Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ Every dogmatic statement of the law is prophetic of what will happen in a certain event. There is no more reason why the Constitution should not give the warning for the next year than there is for its not giving it for the next moment. We have no doubt of the authority of Congress to pass the law. ”

“ Indeed it would be going far to say that while the fate of the Amendment was uncertain Congress could not have passed a law in aid of it, conditioned upon the ratification taking place.
A shorter answer to the whole matter is that the grant of power to Congress is a present grant and that no reason has been suggested why the Constitution may not give Congress a present power to enact laws intended to carry out constitutional provisions for the future when the time comes for them to take effect. ”

“ The petitioner is imprisoned for contempt in disobeying a temporary injunction issued under Section 22 of Title 2 of the National Prohibition Act 28, 1919, c. 85, 41 Stat. 305, 314 (Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1923, § 10138 1/2 k) . The bill upon which the injunction was issued alleged the existence of a public nuisance used for the manufacture, sale, etc., of intoxicating liquor, and charged that the petitioner among others was conducting the business. ”