Cortes Generales

“ Art. 380. The next following general Cortes shall, after having gone through the same formalities, and with the concurrence of two thirds of its members, declare, within the two years of their sessions, that there is cause for granting special powers to make the amendment.
Art. 381. That declaration shall afterwards be published and forwarded to all the provinces, and, according to the period at which it shall be made, the Cortes shall determine whether the deputies to the next general Cortes, or of that next immediately succeeding, shall receive the abovementioned special powers. ”

“ Art. 255. A popular action will lie against all judges and magistrates who shall be accused of bribery, corruption, and prevarication.
Art. 256. The Cortes shall fix the compensation which shall be allowed to the judges and magistrates.
Art. 257. Justice shall be administered in the king's name, and all the decrees and mandates of the superior tribunals shall likewise be issued in his name. ”

“ The General Council of the Judicial Power shall consist of the President of the Supreme Court, who shall preside it, and of twenty members appointed by the King for a five-year period, of which twelve shall be judges and magistrates of all judicial categories, under the terms provided for by the organic act ”

“ The judicial power of the Federation is vested in a Supreme Court and in Circuit and District Courts, whose number and powers shall be fixed by law. The Supreme Court of Justice shall consist of eleven members ”

“ Each branch of the legislature, as well as the supreme executive, shall have authority to require the opinions of the Supreme Judicial Court upon important questions of law, and upon solemn occasions. ”

“ To permit or forbid, with the consent of the Cortes, the publication of decrees of ecclesiastical councils and pontifical bulls containing provisions of general import; if they relate to particular affairs or matters involving the concerns of government, the advice of the council of state shall be taken; and if they relate to or involve subjects of litigation, the supreme tribunal of justice shall take cognizance thereof, and decree upon the same according to law; 16. To appoint and remove from office, the ministers of state and others. Art. ”

“ Sit days of every term of such district courts, or so much thereof as shall be necessary, are required by the act of Congress to be appropriated to the trial of causes arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States, which of itself is sufficient to show that, in the view of Congress, their jurisdiction extends to all such matters of controversy. ”

“ The supreme court shall have a general superintending control over all inferior courts of law. It shall have power to issue writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, quo warranto, certiorari, and other original remedial writs, and hear and determine the same. The supreme court shall have power to decide upon and annul any laws contrary to the provisions of these articles of compact, and whenever called upon by the House of Representatives, the supreme judge shall give his opinion touching the validity of any pending measure. ”

“ That the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the United States, or of any other court to be instituted by the Congress, is not in any case to be increased, enlarged, or extended, by any faction, collusion, or mere suggestion ”

“ Each division constitutes an amply sufficient tribunal for any ordinary disputes which its members may bring before it, though in cases of very exceptional magnitude the three occasionally coalesce and form one supreme court. ”

“ The Congressional power to ordain and establish inferior courts includes the power 'of investing them with jurisdiction either limited, concurrent, or exclusive, and of withholding jurisdiction from them in the exact degrees and character which to Congress may seem proper for the public good'. ”

“ The Supreme Court, by the Constitution, takes its appellate jurisdiction over cases 'with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.' And the designation, by acts of Congress, of the cases to which this jurisdiction shall extend, has uniformly been held to be a legislative declaration that all other cases are excepted from it. ”

“ The Constitution allots the nation's judicial power to the federal courts. Unless these courts respect the limits of that unique authority, they intrude upon powers vested in the legislative or executive branches. ”

“ The persons to whom the sovereign states confide their executive power, can only exercise it for a time fixed by each respective state constitution. The power and jurisdiction of the national judiciary are amply defined so as to avoid conflict. The state judicial power is to be exercised by the tribunals created or appointed by the state constitutions, and all civil or criminal causes recognized by those courts shall be conducted in them to a final hearing and to the execution of the sentence. ”

“ There must be a Supreme Court of Justice, and a system of subordinate courts in every state of the Union, before whom such questions shall be carried, and whose judgment on them, in the last stage of appeal, shall be final. Every state of the Union, and the federal government itself, as well as every functionary of each, must be liable to be sued in those courts for exceeding their powers, or for non-performance of their federal duties, and must in general be obliged to employ those courts as the instrument for enforcing their federal rights. ”

“ Sometimes, indeed, the general power conferred upon a subordinate officer carried with it authority to establish such tribunals; as, for example, the power conferred upon a military commander to establish a civil government, carried authority to establish tribunals with civil as well as criminal jurisdiction in the territory governed, for the administration of justice. ”

“ Subject to rules of the Supreme Court, the Law Division and the Chancery Division shall each exercise the powers and functions of the other division when the ends of justice so require, and legal and equitable relief shall be granted in any cause so that all matters in controversy between the parties may be completely determined. ”

“ The wisdom of Congress’ action, however, is not within our province to second-guess. Satisfied that the legislation before us remains inside the domain the Constitution assigns to the First Branch, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals. ”