Today in Supreme Court History: November 14, 1922

11/14/1922: Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon argued.

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

Hess v. Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp., 513 U.S. 30 (decided November 14, 1994): Eleventh Amendment did not bar injured railroad workers’ suit in federal court against Port Authority, an entity wholly owned by New York and New Jersey and created under the Interstate Compact Clause (art. I, §10, clause 3); judgment against Port Authority would not be collectible against either state

Key v. Doyle, 434 U.S. 59 (decided November 14, 1977): District of Columbia statute restricting religious bequests was not a “statute of the United States” and therefore no direct appeal to the Court from decision of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals striking down the statute on First Amendment grounds (this is the highest local D.C. court, created in 1970, not the federal-system D.C. Circuit Court with which D.C. appeals had been entangled); appeal can only be heard via certiorari, which is denied (the Court was parsing the language of the former version of 28 U.S.C. §1257, which required the Court to hear highest-court decisions striking down “statutes of the United States”; in 1988 the statute was changed to permit appeals only by cert, all but eliminating the Court’s mandatory appellate jurisdiction)

Ward v. Village of Monroeville, Ohio, 409 U.S. 57 (decided November 14, 1972): Due Process violated when trial as to a traffic offense was held before mayor who was also responsible for village finances and therefore had an interest in imposing fines

[apedad]

" . . . (this is the highest local D.C. court, created in 1970, not the federal-system D.C. Circuit Court with which D.C. appeals had been entangled) . . . . "

Ugh . . . I've said here before that the District of Columbia should not be a political entity with a Mayor, local statutes, etc.

Everything should be ceded back to Virginia (or Maryland), except the Federal Triangle and the Mall area, and those would just be under federal jurisdiction like a military base.

[Dan Schiavetta]

The problem is, neither Virginia or Maryland would want it back. For one thing, it would largely take over the economy and politics of either state.

It should be created as its own state, with as you say the Capitol/Mall/White House area retained as federal property. Fortunately that area is clearly separate from the rest of D.C.

[Syd Henderson]

Virginia would not be involved anyway, since the part they ceded in the 18th century (including Alexandria) was returned to Virginia in 1846. So it's Maryland who would get the territory back

[Dan Schiavetta]

True. Though with Virginia being so regional, retroceding another big chunk of Democratic territory to the north of the state would probably result in the southern part of the state trying to secede.

[defaultdotxbe]

When you trim it back to principles, I think there are more points in favor of making it a state than against, unfortunately principles seem to only be a tiny part of the debate. The other 99% is whether or not someone wants 2 more Democrats in the Senate.

[David Nieporent]

Um, everything was already ceded back to Virginia that could be ceded back to Virginia, 175 years ago.

EDIT: I should've scrolled down.