Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/175/291
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 17:13:20+00:00

Document:
JOSEPH BRADFIELD, , v. ELLIS H. ROBERTS, Treasurer of the United States.
JOSEPH BRADFIELD, Appt., v. ELLIS H. ROBERTS, Treasurer of the United States.
This is a suit in equity, brought by the appellant to enjoin the defendant from paying any moneys to the directors of Providence Hospital, in the city of Washington, under an agreement entered into between the commissioners of the District of Columbia and the directors of the hospital, by virtue of the authority of an act of Congress, because of the alleged invalidity of the agreement for the reasons stated in the bill of complaint. In that bill complainant represents that he is a citizen and taxpayer of the United States and a resident of the District of Columbia, that the defendant is the Treasurer of the United States, and the object of the suit is to enjoin him from paying to or on account of Providence Hospital, in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, any moneys belonging to the United States, by virtue of a contract between the surgeon general of the army and the directors of that hospital, or by virtue of an agreement between the commissioners of the District of Columbia and such directors, under the authority of an appropriation contained in the sundry civil appropriation bill for the District of Columbia, approved June 4, 1897.
'That in view of the sectarian character of said Providence Hospital and the specific and limited object of its creation, the said contract between the same and the surgeon general of the army and also the said agreement between the same and the commissioners of the District of Columbia are unauthorized by law, and, moreover, involve a principle and a precedent for the appropriation of the funds of the United States for the use and support of religious societies, contrary to the article of the Constitution which declares that Congress shall make no law respecting a religious establishment, and also a precedent for giving to religious societies a legal agency in carrying into effect a public and civil duty which would, if once established, speedily obliterate the essential distinction between civil and religious functions.
'First. That two thirds of the entire capacity of said isolating building or ward shall be reserved for the use of such poor patients as shall be sent there by the commissioners of the District from time to time through the proper officers. For each such patient said commissioners and their successors in office are to pay at the rate of two hundred and fifty dollars ($250) per annum, for such a time as such patient may be in the hospital, subject to annual appropriations by Congress.
'Second. That persons able to pay for treatment may make such arrangements for entering the said building or ward as shall be determined by those in charge thereof, and such persons will pay the said Providence Hospital reasonable compensation for such treatment, to be fixed by the hospital authorities, but such persons shall have the privilege of selecting their own physicians and nurses, and in case physicians and nurses are selected other than those assigned by the hospital, it shall be at the expense of the patient making the request.
'And said Providence Hospital agrees to always maintain a neutral zone of forty (40) feet around said isolating building or ward and grounds connected therewith to which patients of said ward have access.
The contract, if any, between the directors and the suregeon general of the army is not set forth in the bill, and the contents or conditions thereof do not in any way appear.
The defendant demurred to the bill on the ground that the complainant had not in and by his bill shown any right or title to maintain the same; also upon the further ground that the complainant had not stated such a case as entitled him to the relief thereby prayed or any relief as against the defendant.
Complainant joined issue upon the demurrer, and at a term of the supreme court of the District of Columbia the demurrer was overruled and the injunction granted as prayed for. 26 Wash. Law Rep. 84. Upon appeal to the court of appeals of the District the judgment was reversed, and the case remanded to the supreme court, with directions to dismiss the bill. 12 App. D. C. 453. Whereupon the complainant appealed to this court.
Assistant Attorney General Hoyt and Attorney General Griggs for appellee.
Passing the various objections made to the maintenance of this suit on account of an alleged defect of parties, and also in regard to the character in which the complainant sues, merely that of a citizen and taxpayer of the United States and a resident of the District of Columbia, we come to the main question as to the validity of the agreement between the commissioners of the District and the directors of the hospital, founded upon the appropriation contained in the act of Congress, the contention being that the agreement if carried out would result in an appropriation by Congress of money to a religious society, thereby violating the constitutional provision which forbids Congress from passing any law respecting an establishment of religion. Art. 1 of the Amendments to Constitution.
The appropriation is to be found in the general appropriation act for the government of the District of Columbia, approved March 3, 1897, 29 Stat. at L. 665, 679, chap. 387. It reads: 'For two isolating buildings, to be constructed, in the discretion of the commissioners of the District of Columbia, on the grounds of two hospitals, and to be operated as a part of such hospitals, thirty thousand dollars.' Acting under the authority of this appropriation the commissioners entered into the agreement in question.
As the bill alleges that Providence Hospital was incorporated by an act of Congress approved April 8, 1864 (13 Stat. at L. 43, chap. 50), and assumes to give some of its provisions, the act thus referred to is substantially made a part of the bill, and it is therefore set forth in the margin.
An Act to Incorporate Providence Hospital of the City of Washington, District of Columbia.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Lucy Gwynn, Teresa Angela Costello, Sarah McDonald, Mary E. Spalding, and Mary Calloll, and their successors in office, are hereby made, declared, and constituted a corporation and body politic, in law and in fact, under the name and style of the directors of Providence Hospital, and by that name they shall be and are hereby made capable in law to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded, in any court within the county of Washington, in the District of Columbia; to have and use a common seal, and to alter or amend the same at pleasure; to have, purchase, receive, possess, and enjoy any estate in lands, tenements, annuities, goods, chattels, monyes, or effects, and to grant, devise, or dispose of the same in such manner as they may deem most for the interest of the hospital: Provided, That the real estate held by said corporation shall not exceed in value the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said corporation and body politic shall have full power to appoint from their own body a president and such other officers as they may deem necessary for the purposes of their creation; and in case of the death, resignation, or refusal to serve, of any of their number, the remaining members shall elect and appoint other persons in lieu of those whose places may have been vacated; and the said corporation shall have full power and all the rights of opening and keeping a hospital in the city of Washington for the care of such sick and invalid persons as may place themselves under the treatment and care of the said corporation.
If we were to assume, for the purpose of this question only, that under this appropriation an agreement with a religious corporation of the tenor of this agreement would be invalid, as resulting indirectly in the passage of an act respecting an establishment of religion, we are unable to see that the complainant in his bill shows that the corporation is of the kind described, but on the contrary he has clearly shown that it is not.
The other allegations in complainant's bill are simply statements of his opinion in regard to the results necessarily flowing from the appropriation in question when connected with the agreement mentioned.
The act of Congress, however, shows there is nothing sectarian in the corporation, and 'the specific and limited object of its creation' is the opening and keeping a hospital in the city of Washington for the care of such sick and invalid persons as may place themselves under the treatment and care of the corporation. To make the agreement was within the discretion of the commissioners, and was a fair exercise thereof.
The right reserved in the third section of the charter to amend, alter, or repeal the act leaves full power in Congress to remedy any abuse of the charter privileges.
Without adverting to any other objections to the maintenance of this suit, it is plain that complainant wholly fails to set forth a cause of action, and the bill was properly dismissed by the Court of Appeals, and its decree will therefore be affirmed.
REUBEN QUICK BEAR, Ralph Eagle Feather, and Charles Tackett, on Behalf of Themselves and All Other Members of the Sioux Tribe of Indians of the Rosebud Agency, South Dakota, Appts., v. FRANCIS E. LEUPP, Commissioner of Indian Affairs; James Rudolph Garfield, Secretary of the Interior; George Bruce Cortelyou, Secretary of the Treasury, et al.
SCHOOL DISTRICT OF ABINGTON TOWNSHIP, PENNSYLVANIA, et al., Appellants, v. Edward Lewis SCHEMPP et al. William J. MURRAY III, etc., et al., Petitioners, v. John N. CURLETT, President, et al., Individually, and Constituting the Board of School Commissioners of Baltimore City.

References: v. 
 v. 
 Art. 1
 v. 
 v. 
 v.