Ballinger v. United States ex rel. Ness
Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Hearing on an appeal by tbe respondent from an order of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia sustaining a demurrer by the petitioner for the writ of mandamus, to the return of the respondent to a rule to show cause why the writ should not issue, and directing the issuance of the writ.
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Hearing on an appeal by tbe respondent from an order of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia sustaining a demurrer by the petitioner for the writ of mandamus, to the return of the respondent to a rule to show cause why the writ should not issue, and directing the issuance of the writ. The Court in the opinion stated the facts as follows: The relator, Mary S. Ness, petitioned the supreme court of the District for a writ of mandamus to compel James H. Garfield, then Secretary of the Interior, to accept an application made by her for the purchase of a parcel of the public land, under…
1Opinion of the CourtChief Justice Shepard
1. Responding, first, to the persistent pressing of the question of jurisdiction to review the action of the head of an executive department, it is sufficient to say that this is not the case of one seeking to establish a title to lands as against the United States, but of one seeking to compel the performance of a ministerial duty imposed upon the officer by the terms of a statute. The duty, if such, does not cease to be ministerial because it requires, in some degree, the construction of the language of a statute. Roberts v. United States, 13 App. D. C. 38, 46; Roberts v. United States, 176…
2Cases cited15 opinions
- Williamson v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1908
- United States v. MooreSupreme Court of the United States · 1878
- Davis v. MassachusettsSupreme Court of the United States · 1897
- Hastings & Dakota Railroad v. WhitneySupreme Court of the United States · 1889
- Roberts v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1900
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