Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States
United States Ex Rel. Turner v. Williams
194 U.S. 279
- Type
- Opinion
- Court
- Supreme Court of the United States
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
- Date
- 1904-05-16
- Topic
- general
How later courts describe this case
- holding that excludable aliens are not entitled to First Amendment rights
- holding that alien could not assert first amendment right of freedom of speech because "those who are excluded cannot assert the rights in general obtaining in a land to which they do not belong as citizens or otherwise."
- holding that excludable alien not entitled to assert First Amendment rights
- holding that an excludable alien is not entitled to First Amendment rights, because ‘[h]e does not become one of the people to whom these thing are secured by our Constitution by an attempt to enter forbidden by law”
- observing that fifth and sixth amendments protect aliens once they are in this country
- explaining that an alien “does not become one of the people to whom [First Amendment rights] are secured by our Constitution by [engaging in conduct] forbidden by law”
- deporting an alien found to be in violation of a constitutionally valid law doesn’t violate due process
- questioning whether an illegal alien gains the First Amendment’s protections because “[h]e does not become one of the people to whom these things are secured by our Constitution by an attempt to enter forbidden by law”
Citator
UpLaw has not yet analyzed United States Ex Rel. Turner v. Williams. The absence of a flag is not a finding that it is good law.
- Cited by
- 160 opinions
Headnotes
- Constitutional Law — Immigration and Alien Exclusion Congress has the power to exclude aliens from the United States, to prescribe the terms and conditions on which they may enter, to establish regulations for deporting aliens who have entered in violation of law, and to commit the enforcement of such conditions and regulations to executive officers. 194 U.S. 279 (1904)
- Constitutional Law — Due Process The deportation of an alien who is found to be in the United States in violation of law is not a deprivation of liberty without due process of law, and the constitutional provisions securing the right to trial by jury have no application to such proceedings. 194 U.S. 279 (1904)
- Constitutional Law — Immigration and Alien Exclusion The power of Congress to forbid the entrance of foreigners and to admit them only upon such conditions as it sees fit to prescribe rests either on the accepted principle of international law that every sovereign nation has the power, inherent in sovereignty and essential to self-preservation, to forbid the entrance of foreigners within its dominions, or on the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations; under either ground, the Alien Immigration Act of March 3, 1903, is not open to constitutional objection. 194 U.S. 279 (1904)
- Constitutional Law — Immigration and Alien Exclusion The Alien Immigration Act of March 3, 1903, which provides for the exclusion of alien anarchists, does not violate the First Amendment, because the act has no reference to an establishment of religion, does not prohibit the free exercise thereof, and does not abridge the freedom of speech or of the press; an alien who is excluded or expelled is not deprived of rights secured to the people of the United States, since he does not become one of the people to whom those rights are guaranteed by an attempt to enter forbidden by law. 194 U.S. 279 (1904)
- Constitutional Law — Immigration and Alien Exclusion Even if the term "anarchists" in the Alien Immigration Act were interpreted to include aliens whose anarchistic views are professed as those of political philosophers innocent of evil intent, the act would not be unconstitutional, because Congress could conclude that the tendency of the general exploitation of such views is so dangerous to the public weal that aliens who hold and advocate them would be undesirable additions to the population. 194 U.S. 279 (1904)
- Administrative Law — Review of Executive Determinations Where a board of inquiry and the Secretary of Commerce and Labor have found that an alien immigrant was an anarchist within the meaning of the Alien Immigration Act of March 3, 1903, and there is evidence on which to base that conclusion, the exclusion or deportation of the alien will not be reviewed on the facts. 194 U.S. 279 (1904)
- Habeas Corpus — Scope of Judicial Inquiry Notwithstanding legislation committing the enforcement of exclusion and deportation regulations to executive officers, the courts may and must, when properly called upon by petition for habeas corpus, examine and determine the right of any individual restrained of his personal liberty to be discharged from such restraint; Congress cannot give ministerial officers a final adjudication of the right to liberty or oust the courts from the duty of inquiry respecting both law and facts. 194 U.S. at 295 (Brewer, J., concurring)
- Constitutional Law — Powers of the United States The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people; the General Government possesses only the powers named in the Constitution, expressly or by implication, and all others are reserved to the people and can be exercised only by them or upon further grant from them. 194 U.S. at 295 (Brewer, J., concurring)
TURNERv. WILLIAMS,194 U.S. 279(1904)
24 S.Ct. 719
UNITED STATESex rel. JOHN TURNERv. WILLIAMS.
APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT
OF NEW YORK.
No. 561.
Argued April 6, 7, 1904.
Decided May 16, 1904.
JOHN TURNER filed in the United States Circuit Court for the
Southern District of New York, October 26, 1903, a petition
alleging —
"First. That on October 23 in the city of New York your
relator was arrested by divers persons claiming to be acting by
authority of the Government of the United States and was by said
persons conveyed to the United States immigration station at
Ellis Island in the harbor of New York, and is now there
imprisoned by the Commissioner of Immigration of the port of New
York.
"Second. Your relator is so imprisoned by virtue of a warrant
sworn out by the Secretary of the Department of Commerce and
Labor, which warrant charges your relator with being an anarchist
and being unlawfully within the United States in violation of
section 2 and section 20 of the immigration laws of the United
States, as amended by act of March 3, 1903.
"Third. Upon information and belief that a special board of
inquiry consisting of Charles Semsey, Captain Weldon, supervising
inspector, and L.C. Stewart, all of whom are executive officers
of the United States, has inquired into your relator's case and
decided that your relator is an anarchist, and is in the United
States in violation of law within the meaning of the act of March
3, 1903.
"Fourth. Your relator denies that he is an anarchist within
the meaning of the immigration laws of the United States, and
states to the court that about six years ago he took out his
first papers of application for citizenship in this country, and
that he has at no times been engaged as a propagandist of
doctrines inciting to or advising violent overthrow of
government, but for about six years last past he has been the
paid organizer of the retail clerks of Great Britain and his
business
Page 281
in this country is solely to promote the interests of organized
labor, and that he has at all times conducted himself as a
peaceful and law abiding citizen.
"By reason of all of which facts your relator says that his
imprisonment is illegal, in that he is being deprived of his
liberty without due process of law and is being denied equal
protection of the laws, contrary to the Constitution and laws of
the United States."
And praying for a writ ofhabeas corpusto the Commissioner
of Immigration of the port of New York, and also for a writ of
certiorari to bring up the record of the Board of Inquiry which
adjudged him to be an anarchist and in the United States in
violation of the immigration laws. The commissioner made return
under oath and also certified the record of the Board of Inquiry.
The return stated —
"That the above named John Turner is an alien, a subject of
the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; that said alien came to
the United States from England on or about ten days prior to
October 24, 1903, as deponent is informed and believes.
"Said John Turner was arrested in the city of New York on or
about October 23, 1903, under a warrant issued by the Secretary
of the Department of Commerce and Labor of the United States, and
was taken to the Ellis Island immigration station, where he was
examined by a board of a special inquiry, duly constituted
according to law, upon his right to remain in this country, and
that said alien was by said board found to be an alien anarchist,
and was by unanimous decision of said board ordered to be
deported to the country from whence he came as a person within
the United States in violation of law. That on October 26, 1903,
said alien appealed from the said decision of the board of
special inquiry to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, who
dismissed the appeal and directed that said alien be deported to
the country from whence he came upon the ground that said alien
is an anarchist
Page 282
and a person who disbelieves in and who is opposed to all
organized government and was found to be in the United States in
violation of law.
"That annexed hereto is a copy of the above-mentioned warrant
for the arrest and deportation of said John Turner, and copies of
the minutes of said hearing before the board of special inquiry,
and a copy of the order or decision of the Secretary of Commerce
and Labor dismissing said appeal and again directing deportation.
That said John Turner is now held in deponent's custody at the
Ellis Island immigrant station pending deportation to the country
from whence he came in accordance with the above-mentioned
decision or order of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor."
The warrant issued by the Secretary was addressed to certain
United States immigrant inspectors, and recited that from the
proofs submitted the Secretary was satisfied that Turner, an
alien anarchist, came into this country contrary to the
prohibition of the act of Congress of March 3, 1903, and
commanded them to take him into custody and return him to the
country from whence he came at the expense of the United States.
On appeal to the Secretary the record of proceedings before the
board of inquiry was transmitted, and the Secretary held: "The
evidence shows that the appellant declined to give exact
information as to the manner in which he secured admission to
this country, although he swears that he arrived here about ten
days ago. He admits that he is an anarchist and an advocate of
anarchistic principles, which brings him within the class defined
by section 38 of the act approved March 3, 1903. In view of these
facts, the appeal is dismissed and you are directed to deport the
said John Turner in conformity with warrant now in your hands for
execution."
The hearing before the Board of Inquiry was had October 24,
1903, and it appeared from the minutes thereof that Turner
testified that he was an Englishman; that he had been in the
United States ten days, and that he did not come through New
York, but declined to either affirm or deny that he arrived
Page 283
viaCanada; that he would not undertake to deny that he had in
the lecture delivered in New York, October 23, declared himself
to be an anarchist, which, he said, was a statement that he would
make; and that the testimony of the inspectors was about correct.
That evidence gave extracts from the address referred to
including these: "Just imagine what a universal tie-up would
mean. What would it mean in New York city alone if this idea of
soliditary were spread through the city? If no work was being
done, if it were Sunday for a week or a fortnight, life in New
York would be impossible, and the workers, gaining audacity,
would refuse to recognize the authority of their employers and
eventually take to themselves the handling of the industries. . . .
All over Europe they are preparing for a general strike, which
will spread over the entire industrial world. Everywhere the
employers are organizing, and to me, at any rate, as an
anarchist, as one who believes that the people should emancipate
themselves, I look forward to this struggle as an opportunity for
the workers to assert the power that is really theirs."
Certain papers were found on Turner, one of them being a list
of his proposed series of lectures, (which, when the warrant was
in execution, he rolled up and threw away,) the subjects
including: "The legal murder of 1887," and "The essentials of
anarchism;" notices of meetings, one of a mass-meeting November
9, at which "Speeches will be delivered by John Turner in
English, John Most in German, and several other speakers. Don't
miss this opportunity to hear the truth expressed about the great
Chicago tragedy on the eleventh of November, 1887;" and another,
stating: "It may be interesting to all that Turner has recently
refused to accept a candidacy to Parliament because of his
anarchistic principles."
A demurrer was interposed to the return, and, after argument,
the Circuit Court dismissed the writ and remanded the petitioner.
126 F. 253. From this order an appeal was prayed and
allowed to this court, and, having been docketed, petitioner was
admitted to bail.
Page 284
Sections 2 and 38 of the act of March 3, 1903, entitled "An
act to regulate the immigration of aliens into the United
States,"32 Stat. 1213, c. 1012, are as follows:
"SEC. 2. That the following classes of aliens shall be
excluded from admission into the United States: All idiots,
insane persons, epileptics, and persons who have been insane
within five years previous; persons who have had two or more
attacks of insanity at any time previously; paupers; persons
likely to become a public charge; professional beggars; persons
afflicted with a loathsome or with a dangerous contagious
disease; persons who have been convicted of a felony or other
crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude; polygamists,
anarchists, or persons who believe in or advocate the overthrow
by force or violence of the Government of the United States or of
all governments or of all forms of law, or the assassination of
public officials; prostitutes, and persons who procure or attempt
to bring in prostitutes or women for the purpose of prostitution;
those who have been, within one year from the date of the
application for admission to the United States, deported as being
under offers, solicitations, promises or agreements to perform
labor or service of some kind therein; and also any person whose
ticket or passage is paid for with the money of another, or who
is assisted by others to come, unless it is affirmatively and
satisfactorily shown that such person does not belong to one of
the foregoing excluded classes; but this section shall not be
held to prevent persons living in the United States from sending
for a relative or friend who is not of the foregoing excluded
classes:Provided, That nothing in this act shall exclude
persons convicted of an offence purely political, not involving
moral turpitude:And provided further, That skilled labor may
be imported, if labor of like kind unemployed cannot be found in
this country:And provided further, that the provisions of this
law applicable to contract labor shall not be held to exclude
professional actors, artists, lecturers, singers, ministers of
any religious denomination, professors for colleges or
seminaries, persons
Page 285
belonging to any recognized learned profession, or persons
employed strictly as personal or domestic servants."
"SEC. 38. That no person who disbelieves in or who is opposed
to all organized government, or who is a member of or affiliated
with any organization entertaining and teaching such disbelief in
or opposition to all organized government, or who advocates or
teaches the duty, necessity, or propriety of the unlawful
assaulting or killing of any officer or officers, either of
specific individuals or of officers generally, of the Government
of the United States or of any other organized government,
because of his or their official character, shall be permitted to
enter the United States or any Territory or place subject to the
jurisdiction thereof. This section shall be enforced by the
Secretary of the Treasury under such rules and regulations as he
shall prescribe.
"That any person who knowingly aids or assists any such person
to enter the United States or any Territory or place subject to
the jurisdiction thereof, or who connives or conspires with any
person or persons to allow, procure, or permit any such person to
enter therein, except pursuant to such rules and regulations made
by the Secretary of the Treasury, shall be fined not more than
five thousand dollars, or imprisoned for not less than one nor
more than five years, or both."
By the act of February 14, 1903,32 Stat. 825, c. 552, "To
establish the Department of Commerce and Labor," the
jurisdiction, supervision and control possessed and exercised by
the Department of the Treasury over the immigration of aliens
into the United States were transferred to the Department of
Commerce and Labor established by the act, to take effect and be
in force the first day of July, 1903.
The arrest and deportation are null and void. The act of February 14, 1903, which created the Department of Commerce and Labor which invested the Secretary thereof withPage 286control of the general immigration service, was repealed by the act of March 3, 1903, which invested the Secretary of the Treasury with the administration of the immigration service, and which repealed by express terms all acts or parts of acts inconsistent therewith.
Section 38 of this act, under which section the appellant was deported, is unconstitutional because in contravention of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which declares that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press. The inhibition of the First Amendment goes to the very competency of Congress itself to pass any such law, independent of whether such law relates to a citizen or an alien.Pollockv.F.L. T.Co.,157 U.S. 427;Downesv.Bidwell,182 U.S. 244.
Although the law in question discriminates against disbelief this is the same thing as abridging freedom of speech. Spencer's Principles of Ethics, vol. 2, 136; Mill's Essay on Liberty; Freund on Police Power, 475.
The act is unconstitutional and void because in contravention of § 1, Art. III, which declares that the judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.
The law provides for the trial of an alien by a Board of Special Inquiry, secret and apart from the public; without indictment; without confrontation of witnesses; without the privilege to the accused of obtaining witnesses; without the right of counsel. It transfers to the Federal inspectors engaged in executing the orders of the executive department of the government, that judicial power which belongs only to the judiciary under the Constitution of the United States.
The framers of the Constitution designed that the departments of the government should not encroach one upon the other. Brice's American Commonwealth, vol. 1, 282; Bancroft'sPage 287History of the Constitution, vol. 1, 327; Madison's Debates, pp. 64, 73, 160; The Federalist, No. 46. For the advantage of thus dividing the government, see Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, book 2, sec. 6; Locke on Civil Government, p. 14.
The whole judicial power under the Constitution is vested in one Supreme Court and such inferior courts as Congress shall from time to time ordain and establish.Kilbournv.Thompson,103 U.S. 168;Marburyv.Madison, 1 Cranch, 173;Martinv.Hunter's Lessee, 1 Wheat. 330; Kent's Com. vol. 1, 301;Andersonv.Hovey,124 U.S. 694;Ex parte Milligan, 4 Wall. 2.
As to the general principle of liberty and as to its breach by the process warranted by this law, see Kentucky Resolutions; The Philosophy of Law, Immanuel Kant; Spencer's Principles of Ethics, vol. 2, p. 92 (D. Appleton Co.).
The appellant was deprived of his liberty without due process of law.Ex parte Sing(C.C.), 82 F. 22;Wong Wingv.United States,163 U.S. 227;Yick Wov.Hopkins,118 U.S. 356; Kent's Com. vol. 1, 599;Caldwellv.Texas,137 U.S. 691;Callanv.Wilson,127 U.S. 540; Madison's Virginia Resolutions; Elliott's Debates, vol. 4, 555et seq.
No power whatever is delegated by the Constitution to the general government over alien friends with reference to their admission into the United States, or otherwise; or over the beliefs of citizens, denizens, sojourners or aliens, or over the freedom of speech, or of the press. See Elliott's Debates, vol. 1, p. 322,et seq.
The decisions which validate the exclusion laws of the general government predicate their reasoning upon the commerce clause of the Constitution or upon the sovereign character of the general government.Edyev.Robertson,112 U.S. 580;Fong Yue Tingv.United States,146 U.S. 698.
These cases referred toGibbonsv.Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, for the definition of commerce. It is contended thatGibbonsv.Ogdenis binding in so far only as it holds commerce to includePage 288navigation; that the definition of commerce given in that decision is not binding law, except in so far as it holds commerce to include navigation. The rule ofstare decisisonly arises in respect of decisions directly upon the points at issue.Cohensv.Virginia, 6 Wheat. 398;Carrollv.Carroll, 16 How. 275;Pollockv.Farmers' Loan Trust Co.,157 U.S. 427.
The regulation of commerce does not include the regulation of beliefs or the regulation of immigration. And though Congress has power to regulate commerce with foreign nations it cannot do so to the extent of overriding inhibitions upon its power which go to its very competency to pass the law. And though Congress may regulate commerce with foreign nations it cannot in and by such regulation abridge the freedom of speech or of the press.
So far as the sovereign character of the government is concerned, sovereignty under our system devolved upon the States after the Revolution.Chisholmv.Georgia, 2 Dallas, 470;Sturgisv.Crowninshield, 4 Wheat. 193;Dartmouth Collegev.Woodward, 4 Wheat. 161;Rhode Islandv.Massachusetts, 12 Peters, 720;Martinv.Waddell, 16 Peters, 410;Martinv.Hunter's Lessee, 1 Wheat. 325;Fontainv.Ravenel, 17 How. 369.
The government of the United States is a government of limited power, and has only such powers as have been conferred upon it. Complete sovereignty never was transferred to the general government.Marburyv.Madison, 1 Cranch, 176;McCullochv.Maryland, 4 Wheat. 405;Wymanv.Southard, 10 Wheat. 43;Gilmanv.Philadelphia,70 U.S. 713;Pacific Ins. Co. v.Soule, 7 Wall. 342;Buffingtonv.Day, 11 Wall. 113;United Statesv.Cruickshank,92 U.S. 542;United Statesv.Harris,106 U.S. 629;Yick Wov.Hopkins,118 U.S. 356; Story on the Constitution;Robertsonv.Baldwin,165 U.S. 296, dissent of Mr. Justice Harlan; Cooley's Constitutional Limitations; Tucker's Blackstone App. A.;Bankv.Earle, 13 Pet. 58; Elliot's Debates, vol. 2, 131; Stephens's Constitutional View of the War, vol. 1, pp. 40, 41, 487, 488, 489.
If aliens can be excluded from the territory of the UnitedPage 289States because of their beliefs and that under the commerce clause of the Constitution, then citizens of one State can be prevented, because of their beliefs, from passing from that State to any of the other States, under the commerce clause of the Constitution; because that clause empowers Congress to regulate commerce not only with foreign nations but among the several States.Mr. Assistant Attorney General McReynoldsfor appellee.
It is contended that the act of March 3, 1903, is unconstitutional because in contravention of the First, Fifth and Sixth Articles of Amendment of the Constitution, and of section 1 of Article III of that instrument; and because no power "is delegated by the Constitution to the General Government over alien friends with reference to their admission into the United States or otherwise, or over the beliefs of citizens, denizens, sojourners or aliens, or over the freedom of speech or of the press."
Repeated decisions of this court have determined that Congress has the power to exclude aliens from the United States; to prescribe the terms and conditions on which they may come in; to establish regulations for sending out of the country such aliens as have entered in violation of law, and to commit the enforcement of such conditions and regulations to executivePage 290officers; that the deportation of an alien who is found to be here in violation of law is not a deprivation of liberty without due process of law, and that the provisions of the Constitution securing the right of trial by jury have no application.ChaeChan Pingv.United States,130 U.S. 581;Nishimura Ekiuv.United States,142 U.S. 651;Fong Yue Tingv.UnitedStates,149 U.S. 698;Lem Moon Singv.United States,158 U.S. 538;Wong Wingv.United States,163 U.S. 228;Fok YungYov.United States,185 U.S. 296;Japanese Immigrant Case,189 U.S. 86;Chin Bak Kanv.United States,186 U.S. 193;United Statesv.Sing Tuck,194 U.S. 161.
In the case last cited the distinction on whichGonzalesv.Williams,192 U.S. 1, turned was pointed out. The question whether a citizen of Porto Rico, under the treaty of cession and the act of April 12, 1900, came within the immigration law of March 3, 1891, was purely a question of law, which being decided in the negative all questions of fact became immaterial.
In the present case alienage was conceded and was not in dispute, and it was the question of fact thereupon arising that was passed on by the Board, and by the Secretary on appeal.
Whether rested on the accepted principle of international law that every sovereign nation has the power, as inherent in sovereignty and essential to self-preservation, to forbid the entrance of foreigners within its dominions, or to admit them only in such cases and upon such conditions as it may see fit to prescribe; or on the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, which includes the entrance of ships, the importation of goods, and the bringing of persons into the ports of the United States, the act before us is not open to constitutional objection. And while we held inWong Wingv.United States,supra, a certain provision of an immigration law invalid on that ground, this act does not come within the ruling.
In that case Mr. Justice Shiras, speaking for the court, said:
"We regard it as settled by our previous decisions that thePage 291United States can, as a matter of public policy, by Congressional enactment, forbid aliens or classes of aliens from coming within their borders, and expel aliens or classes of aliens from their territory, and can, in order to make effectual such decree of exclusion or expulsion, devolve the power and duty of identifying and arresting the persons included in such decree, and causing their deportation, upon executive or subordinate officials.
"But when Congress sees fit to further promote such a policy by subjecting the persons of such aliens to infamous punishment at hard labor, or by confiscating their property, we think such legislation, to be valid, must provide for a judicial trial to establish the guilt of the accused. No limits can be put by the courts upon the power of Congress to protect, by summary methods, the country from the advent of aliens whose race or habits render them undesirable as citizens, or to expel such if they have already found their way into our land and unlawfully remain therein. But to declare unlawful residence within the country to be an infamous crime, punishable by deprivation of liberty and property, would be to pass out of the sphere of constitutional legislation, unless provision were made that the fact of guilt should first be established by a judicial trial. It is not consistent with the theory of our government that the legislature should, after having defined an offence as an infamous crime, find the fact of guilt and adjudge the punishment by one of its own agents."
Detention or temporary confinement as part of the means necessary to give effect to the exclusion or expulsion was held valid, but so much of the act of 1892 as provided for imprisonment at hard labor without a judicial trial was held to be unconstitutional. The cases ofChae Chan Ping, Fong Yue TingandLem Moon Singwere carefully considered and applied.
We do not feel called upon to reconsider these decisions, and they dispose of the specific contentions as to the application of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, and section 1 of Article III, and the denial of the delegation to the General Government ofPage 292the power to enact this law. But it is said that the act violates the First Amendment, which prohibits the passage of any law "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
We are at a loss to understand in what way the act is obnoxious to this objection. It has no reference to an establishment of religion nor does it prohibit the free exercise thereof; nor abridge the freedom of speech or the press; nor the right of the people to assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances. It is, of course, true that if an alien is not permitted to enter this country, or, having entered contrary to law, is expelled, he is in fact cut off from worshipping or speaking or publishing or petitioning in the country, but that is merely because of his exclusion therefrom. He does not become one of the people to whom these things are secured by our Constitution by an attempt to enter forbidden by law. To appeal to the Constitution is to concede that this is a land governed by that supreme law, and as under it the power to exclude has been determined to exist, those who are excluded cannot assert the rights in general obtaining in a land to which they do not belong as citizens or otherwise.
Appellant's contention really comes to this, that the act is unconstitutional so far as it provides for the exclusion of an alien because he is an anarchist.
The argument seems to be that, conceding that Congress has the power to shut out any alien, the power nevertheless does not extend to some aliens, and that if the act includes all alien anarchists, it is unconstitutional, because some anarchists are merely political philosophers, whose teachings are beneficial rather than otherwise.
Counsel give these definitions from the Century Dictionary:
"ANARCHY. Absence or insufficiency of government; a state of society in which there is no capable supreme power, and in which the several functions of the state are performed badly orPage 293not at all; social and political confusion. Specifically — 2. A social theory which regards the union of order with the absence of all direct government of man by man as the political ideal; absolute individual liberty. 3. Confusion in general.
"ANARCHIST. 1. Properly, one who advocates anarchy or the absence of government as a political ideal; a believer in an anarchic theory of society; especially, an adherent of the social theory of Proudhon. (See Anarchy, 2.) 2. In popular use, one who seeks to overturn by violence all constituted forms and institutions of society and government, all law and order, and all rights of property, with no purpose of establishing any other system of order in the place of that destroyed; especially, such a person when actuated by mere lust of plunder. 3. Any person who promotes disorder or excites revolt against an established rule, law, or custom."
And Huxley is quoted as saying: "Anarchy, as a term of political philosophy, must be taken only in its proper sense, which has nothing to do with disorder or with crime, but denotes a state of society in which the rule of each individual by himself is the only government the legitimacy of which is recognized."
The language of the act is "anarchists, or persons who believe in or advocate the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States or of all government or of all forms of law, or the assassination of public officials." If this should be construed as defining the word "anarchists" by the words which follow, or as used in the popular sense above given, it would seem that when an alien arrives in this country, who avows himself to be an anarchist, without more, he accepts the definition. And we suppose counsel does not deny that this Government has the power to exclude an alien who believes in or advocates the overthrow of the Government or of all governments by force or the assassination of officials. To put that question is to answer it.
And if the judgment of the board and the Secretary was that Turner came within the act as thus construed, we cannotPage 294hold as matter of law that there was no evidence on which that conclusion could be rested. Even if Turner, though he did not so state to the board, only regarded the absence of government as a political ideal, yet when he sought to attain it by advocating, not simply for the benefit of workingmen, who are justly entitled to repel the charge of desiring the destruction of law and order, but "at any rate, as an anarchist," the universal strike to which he referred, and by discourses on what he called "The legal murder of 1887,"Spiesv.People,122 Ill. 1, and by addressing mass meetings on that subject in association with Most,Reg. v.Most, 7 Q.B. Div. 244;Peoplev.Most,171 N.Y. 423, we cannot say that the inference was unjustifiable either that he contemplated the ultimate realization of his ideal by the use of force, or that his speeches were incitements to that end.
If the word "anarchists" should be interpreted as including aliens whose anarchistic views are professed as those of political philosophers innocent of evil intent, it would follow that Congress was of opinion that the tendency of the general exploitation of such views is so dangerous to the public weal that aliens who hold and advocate them would be undesirable additions to our population, whether permanently or temporarily, whether many or few, and, in the light of previous decisions, the act, even in this aspect, would not be unconstitutional, or as applicable to any alien who is opposed to all organized government.
We are not to be understood as depreciating the vital importance of freedom of speech and of the press, or as suggesting limitations on the spirit of liberty, in itself unconquerable, but this case does not involve those considerations. The flaming brand which guards the realm where no human government is needed still bars the entrance; and as long as human governments endure they cannot be denied the power of self-preservation, as that question is presented here.
Reference was made by counsel to the alien law of June 25, 1798,1 Stat. 570, c. 58, but we do not think that the controversyPage 295over that law (and the sedition law) and the opinions expressed at the time against its constitutionality have any bearing upon this case, which involves an act couched in entirely different terms and embracing an entirely different purpose. As Mr. Justice Field remarked in theChinese Exclusion Case,130 U.S. 581,610: "The act was passed during a period of great political excitement, and it was attacked and defended with great zeal and ability. It is enough, however, to say that it is entirely different from the act before us, and the validity of its provisions was never brought to the test of judicial decision in the courts of the United States."Order affirmed.
First. I fully endorse and accentuate the conclusions of the court, as disclosed by the opinion, that, notwithstanding the legislation of Congress, the courts may and must, when properly called upon by petition inhabeas corpus, examine and determine the right of any individual restrained of his personal liberty to be discharged from such restraint. I do not believe it within the power of Congress to give to ministerial officers a final adjudication of the right to liberty or to oust the courts from the duty of inquiry respecting both law and facts. "The privilege of the writ ofhabeas corpusshall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it." Const. Art. 1, sec. 9, clause 2.
Second. While undoubtedly the United States as a nation has all the powers which inhere in any nation, Congress is not authorized in all things to act for the nation, and too little effect has been given to the Tenth Article of the amendments to the Constitution, that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to thePage 296States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The powers the people have given to the General Government are named in the Constitution, and all not there named, either expressly or by implication, are reserved to the people and can be exercised only by them, or upon further grant from them.
Third. No testimony was offered on the hearing before the Circuit Court other than that taken before the immigration board of inquiry, and none before such board save that preserved in its report. Hence the facts must be determined by that evidence. It is not an unreasonable deduction therefrom that petitioner is an anarchist in the commonly accepted sense of the term, one who urges and seeks the overthrow by force of all government. If that be not the fact, he should have introduced testimony to establish the contrary. It is unnecessary, therefore, to consider what rights he would have if he were only what is called by way of differentiation a philosophical anarchist, one who simply entertains and expresses the opinion that all government is a mistake, and that society would be better off without any.