Category: B
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Burr Trial
The Burr TrialNot long afterward, the Chief Justice went to Richmond to preside over the trial of Aaron Burr. His ruling 1 denying a motion to introduce certain collateral evidence bearing on Burr's activities is significant both for rendering th…
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Boundary Disputes
Boundary Disputes: The Law AppliedOf the earlier examples of suits between states, that between New Jersey and New York 1 is significant for the application of the rule laid down earlier in Chisholm v. Georgia that the Supreme Court may proceed ex pa…
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Baker v. Carr
The Doctrine Before Baker v. CarrOver the years, the political question doctrine has been applied to preclude adjudication of a variety of other issues. In particular, prior to Baker v. Carr,1 cases challenging the distribution of political power thr…
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Bankruptcy Courts
Bankruptcy CourtsAfter extended and lengthy debate, Congress in 1978 revised the bankruptcy act and created a bankruptcy court as an "adjunct" of the district courts. The court was composed of judges vested with practically all the judicial power of the United States, serving for 14-year t…
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Bankruptcy
Persons Who May Be Released From DebtIn an early case on circuit, Justice Livingston suggested that inasmuch as the English statutes on the subject of bankruptcy from the time of Henry VIII down had applied only to traders it might "well be doubted, whether an act of Congress subjecting to such…
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Banned Articles
Foreign Commerce: Banned ArticlesThe forerunners of more recent acts excluding objectionable commodities from interstate commerce are the laws forbidding the importation of like commodities from abroad. Congress has exercised this power since 1842, when it forbade the importation of obscene literatu…
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Bicameralism
BicameralismFor the Framers, historical and contemporary examples of both unicameral and bicameral legislatures abounded. Following the Revolution, a number of state legislatures were created unicameral, and the Continental Congress, limited in power as it was, consisted of one house. On the other h…
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Bills of Attainder
Bills of Attainder (Powers Denied to Congress)"Bills of attainder . . . are such special acts of the legislature, as inflict capital punishments upon persons supposed to be guilty of high offences, such as treason and felony, without any conviction in the ordinary course of judicial proceedings…
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Bills of Credit
Bills of Credit (Powers Denied to the States)Within the sense of the Constitution, bills of credit signify a paper medium of exchange, intended to circulate between individuals, and between the government and individuals, for the ordinary purposes of society. It is immaterial whether the quality of …
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Bituminous Coal Conservation Act
Bituminous Coal Conservation ActThe third measure to be disallowed was the Guffey-Snyder Bituminous Coal Conservation Act of 1935.1 The statute created machinery for the regulation of the price of soft coal, both that sold in interstate commerce and …
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Borrowing Power
Clause 2. Congress Borrowing PowerAccording to the Constitution, the "Congress shall have Power" … "to borrow Money on the credit of the United States." The original draft of the Constitution reported to the convention by its Committee of Detail empowered Congress "To bor…