Rufus Wheeler Peckham

“ A general statement that the decision of a court is against the constitutional rights of the objecting party, or against the fourteenth amendment, or that it is without due process of law, particularly when these objections appear only in specifications of error, so called, will not raise a federal question, even where the judgment is a final one within the section of the Revised Statutes above mentioned. ”

“ The fatal objection appears in each case that the so-called court orders, made upon the returns to the several writs of habeas corpus which were granted by a judge and returnable before him, do not constitute that final judgment or decree in a suit in the highest court of a state in which a decision in the suit could be had which may be reviewed on writ of error from this court, under section 709 of the Revised Statutes of the United States. ”

“ After his commitment to the jail he commenced a series of proceedings, by habeas corpus, to obtain his release. It is the decision of the judge rendered in each proceeding of which he complains. He applied to one judge of the superior court after another for the writ which was granted him, and when the writ was served, and the petitioner produced in obedience to the writ, after a hearing the writ was discharged, and the petitioner was remanded by the judge who granted the writ. This was repeated three or four times before different judges, with the same result. ”