McConaughey v. Morrow, 263 U.S. 39 (1923)
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McConaughey v. Morrow
No. 48
Submitted October 4, 1923
Decided November 12, 1923
263 U.S. 39
APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
Syllabus
1. In a suit in the United States District Court for the Canal Zone to restrain the Governor and other officials of the Panama Canal from carrying out an order of the President, upon the ground that plaintiffs will thereby be deprived of personal or property rights contrary to the federal laws and Constitution, an objection that the suit is in effect against the United States does not raise a question of the jurisdiction of the trial court as a federal court reviewable directly by this Court under Jud.Code, § 238, as amended January 28, 1915. P. 41.
2. The Act of September 21, 1922, providing that review by the Circuit Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, of judgments of the District Court for the Canal Zone shall include all questions of jurisdiction, was expressly inapplicable to cases then pending in the former court, and, by implication, does not affect a case which had passed through that court and was pending here on appeal from its judgment at the date of the act. P. 42.
3. The Panama Canal Act of August 24, 1912, in declaring
That all laws, orders, regulations, and ordinances adopted and promulgated in the Canal Zone by order of the President for the government and sanitation of the Canal Zone and the construction of the Panama Canal are hereby ratified and confirmed as valid and binding until Congress shall otherwise provide
refers to regulations, etc., rising to the dignity of laws, for the purposes named, and did not divest the President of power to revoke previous administrative orders and regulations such as those allowing free quarters, fuel, electric current, water, etc., to government employees. P. 43.
4. Under the Act of March 4, 1907, debts owing the government of Panama by government employee were deductible from their pay. P. 49.
279 F. 617 affirmed.
Appeal from a decree of the circuit court of appeals affirming a decree of the United States District Court for the Canal Zone which dismissed the bill in a suit of a government employee in the Zone to restrain the Governor and other officials of the Canal from effectuating an order of the President making them chargeable with rent, fuel, etc.