Opinion ID: 464646
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Constitutionality of 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1105a(c)

Text: 24 Article I, Section 9, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution provides that: The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless wherein cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it. Does this bar Congress from removing the district court's--and our--jurisdiction over Umanzor's habeas application through 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1105a(a)(c)? 25 Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution vests the judicial power of the United States in a Supreme Court and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. As one scholarly commentator has remarked, It is this statement, coupled with its history, that has consistently supported the conclusion that Congress not only has power over lower federal court jurisdiction but that this power is in essence plenary. Uddo, A Wink from the Bench: The Federal Courts and Abortion. 53 Tul.L.Rev. 398, 400 (1979) (emphasis added). 26 In Palmore v. United States, 411 U.S. 389, 93 S.Ct. 1670, 36 L.Ed.2d 342 (1973), the Supreme Court declared: 27 The decision with respect to inferior federal courts, as well as the task of defining their jurisdiction, was left to the discretion of Congress. That body was not constitutionally required to create inferior Article III courts to hear and decide cases within the judicial power of the United States, including those criminal cases arising under the laws of the United States. Nor, if inferior federal courts were created, was it required to invest them with all the jurisdiction it was authorized to bestow under Article III. Id. 411 U.S. at 400-01, 93 S.Ct. at 1677-78. 28 Accordingly, it is clear that Congress is constitutionally empowered to curtail the habeas jurisdiction of the lower federal courts if it so chooses. Congress has so chosen, and we obey its command. Like pregnancy, jurisdiction admits of no qualification. Thus, while it might be satisfying to join the dissent in discovering that we have a little bit of jurisdiction in extreme cases, we conclude that such a course would be for Congress, not for us.