Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Caleb Powers In the Matter of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Commonwealth of Kentucky, Petitioner . riginal. No 393
Citation | 26 S.Ct. 387,5 Ann. Cas. 692,50 L.Ed. 633,201 U.S. 1 |
Decision Date | 12 March 1906 |
Docket Number | O,15,Nos. 393,s. 393 |
Parties | COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY v. CALEB POWERS. Ex Parte: IN THE MATTER OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY, COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY, Petitioner . riginal. NO 393 |
Court | United States Supreme Court |
Messrs.N. B. Hays and Lawrence Maxwell, Jr., for appellant in No. 393.
These cases arise out of a criminal prosecution begun in one of the courts of Kentucky, and, after several trials, removed on the petition of the accused, Caleb Powers, into the circuit court of the United States for the eastern district of Kentucky.
The principal question to be determined is whether the prosecution was removable from the state court.
After referring to the indictment and to the transfer of the prosecution into the circuit court of the United States, the petition for removal alleged that the accused was within the jurisdiction of the United States and of the commonwealth of Kentucky; that he was, and all of his life had been, a citizen of the United States, and of that commonwealth, and as such citizen was entitled to enforce in the judicial tribunals of Kentucky on the trial and final disposition of said prosecution, all equal civil rights and equal protection of laws secured to him by that part of the Amendment providing that 'no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.' [Art. 14, § 1.] He also claimed the rights secured by § 1977 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 1259), providing, 'all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right in every state and territory to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of persons and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses, and exactions of every kind, and to no other;' as well as those secured by the act of Congress of March 1st, 1875. (18 Stat. at L. 335, chap. 114, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 1260), the preamble of which declares that: 'Whereas, it is essential to just government we recognize the equality of all men before the law, and hold that it is the duty of government in its dealings with the people to mete out equal and exact justice to all, of whatever nativity, race, color or persuasion, religious or political; and it being the appropriate object of legislation to enact great fundamental principles into law.'
The petition then refers to the arrest of the accused on the 9th of March, 1900, upon the charge of being an accessory before the fact to the wilful murder of Wiliam Goebel, and alleges that on the 10th of March, 1900, and prior to the finding and reporting of the indictment against the accused, that 'for said state to hold him in custody, or to try or to require him to be tried in any one of its courts for the offense alleged against him in and by said indictment, since the granting and acceptance of said pardon and the issuance and acceptance of the certificate thereof, is a denial to him of the equal protection of the laws and the equal civil rights to which he is entitled under and as provided for in and by the portions of said amendment to the Constitution of the United States above copied, and by said section of said Revised Statutes, and by said act of Congress;' and, that 'notwithstanding the granting and acceptance of said pardon, the issuance and acceptance of said certificate, the fact that the said William S. Taylor was the governor of Kentucky when said pardon was granted and when said certificate was issued, and was then recognized as such governor by said executive officers of the United States, that he cannot enforce in the said Scott circuit court in which said prosecution is pending, or in that part of the state in which said Scott county is located, or in any court, judicial tribunal, or place of the said state, the equal civil rights and the equal protection of the laws secured to him by each and all of the three portions of said amendment copied above, and by said section of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and by said act of Congress for the reasons now set forth.'
The accused here refers to the three trials to which he was subjected, and after stating that he was confined in the county jail, without bail, and awaiting trial, proceeds in his petition:
In the second paragraph of his petition for removal the accused states that he is a citizen of the United States and of Kentucky, and as such is entitled to enforce in the judicial tribunals of the state the equal civil rights and the equal protection of the law secured to him by the above constitutional provisions and statutes.
His petition then alleges: 'But your petitioner states that he is denied and cannot enforce in the...
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