Corrigan v. Buckley

• Court: U.S. Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: SANFORD
• Citation: Corrigan v. Buckley, 271 U.S. 323, 46 S.Ct. 521, 70 L.Ed. 969 (1926)
• Decision Date: 24 May 1926
• Docket Number: No. 104,104
• Parties: CORRIGAN et al. v. BUCKLEY

271 U.S. 323

46 S.Ct. 521

70 L.Ed. 969

CORRIGAN et al.

v BUCKLEY.

No. 104.

Argued January 8, 1926.

Decided May 24, 1926.

Messrs. Louis Marshall, of New York City, Moorfield

Storey, of Boston, Mass., James A. Cobb and Henry E. Davis, both of Washington, D. C., William H. Lewis, of Boston, Mass., and James P. Schick, of Washington, D. C. (Messrs. Arthur B. Spingarn and Herbert K. Stockton, both of New York City, of counsel), for appellants.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 324-326 intentionally omitted] Messrs. James S. Easby-Smith, David A. Pine, and Francis W. Hill, Jr., all of Washington, D. C., for appellee.

Mr. Justice SANFORD delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is a suit in equity brought by John J. Buckley in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia against Irene H. Corrigan and Helen Curits, to enjoin the conveyance of certain real estate from one to the other of the defendants.

The case made by the bill is this: The parties are citizens of the United States, residing in the District. The plaintiff and the defendant Corrigan are white persons, and the defendant Curtis is a person of the negro race. In 1921, thirty white persons, including the plaintiff and the defendant Corrigan, owning twenty-five parcels of land, improved by dwelling houses, situated on § Street, between 18th and New Hampshire avenue, in the City of Washington, executed an indenture, duly recorded, in which they recited that for their mutual benefit and the best interests of the neighborhood comprising these properties, they mutually covenanted and agreed that no part of these properties should ever be used or occupied by, or sold, leased or given to, any person of the negro race or blood; and that this covenant should run with the land and bind their respective heirs and assigns for twenty-one years from and after its date.

In 1922, the defendants entered into a contract by which the defendant Corrigan, although knowing the defendant Curtis to be a person of the negro race, agreed to sell her a certain lot, with dwelling house, included within the terms of the indenture, and the defendant Curtis, although knowing of the existence and terms of the indenture, agreed to purchase it. The defendant Curtis demanded that this contract of sale be carried out, and, despite the protest of other parties to the indenture, the defendant Corrigan had stated that she would convey the lot to the defendant Curtis.

The bill alleged that this would cause irreparable injury to the plaintiff and the other parties to the indenture, and that the plaintiff, having no adequate remedy at law, was entitled to have the covenant of the defendant Corrigan specifically enforced in equity by an injunction preventing the defendants from carrying the contract of sale into effect; and prayed, in substance, that the defendant Corrigan be enjoined during twenty-one years from the date of the indenture, from conveying the lot to the defendant Curtis, and that the defendant Curtis be enjoined from taking title to the lot during such period, and from using or occupying it.

The defendant Corrigan moved to dismiss the bill on the grounds that the 'indenture or covenant made the basis of said bill' is (1) 'void in that the same is contrary to and in violation of the Constitution of the United States,' and (2) 'is void in that the same is contrary to public policy.' And the defendant Curtis moved to dismiss the bill on the ground that it appears therein that the indenture or cevenant 'is void, in that it attempts to deprive the defendant, the said Helen Curtis, and others of property, without due process of law; abridges the privilege and immunities of citizens of the United States, including the defendant Helen Curtis, and other persons within this jurisdiction (and denies them) the equal protection of the law, and therefore, is forbidden by the Constitution of the United States, and especially by the Fifth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Amendments thereof, and the Laws enacted is aid and under the sanction of the said Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments.'

Both of these motions to dismiss were overruled, with leave to answer. 52 Wash. Law Rep. 402. And the defendants having elected to stand on their motions, a final decree was entered enjoining them as prayed in the bill. This was affirmed, on appeal, by the Court of Appeals of the District. 55 App. D. C. 30, 299 F. 899. The defendants then prayed an appeal to this Court on the ground that such review was authorized under the provisions of section 250 of the Judicial Code (Comp. St. § 1227)-as it then stood, before the amendment made by the Jurisdictional Act of 1925-in that the case was one 'involving the construction or application of the Constitution of the United States' (paragraph 3), and 'in which the construction of' certain laws of the United States, namely, sections 1977, 1978, 1979 of the Revised Statutes (Comp. St. §§ 3925, 3931, 3932) were 'drawn in question' by them (paragraph 6). This appeal was allowed, in June, 1924.

The mere assertion that the case is one involving the construction or application of the Constitution, and in which the construction of federal laws is drawn in question, does not, however, authorize this Court to entertain the appeal; and it is our duty to decline jurisdiction if the record does not present such a constitutional or statutory question substantial in character and properly raised below. Sugarman v. United States, 249 U. S. 182, 184, 39 S. Ct. 191, 63 L. Ed. 550; Zucht v. King, 260 U. S. 174, 176, 43 S. Ct. 24, 67 L. Ed. 194. And under well settled rules, jurisdiction is wanting if such questions are so unsubstantial as to be plainly without color of merit and frivolous. Wilson v. North Carolina, 169 U. S. 586, 595, 18 S. Ct. 435, 42 L. Ed. 865; Delmar Jockey Club v. Missouri, 210 U. S. 324, 335, 28 S. Ct. 732, 52 L. Ed. 1080; Binderup v. Pathe Exchange, 263 U. S. 291, 305, 44 S. Ct. 96, 68 L. Ed. 308; Moore v. New York Cotton Exchange, 270 U. S. 593, 46 S. Ct. 367, 70 L. Ed. 750, No. 200, decided April 12, 1926.

Under the pleadings in the present case the only constitutional question involved was that arising under the assertions in the motions to dismiss that the indenture or covenant which is the basis of the bill, is 'void' in that it is contrary to and forbidden by the Fifth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. This contention is entirely lacking in substance or color of merit. The Fifth Amendment 'is a limitation only upon the powers of the General Government,' Talton v. Mayes, 163 U. S. 376, 382, 16 S. Ct. 986, 988 (41 L. Ed. 196), and is not directed against...