Snyder v. Buck

Natural professional interest in trying to disentangle the legal snarl presented by this case would not justify me in enlarging my dissent from the Court’s views. But the state of the law regarding litigation brought formally against an official but intrinsically against the Government is so compounded of confusion and artificialities that an analysis differing from the Court’s may not be futile.

At the outset it is desirable to dispel a misconception regarding the legislation on abatement of suits in the federal courts. In 1899, Congress for the first time made provision for the continuance…