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The Jenner-Butler Bill (S. 2646) was a bill proposed in the 85th United States Congress in 1958,[1] which was a backlash against the Supreme Court's rulings that protected the rights of those charged with subversive activities.[2] The bill was initially proposed by Senator William E. Jenner and then subsequently amended by Senator John Marshall Butler in order to pass committee stage.[3]
Provisions of the bill included measures to restore full investigative authority to congressional committees and full enforceability of state sedition laws (which had been limited by Watkins v. United States and Pennsylvania v. Nelson respectively), revive the Smith Act that had been used to prosecute Communist Party activists, and reduce the apellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court so it could not hear cases on related areas.[2]
Background
[edit]The US Congress has the power to decide the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under the Exceptions Clause of Article Three of the United States Constitution. It has used this power several times, generally to allow the court to hear broad classes of appeals. However, the power can also be used to limit the court's jurisdiction in some cases, such as revoking its ability to rule on some types of habeaus corpus appeals during the Civil War. The court upheld this particular revocation in Ex parte McCardle.[4]
During the 1950s, the US Senate began to consider limiting the Supreme Court's scope after it ruled against segregation several times in the preceding decades. There was discussion over the true extent to which Congress could limit the Supreme Court's jurisdiction,[note 1] but the question remained untested.[4]
In the two years before the bill was proposed, the Supreme Court had issued several rulings which upheld the constitutional rights of American communists.[4]
Jenner Bill
[edit]The Jenner bill included removing the Supreme Court's jurisdiction on matters relating to congressional committees, federal employee security regulations, state and local subversion laws, and state rules on bar admission.[3] This would have left lower federal courts or state courts as the final arbiters of the constitution in those areas.[3]
The bill stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee,
As Jefferson B. Fordham noted, the bill "died in the Senate after major surgery in committee".[1]
Notes
[edit]- ^ Twentieth-century scholars had different views on the broadness of Congress's power. In a 1953 article, Henry M. Hart Jr. suggested that "exceptions must not be such as will destroy the essential role of the Supreme Court", meaning that Congress's power under the Exceptions Clause must have limits.[5] Others, such as Herbert Wechsler and Martin Redish, took a broader view. William Van Alstyne argued that the Exceptions Clause gave Congress plenary power over Supreme Court appellate jurisdiction.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Jefferson B. Fordham (January 1961). "Review: The People and the Court by Charles L. Black, Jr". The Yale Law Journal. 70 (3): 481–489. doi:10.2307/794441. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ a b C. Herman Pritchett (2005). "Jenner-Butler Bill". In Hall, Kermit L. (ed.). The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- ^ a b c Anthony Lewis (25 March 1958). "Revised Bill Aims At Supreme Court: Butler Offers Changes in Jenner Plan - Judiciary Unit's Backing Claimed". The New York Times. p. 19. Retrieved 10 March 2024. ProQuest 114608274
- ^ a b c "The Jenner Bill". Federal Judicial Center. Archived from the original on 2 February 2025. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
- ^ a b Joanna R. Lampe (30 October 2024). "The Exceptions Clause and Congressional Control over Supreme Court Jurisdiction". Congress.gov. Congressional Research Service. p. 10. Retrieved 24 March 2025.