Felix Frankfurter

“ Indeed, the terms 'enemy,' enemy alien,' 'enemy national,' and 'German or Japanese national' are used interchangeably in the hearings, not only by committee members but by witnesses from the Office of Alien Property, without regard to precise shades of meaning in the context of the Trading with the Enemy Act. ”

“ That war gives to the sovereign full right to take the persons and confiscate the property of the enemy wherever found, is conceded. The mitigations of this rigid rule, which the humane and wise policy of modern times has introduced into practice, will more or less affect the exercise of this right, but cannot impair the right itself. ”

“ The question which remains is whether a citizen in Guessefeldt's position of a nation with which this country is at war is deemed a friendly alien. More broadly, is any national of an enemy country within the reach of constitutional protection? ”

“ In World War I, Congress specifically exempted 'alien enemies' from the draft, a context in which the term 'alien enemy' would be meaningless if it did not include nationals of enemy nations residing in this country. ”

“ The suggestion that the relaxed legislative definition of 'enemy' in 1917 could limit the constitutional war power of Congress over enemy property finds no support in decisions of this Court. [25]
Petitioner, a German citizen present in Germany during the war, is certainly as much an enemy alien as was Ludecke, a German citizen lawfully resident in this country during the war. We found no constitutional barrier to Ludecke's summary removal without judicial scrutiny under the Enemy Alien Act of 1798. ”

“ To hold that 'resident within' enemy territory implies something more than mere physical presence and something less than domicile is consistent with the emanations of Congressional purpose manifested in the entire Act, and the relevant extrinsic light, including the decisions of lower courts on this issue, which we note without specifically approving any of them. ”

“ The Court applies Section 39 by reading out the term 'national' and inserting the term 'enemy' as defined in Section 2 (a) . Since it is apparent on the face of the statute that Congress in no wise chose to assimilate these two clearly defined terms, the Court should not.
Just the other day, we held that ' (w) e are not free, under the guise of construction, to amend (a) statute' by reading 'carefully distinguished and separately defined words to mean the same thing.' Pillsbury v. ”

“ Guessefeldt retained his American domicile. Moreover, if anything more than mere physical presence in enemy territory is required, it would seem clear that he was not an 'enemy' within the meaning of § 2. His stay before the war, as a matter of choice, was short. The circumstances negative any desire for a permanent or long-term connection with Germany. ”

“ Congress in 1948, so the Government's argument runs, adopted a 'policy of nonreturn,' [5] and prohibited the restoration of vested property to a 'national' of Germany. A citizen is a national, and Guessefeldt is a German citizen. ”

“ The extension of that power to include property of an American citizen resident in an enemy country, The Venus, 1814, 8 Cranch 253, 3 L.Ed. 553, hardly supports a restriction of that power in case of petitioner, an enemy citizen present in an enemy country. In Silesian-American Corp. v. Clark, 1947, 332 U.S. 469, 475, 68 S.Ct. 179, 182, 92 L.Ed. 81, the Court stated: 'There is no doubt but that under the war power (Art. I, § 8, cl. 11) , as heretofore interpreted by this Court, the United States, acting under a statute, may vest in itself the property of a national of an enemy nation. ”

“ Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on H.R. 4044, 80th Cong., 2d Sess. 124. Both of these provisions were omitted from the bill reported by the Senate. Although this bit of legislative history reveals a certain amount of confusion about the operation of the Act, it is tolerably clear from it that the operation of § 9 (a) was not intended to be affected by the legislation.↑ Other than those here for review, six district court cases have involved construction of § 39. The Government contends that five of these have accepted the position it urges in this case. ”

“ In addition to what was said in Ludecke, the admonition of Chief Justice Marshall in Brown v. United States, supra, is appropriate in this case: 'Respecting the power of government no doubt is entertained. ”