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Territory of Guam v. Olsen, 431 U.S. 195 (1977)
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General SummaryThis case is from a collection containing the full text of over 16,000 Supreme Court cases from 1793 to the present. The body of Supreme Court decisions are, effectively, the final interpretation of the Constitution. Only an amendment to the Constitution can permanently overturn an interpretation and this has happened only four times in American history.
Territory of Guam v. Olsen, 431 U.S. 195 (1977)
Territory of Guam v. Olsen No. 76-439 Argued March 29, 1977 Decided May 23, 1977 431 U.S. 195
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
Syllabus
Provision of § 22 of the 1950 Organic Act of Guam that the District Court of Guam "shall have such appellate jurisdiction as the [Guam] legislature may determine" held not to authorize the Guam Legislature to divest the District Court’s appellate jurisdiction under the Act to hear appeals from local Guam courts, and to transfer that jurisdiction to the newly created Guam Supreme Court, but to empower the legislature to "determine" that jurisdiction only in the sense of the selection of what should constitute appealable causes. This conclusion is supported not only by the text of § 22, which expressly authorizes only a "transfer" of the District Court’s original local jurisdiction, but also by the absence of any clear signal from Congress that it intended to allow the Guam Legislature to foreclose appellate review by Art. III courts, including this Court, of territorial courts’ decisions in federal question cases; by the Act’s legislative history; and by the fact that, if the word "determine" were read as giving Guam the power to transfer the District Court’s appellate jurisdiction to the Guam Supreme Court and at the same time to authorize Guam to deny review of the District Court’s decisions by any Art. III tribunal, Congress would have given Guam a power not granted to any other Territory. Pp. 199-204.
540 F.2d 1011, affirmed.
BRENNAN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and WHITE, BLACKMUN, and POWELL, JJ., joined. MARSHALL, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which STEWART, REHNQUIST, and STEVENS, JJ., joined, post, p. 204.
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Chicago: U.S. Supreme Court, "Syllabus," Territory of Guam v. Olsen, 431 U.S. 195 (1977) in 431 U.S. 195 431 U.S. 196. Original Sources, accessed November 24, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=WY6N3F7N4WGMGUE.
MLA: U.S. Supreme Court. "Syllabus." Territory of Guam v. Olsen, 431 U.S. 195 (1977), in 431 U.S. 195, page 431 U.S. 196. Original Sources. 24 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=WY6N3F7N4WGMGUE.
Harvard: U.S. Supreme Court, 'Syllabus' in Territory of Guam v. Olsen, 431 U.S. 195 (1977). cited in 1977, 431 U.S. 195, pp.431 U.S. 196. Original Sources, retrieved 24 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=WY6N3F7N4WGMGUE.
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