Winkler v. Daniels
Decision Date | 16 January 1942 |
Docket Number | No. 154.,154. |
Citation | 43 F. Supp. 265 |
Parties | WINKLER v. DANIELS et al. |
Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia |
Bertram S. Nusbaum, of Norfolk, Va., for plaintiff.
H. M. Woodward, of Norfolk, Va., for defendants.
This is a civil action by a citizen of the District of Columbia against citizens of Virginia, in which plaintiff seeks to recover a judgment against defendants in an amount in excess of $3,000, exclusive of interest and costs.
Defendants have moved to dismiss upon the ground that United States District Courts have no jurisdiction of any action by a citizen or citizens of the District of Columbia against a citizen or citizens of a State. The grounds of the motion are based upon the contentions that (1) The District of Columbia is not a state within the meaning of the Constitution; and (2) The Act of Congress, approved April 20, 1940, amending 28 U.S.C.A. Subsection 1 of Section 41, is unconstitutional. The pertinent parts of said Act of Congress, as amended, read as follows:
The words italicized above were added by the amendment of April 20, 1940.
It has been held in an unbroken line of decisions, beginning in 1805 with Hepburn v. Ellzey, 2 Cranch 445, 2 L.Ed. 332, that a citizen of the District of Columbia (or of a territory) is not a citizen of a state within the meaning of the Constitution, § 2, Art. 3.1
However, it appears from H.R. No. 1756, third session of the 76th Congress, that the proponents of the amendment of April 20, 1940, rely upon a subsection of Section 8, of Article 1 of the Constitution to sustain the Act in question in so far as the Act relates to the District of Columbia. The provisions of Section 8, of Article 1 of the Constitution, pertinent here, are:
"To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers" enumerated in Section 8 of Article 1, "and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof."
With respect to the validity of the proposed Act and the desirability of such legislation, the report (H.R. 1756) says:
No decision directly in point has been cited or found. It will be observed that the language of the above quoted provisions of Section 8, Article 1, is very broad and sweeping. By those provisions Congress is given the unqualified power "To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever", and "To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers". It is true that the provision last quoted from Section 8 relates to all of the powers enumerated and granted to Congress in that section, but it is not perceived that that in any degree weakens the grant of power relating specifically to the seat of the Government of the United States. The powers granted to Congress to legislate with respect to the seat of Government are broad and inclusive enough to embrace the combined powers of any State legislature and those of Congress to legislate with respect to the property and inhabitants of such state. In Stoutenburgh v. Hennick, 129 U.S. 141, 147, 9 S.Ct. 256, 257, 32 L.Ed. 637, it is said:
"Congress has express power `to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever' over the District of Columbia, thus possessing the combined powers of a general and of a state government in all cases where legislation is possible."
Also, see O'Donoghue v. United States, 289 U.S. 516, at pages 539, 540, 53 S.Ct. 740, 746, 77 L.Ed. 1356, quoting from the opinion in Grether v. Wright, 6 Cir., 75 F. 742, as follows:
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Central States Co-ops. v. Watson Bros. Transp. Co., 9291.
...the question has been considered, decided, and an opinion published by nine of such courts. The District Court of Virginia, in Winkler v. Daniels, 43 F.Supp. 265, and the District Court of California in Glaeser v. Acacia Mut. Life Ass'n, 55 F.Supp. 925, held the amendment constitutional. On......
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National Mut. Ins. Co. v. Tidewater Transfer Co., 5674.
...dealing with this problem in the United States District Courts. The constitutionality of the statute has been upheld in Winkler v. Daniels, D.C., E.D.Va., 43 F. Supp. 265; Glaeser v. Acacia Mutual Life Association, D.C., N.D.Cal., 55 F.Supp. 925; Duze v. Woolley, D.C., D. Hawaii, 72 F.Supp.......
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