University of Virginia Library

3228. FREEDOM OF PERSON, Federal Constitution and.—

The imprisonment of a
person under the laws of * * * [Kentucky],
on his failure to obey the simple order of the President to depart out of the United
States, as is undertaken by the act entitled
“An Act concerning Aliens”, is contrary to
the Constitution, one amendment to which
has provided that “no person shall be deprived
of liberty without due process of law”;
and that another having provided that “in
all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy

the right to be tried by an impartial jury, to be informed of the nature and cause of
the accusation, to be confronted with the
witnesses against him, to have compulsory
process for obtaining witnesses in his favor,
and to have the assistance of counsel for his
defense”, the same act, undertaking to authorize
the President to remove a person out
of the United States, who is under the protection
of the law, on his own suspicion, without
accusation, without jury, without public
trial, without confrontation of the witnesses
against him, without hearing witnesses in
his favor, without defence, without counsel, is
contrary to the provision also of the Constitution,
is therefore not law, but utterly void,
and of no force; * * * [and the] transferring
the power of judging any person, who
is under the protection of the laws, from the
courts to the President of the United States,
as is undertaken by the same act concerning
aliens, is against the article of the Constitution
which provides that “the judicial power
of the United States shall be vested in courts,
the judges of which shall hold their offices
during good behavior”; and * * * the
said act is void for that reason also. And
it is further to be noted, that this transfer
of judiciary power is to that magistrate of the
General Government who already possesses all
the executive, and a negative on all legislative
powers.—
Kentucky Resolutions. Washington ed. ix, 467. Ford ed., vii, 297.
(1798)