U.S. Supreme Court O'DONOGHUE v. UNITED STATES, 289 U.S. 516 (1933)

[Page 289 U.S. 516, 553]

trative sort. It is only because the Congress, in establishing the courts of the District of Columbia, is free from the limitations imposed by section 1 of article 3 that administrative powers can be, and are, conferred upon them. Keller v. Potomac Electric Power Company, 261 U.S. 428, 442, 443 S., 43 S.Ct. 445; Postum Cereal Co. v. California Fig Nut Co., 272 U.S. 693, 700, 47 S.Ct. 284; Ex parte Bakelite Corporation, 279 U.S. 438, 450, 49 S.Ct. 411.

With the question of policy, this court is not concerned, save as policy is determined by the Constitution. The question is one of constitutional interpretation which has hitherto been deemed to be settled. Footnotes

[Footnote *] Article 1, 8, cl. 17: 'The Congress shall have Power ... To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District ( not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, Dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings.'