Ahrens et al. v. Clark, Attorney General (335 U.S. 188)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 21, 1948 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 335 U.S. 188 · 68 S. Ct. 1443
- Docket
- No. 446
- Argued
- March 29, 1948
- Decided
- June 21, 1948
- Term
- October Term 1947
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Douglas
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Douglas (wrote), Justice Frankfurter, Justice Reed
- Dissenting
- Justice Black, Justice Rutledge (wrote), Justice Murphy
Opinion excerpt
Opinion of the Court by Mr. Justice Douglas, announced by Mr. Justice Reed. The initial question presented in this case is the one we reserved in Ex parte Endo, 323 U. S. 283, 305, viz. whether the presence within the territorial jurisdiction of the District Court of the person detained is prerequisite to filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Petitioners are some 120 Germans who are being held at Ellis Island, New York, for deportation to Germany. Their deportation has been directed under removal orders issued by the Attorney General who has found that each of them is dangerous to the public peace and safety of the United States because he has adhered to a government with which the United States is at war or to the principles thereof. These removal orders were issued under Presidential Proclamation 2655 of July 14, 1945 (10 Fed. Reg. 8947) pursuant to the Alien Enemy Act of 1798, R. S. § 4067, 50 U. S. C. § 21. The orders are challenged by these petitions for writs of habeas corpus on several grounds, the principal one being that all of them exceed the statutory authority in that they were issued after actual hostilities with Germany ceased. The petitions were filed in the District Court for the District of Columbia and alleged that petitioners were confined at Ellis Island, New York, and are “subject to the custody and control” of the Attorney General. Respondent…
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