Mo Hock Ke Lok Po v. Stainback

The question here is whether Congress in enacting Judicial Code, Section 266, as amended, 28 U.S.C. 380, 28 U.S.C.A. § 380, conferred on the territorial district courts created by it in Hawaii and Alaska the jurisdiction to act as three-judge tribunals in suits to enjoin territorial officers from enforcing territorial laws alleged to violate the Federal Constitution.

I dissent from the court’s holding that Congress gave jurisdiction in such cases under Section 266 to its territorial courts. The Supreme Court in a scries of decisions, culminating in Phillips v. United States, 312 U.S. 246, 248…