John McLean

Name: In re Metzger — Opinion of the Court
Author: John McLean

Summary

“In re Metzger — Opinion of the Court”, is a work by John McLean. It explores elements such as the United States, the Supreme Court and writ.

Quotes from In re Metzger — Opinion of the Court (John McLean)

John McLean, In re Metzger — Opinion of the Court

“ The Supreme Court is the only court named in the constitution, and even this high tribunal has no existence simply by the force and operation of the constitution itself. Until Congress brought it into existence, and gave it organization, it existed rather in posse than in esse. But the inferior courts, the Circuit and District Courts, exist only under the authority of legislation. Congress alone created them, meted out to each the powers which it enjoys, prescribed the orbit within which it should move, and prescribed every limit by which its jurisdiction was to be ascertained. ”

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Source: Wikisource

John McLean, In re Metzger — Opinion of the Court

“ It is a new idea to me that the treaty-making power can, by the most latitudinarian construction, be held to be a constitutional source of power and jurisdiction to any court or judge of the United States. New objects of judicial power, new subjects upon which it is to operate, may extend the number of cases which may be presented for judicial decision, but can never be appealed to as a grant of judicial power. Treaty stipulations operate only directly upon the parties to them, and not upon the citizens, except as part of the law of their own land. ”

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Source: Wikisource

John McLean, In re Metzger — Opinion of the Court

“ It is contended that the treaty, without the aid of legislation, does not authorize an arrest of a fugitive from France, however clearly the crime may be proved against him;-that the treaty provides for a surrender by the executive only, and not through the instrumentality of the judicial power.
The mode adopted by the executive in the present case seems to be the proper one. Under the provisions of the constitution, the treaty is the supreme law of the land, and, in regard to rights and responsibilities growing out of it, it may become a subject of judicial cognizance. ”

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Source: Wikisource

John McLean, In re Metzger — Opinion of the Court

“ The appellate jurisdiction, being given with such exceptions and under such regulations as Congress may make, can only be exercised in pursuance of an act of Congress conferring the authority and prescribing the mode in which it shall be performed; that is, the manner of exercising the power must first be regulated by law. ”

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Source: Wikisource

John McLean, In re Metzger — Opinion of the Court

“ The application in that case was, that the writ might issue to an inferior court, performing the functions of a court, and having exclusive jurisdiction of the subject-matters in controversy. If there is no power to revise the doings of a abnkrupt court under federal authority, where is the right to assume control over the doings of a justice of the peace, or a district judge, while sitting as a committing magistrate? ”

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Source: Wikisource

John McLean, In re Metzger — Opinion of the Court

“ The proceeding in this case cannot be sustained under this section. There is no writ of error, which is the only process mentioned by which it could be instituted; there is no final judgment or decree in any inferior court, within the meaning of the law; it is not a civil action, much less a suit in equity, and therefore not within the scope and meaning of the section.
The Supreme Court has no appellate jurisdiction in criminal cases, according to repeated decisions which have never been questioned. ”

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Source: Wikisource

John McLean, In re Metzger — Opinion of the Court

“ The only ground upon which this claim was rested before and by the district judge is that of the treaty stipulations with France, and the means by which he acquired jurisdiction on application addressed to him by the diplomatic agent of the French government. With great deference, I cannot but think the mode as irregular as the authority unfounded.
Under our institutions there exists but one legitimate channel of communication between this and any foreign nation; that organ is the executive. ”

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Source: Wikisource

John McLean, In re Metzger — Opinion of the Court

“ It is unprecedented in our judicial and legislative annals, for the diplomatic representative of a foreign government to address himself immediately to the judicial or legislative departments. Such a course is equally unknown to the history of England. ”

John McLean

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