Thurgood Marshall

“ The Court then turned to the Extradition Act of 1793, 1 Stat. 302. In the procedures for the regulation of extradition established by that Act, the Court found the same absolute right to demand and correlative obligation to deliver. As to the Governor of the asylum State under the Act, the Court determined that
[t] he duty which he is to perform is . . . merely ministerial — that is, to cause the party to be arrested, and delivered to the agent or authority of the State where the crime was committed. ”

“ Within 15 years of the decision in Dennison, it was said that,
when a plain official duty, requiring no exercise of discretion, is to be performed, and performance is refused, any person who will sustain personal injury by such refusal may have a mandamus to compel its performance, and it was no objection that such an order might be sought in the federal courts against a state officer. ”

“ Counsel for Calder requested that the Governor of Iowa hold an extradition hearing, which was conducted by the Governor's counsel on June 17, 1981. Id. at A19. This hearing was only partially transcribed, but the record does show that one of Calder's counsel was permitted to testify to his belief that "a white American man . . . could not receive a fair trial in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico," App. 32a, while Calder himself testified to his understanding that, "on numerous occasions," witnesses in Puerto Rican courts had been "bought." Id. ”

“ Because the duty is directly imposed upon the States by the Constitution itself, there can be no need to weigh the performance of the federal obligation against the powers reserved to the States under the Tenth Amendment.
Respondents contend, however, that an "executive common law" of extradition has developed through the efforts of Governors to employ the discretion accorded them under Dennison, and that this "common law" provides a superior alternative to the "ministerial duty" to extradite provided for by the Constitution. Tr. ”

“ Dennison in 1861 retain their validity today. We reverse.
II A Kentucky v. Dennison was an action brought under this Court's original jurisdiction to compel by writ of mandamus the extradition of a fugitive felon. The grand jury of Woodford County, Kentucky, returned an indictment in October, 1859 charging Willis Lago, a "free man of color," with the crime of assisting the escape of a slave. 24 How. at 67. The defendant was a resident of Ohio, and papers requesting his extradition were served upon William Dennison, the Governor of that State. ”