Ex parte Lévitt

302 U.S. 633, 58 S. Ct. 1

• Court: Supreme Court of the United States
• Decided: October 11, 1937
• Status: Published

Opinion

Motion for leave to file a petition for an order requiring Mr. Justice Black to show cause why he should be permitted to serve as an Associate Justice of this Court.

Per Curiam:

The grounds of this motion are that the .appointment of Mr. Justice Black by the President and the confirmation thereof by the Senate of the United States were null and void by reason of his ineligibility under Article I, Section 6, Clause 2, of the Constitution of the United States, and because there was no vacancy for which the appointment could lawfully be made. The motion papers disclose no interest upon the part of the petitioner other than that of a citizen and a member of the bar of this Court. That is insufficient. It is an established principle that to entitle a private individual to invoke the judicial power to determine the validity of executive or legislative action he. must show that he has sustained or is immediately in danger of sustaining a direct injury as the result of that action and it is not sufficient that he has merely a general interest common to all members of the public. Tyler v. Judges, 179 U. S. 405, 406; Southern Ry. Co. v. King, 217 U. S. 524, 534; Newman v. Frizzell, 238 U. S. 537, 549, 550; Fairchild v. Hughes, 258 U. S. 126, 129; Massachusetts v. Mellon, 262 U. S. 447, 488. The motion is denied.

Mr. Albert Lévitt, pro se.