any person who shall rescue such body during its conveyance from the place of execution to the surgeon to whom it is to be delivered. That subject does not seem to have been taken into view. The Cohens were convicted and fined $100 for the violation. To interfere with the penal laws of a State, where they are not levelled against the legitimate powers of the Union, but have for their sole object the internal government of the country, is a very serious measure, which Congress cannot be supposed to adopt lightly, or inconsiderately. The City Council to be elected annually by ballot, in a general ticket, by the free white male inhabitants of full age, who have resided twelve months in the city, and paid taxes therein the year preceding the elections being held: the justices of the county of Washington, resident in the city, or any three of them, to preside as judges of election, with such associates as the council may from time to time appoint. These prosecutions may take place even without a legislative act. An act, such as that under consideration, ought not, we think, to be so construed as to imply this intention, unless its provisions were such as to render the construction inevitable. Will the spirit of the constitution justify this attempt to control its words? When doing so results in checking the Legislature or Executive, the judiciary is not engaged in "activism;" it is rather carrying out its duty under the law. The whole reasoning of the Court proceeds upon the idea that the affirmative words of the clause giving one sort of jurisdiction, must imply a negative of any other sort of jurisdiction, because otherwise the words would be totally inoperative, and this reasoning is advanced in a case to which it was strictly applicable.
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