''Ex parte Levitt'', 302 U.S. 633 (1937), is a

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

case that dismissed objections to the appointment of Justice

Hugo Black Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937 and as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971. A ...

for lack of standing.

Background

In March 1937, Congress passed an act that increased the pension paid to a Supreme Court justice who retired when 70 years or older.

was a member of the Senate when the legislation was enacted. The

ineligibility clause The Ineligibility Clause (sometimes also called the Emoluments Clause, or the Incompatibility Clause, or the Sinecure Clause) is a provision in Article 1, Section 6, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution that makes each incumbent member of C ...

of the U.S. Constitution bars members of the Senate and House from being " pointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time..." In August 1937, President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

nominated Black to the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Senate confirmed Black's appointment. On Black’s first day on the court, October 4, 1937,

Albert Levitt Albert Levitt (March 14, 1887 – June 18, 1968) was an American judge, law professor, attorney, and candidate for political office. While he was a memorable teacher at Washington and Lee University, and as judge of the United States District ...

, a former U.S. assistant attorney general, rose and addressed Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes. He said he wanted to file a brief asking the Court to order Black to show cause why he should be allowed to take the seat of an Associate Justice. Hughes told Levitt to do so in writing, and Levitt then filed a

pro se ''Pro se'' legal representation ( or ) comes from Latin ''pro se'', meaning "for oneself" or "on behalf of themselves" which, in modern law, means to argue on one's own behalf in a legal proceeding, as a defendant or plaintiff in civil cases, o ...

motion in the Supreme Court requesting leave to petition for an order requiring Black to show cause why he should be permitted to serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court.

Opinion of the Court

In a brief

per curiam In law, a ''per curiam'' decision (or opinion) is a ruling issued by an appellate court of multiple judges in which the decision rendered is made by the court (or at least, a majority of the court) acting collectively (and typically, though not ...

opinion, the court dismissed the case for want of

standing Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an ''erect'' ("orthostatic") position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the s ...

The grounds of this motion are that the appointment of Mr. Justice Black by the President and the confirmation thereof by the Senate of the United States were null and void by reason of his ineligibility under Article I, Section 6, Clause 2, of the Constitution of the United States, and because there was no vacancy for which the appointment could lawfully be made. The motion papers disclose no interest upon the part of the petitioner other than that of a citizen and a member of the bar of this Court. That is insufficient. It is an established principle that to entitle a private individual to invoke the judicial power to determine the validity of executive or legislative action he must show that he has sustained or is immediately in danger of sustaining a direct injury as the result of that action and it is not sufficient that he has merely a general interest common to all members of the public. '' Tyler v. Judges'', 179 U.S. 405, 406; '' Southern Ry. Co. v. King'', 217 U.S. 524, 534; '' Newman v. Frizzell'', 238 U.S. 537, 549, 550; ''
Fairchild v. Hughes ''Fairchild v. Hughes'', 258 U.S. 126 (1922), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that a general citizen, in a state that already had women's suffrage, lacked standing (law), standing to challenge the validity of the ra ...
'', 258 U.S. 126, 129; '' Massachusetts v. Mellon'', 262 U.S. 447, 488. The motion is denied.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ex Parte Levitt United States Constitution Article One case law United States Constitution Article Three case law United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Hughes Court 1937 in United States case law Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt Conflict of interest mitigation History of the Supreme Court of the United States

Background

Opinion of the Court

See also

References