State's attorney

“ A person aggrieved may bring suit, in which the Attorney General may be permitted to intervene. Thirty days' written notice before filing any such action must be given to the appropriate authorities of a State or subdivision the law of which prohibits the act complained of and which has established an authority which may grant relief therefrom. ”

“ Not a single one of the briefs fails to assume, without the slightest foundation, that the state governments, not a member of which is elected by the citizens of America, are attorneys in fact for the citizens of America. Wherever one brief differs from another in this respect, it is only in urging some difference in the extent of the power of attorney made to those governments by the citizens of America in the Fifth Article. ”

“ Nevertheless, with amusement and absolute incredulity, we shall hear every statesman of 1917 and every lawyer of 1920 assume and act and argue upon the extraordinary concept that the Fifth Article of that Constitution is a great power of attorney to the state legislatures as attorneys in fact for the American citizens. ”

“ But since, as this court has so often held, the 'due process of law' clause does not require the state to adopt the institution and procedure of a grand jury, we are unable to see upon what theory it can be held that an examination, or the opportunity for one, prior to the formal accusation by the district attorney is obligatory upon the states. ”

“ Upon timely application, the court may, in its discretion, permit the Commission, or the Attorney General in a case involving a government, governmental agency, or political subdivision, to intervene in such civil action upon certification that the case is of general public importance. Upon request, the court may, in its discretion, stay further proceedings for not more than sixty days pending the termination of State or local proceedings described in subsections (c) or (d) of this section or further efforts of the Commission to obtain voluntary compliance. ”

“ The Federal Government has one set of district attorneys, and each State has an entirely different set for the same territory. The former are appointed by the President, and are in reality deputies of the Attorney-General of the United States, to whom they are required to make report of their official acts, and to whose direction and control they are subject. ”

“ Judges shall not charge juries with regard to matter of fact; but may state the testimony and declare the law.
Sec. 13. The general assembly shall, by a joint vote of both houses, elect an attorney for the state for each circuit established by law, who shall continue in office two years, and reside within the circuit for which he was elected at the time of and during his continuance in office. In all cases where an attorney for the state of any circuit fails to attend and prosecute according to law, the court shall have power to appoint an attorney pro tempore. ”

“ The Attorney General shall consider ways in which the DOJ could strengthen communication with State Attorneys General to help identify relevant data, complaints from the public, and other information that may assist the DOJ’s investigations of patterns or practices of misconduct by law enforcement officers, including prosecutors, pursuant to 34 U.S.C. 12601 and other statutes. The Attorney General shall also develop training and technical assistance for State, local, and territorial officials who have similar investigatory authority. ”

“ The Criminal Court of the District, as a court of general criminal jurisdiction, possessed the power to strike the name of the plaintiff from its rolls as a practicing attorney. This power of removal from the bar is possessed by all courts which have authority to admit attorneys to practice. It is a power which should only be exercised for the most weighty reasons, such as would render the continuance of the attorney in practice incompatible with a proper respect of the court for itself, or a proper regard for the integrity of the profession. ”

“ All that is requisite to their validity is that, when not taken for matters occurring in open court, in the presence of the judges, notice should be given to the attorney of the charges made and opportunity afforded him for explanation and defence. The manner in which the proceeding shall be conducted, so that it be without oppression or unfairness, is a matter of judicial regulation.
The authority of the court over its attorneys and counsellors is of the highest importance. They constitute a profession essential to society. ”

“ IV. If I understand the Attorney-General, the only ground upon which he maintains the validity of the act of 1865, is that the right to be attorneys and counsellors of this court, or of any court of the United States, is not a natural one, but one given by law only; a right to be regulated at any time by law, or not be given at all, or, when given, to be at any time taken away. Without stopping to inquire whether these propositions are correct, I deny, with perfect confidence, that Congress can prohibit the appearance of counsel in the courts of the Union. ”

“ To-night you’ve got to know that another man knows you through and through. To-night you have to go unmasked. Are you afraid of hearing me say who your client is? Are you afraid of having me name the politicians whose orders you execute and whose nod is your law? You have been ordered by the police to win this case. This case indeed! And you, the Assistant District Attorney, in the name of the People, will win it by fair means or foul. You have never investigated one fact, or asked one question, calculated to bring out the truth, but by trick and wile you stoop to serve your master’s purpose. ”

“ But I do not admit that the attorney-general has any corporate or juridical character, or that he can be introduced upon the record, in his official name, as an actor or respondent in a suit. His duties are strictly professional duties, and his powers those of an attorney at law. Whatever he may do for the United States, a special attorney might be retained to do; nor can the United States appear in his name, nor by his agency, in cases where they may not be a party. ”

“ And, indeed, if the law be that a Circuit Court of the United States, upon whisperings in the ear of one of its judges on the streets, or upon information derived from rumor, or in some other irregular way, that an attorney has committed a public offence, having no relation to the discharge of his professional duties, can summon him to answer for the offence in advance of trial or conviction and summarily punish him, it is time the law was changed by statute. Such a power cannot be safely intrusted to any tribunal. ”

“ Settled rule is that those courts will not recognize any suit, civil or criminal, as regularly before them, if prosecuted in the name and for the benefit of the United States, unless the same is represented by the district attorney, or some one designated by him to attend to such business, in his absence, as may appertain to the duties of his office. ”

“ Whether, as a matter of practice, the challenge to the authority of counsel was seasonably interposed, it is not important to decide, for in any event the trial court, or this court, has power, at any stage of the case, to require an attorney, one of its officers, to show his authority to appear. ”

“ The Constitution is silent upon it. The word 'attorney' is not mentioned, and the word 'counsel' is only mentioned in it as the right of a person accused of crime. It is an act of Congress that creates us and gives us the right to appear here as attorneys and counsellors at law under certain limitations. Congress has imposed very few upon us. Congress very wisely have given to the court the power to receive or to exclude, and to lay down the terms upon which a counsellor shall be admitted. ”

“ The purpose of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 is to control the practice of attorneys, or those who act as their own attorneys, in the conduct of litigation in the federal courts. Extending judicial power far beyond that boundary, the Court, relying only on its rulemaking authority, now holds that citizens who seek the aid of the federal courts may risk money damages or other sanctions if they do not satisfy some objective standard of care in the preparation or litigation of a case. ”

“ We have increased our judiciary by 40 percent and we have increased our prosecutors by 16 percent. The dockets are full of cases because we don't have assistant district attorneys to go before the Federal judge and handle them. We start these young lawyers at $8,200 a year. ”

“ It is a regular and lawful method of proceeding, practised from time immemorial. Conceding that an attorney's calling or profession is his property, within the true sense and meaning of the Constitution, it is certain that in many cases, at least, he may be excluded from the pursuit of it by the summary action of the court of which he is an attorney. The extent of the jurisdiction is a subject of fair judicial consideration. That it embraces many cases in which the offence is indictable is established by an overwhelming weight of authority. ”

“ While by existing provisions of law the Court of Claims may in certain cases be resorted to by an alien claimant, the absence of any general provisions governing all such cases and the want of a tribunal skilled in the disposition of such cases upon recognized fixed and settled principles, either provides no remedy in many deserving cases or compels a consideration of such claims by Congress or the executive department of the Government. ”

“ I think when we are called upon, in the exercise of our equitable jurisdiction, to order an attorney to perform a contract, to pay money, or to fulfil an undertaking, there we have jurisdiction only if the undertaking or the contract is made in his character of attorney, or so connected with his character of attorney as to bring it within the power of the court to require that their officer shall behave well as an officer. ”

“ In our opinion, the true construction of the power is, that it vests a several as well as a joint authority in the attorneys. They are appointed the 'attorney or attorneys;' and if the intention had been to give a joint authority only, the words 'attorney' and 'or' would have been wholly useless. To give effect then to all the words, it is necessary to construe them distributively; and this is done by the interpretation before stated. They are appointed his attorneys, and each of them is appointed his attorney, for the purpose of acknowledging the deed. ”

“ Hereafter, litigants who do not appear personally shall be represented before the supreme court and district courts exclusively by a lawyer, no powers of attorney being necessary therefor; it shall be the duty of the courts to suspend from the practice of his profession any lawyer who shall, without authority, assume to represent a litigant ”

“ We can no more review a legislative court's decision of a case which is not among those enumerated in Art. III than we can hear a case from a state court involving purely state law questions. But a question under the Constitution and laws of the United States, whether arising in a constitutional court, a state court, or a legislative court may, under the Constitution, be a subject of this Court's appellate jurisdiction. ”

“ Federal courts will not seize litigations from state courts merely because one, normally a defendant, goes to federal court to begin his federal-law defense before the state court begins the case under state law. ”

“ Whenever the attorney general calls upon a district attorney to appear for the government in a case pending in the court of appeals, he is not directing him in the discharge of his official duties as district attorney, but is employing him as special counsel. ”

“ It is essential to the interests of the government that in all suits, criminal and civil, in which it is interested, the attorney general shall be at liberty to call upon the district attorney to represent it; and his compensation therefor, whether measured by the fee bill or not, is clearly a part of the fees and emoluments of his office. ”

“ It is only in a capital case or under other special circumstances not here present that a state is required by the 14th Amendment to the Federal Constitution to appoint counsel to represent the accused." "The vital question to be decided, and, in our view, of the case the only significant question, is whether the accused, under such facts as are properly before this Court, must be represented by counsel in order that the process leading to his confinement may be deemed due process." ”

“ Now, this want of jurisdiction of the inferior court in a summary proceeding to remove an officer of the court, or disbar an attorney or counsellor, is one of the specific cases in which this writ is the appropriate remedy. We have already seen, from the definition and office of it, that it is issued to the inferior courts 'to enforce the due exercise of those judicial or ministerial powers with which the crown or legislature have invested them ”

“ When a party to an action relies for ground of claim or defense upon any statute or executive order administered by a federal or state governmental officer or agency or upon any regulation, order, requirement, or agreement issued or made pursuant to the statute or executive order, the officer or agency upon timely application may be permitted to intervene in the action. In exercising its discretion the court shall consider whether the intervention will unduly delay or prejudice the adjudication of the rights of the original parties. ”