Itow v. United States

Citations

• 233 U.S. 581
• 34 S. Ct. 699
• 58 L. Ed. 1102
• 1914 U.S. LEXIS 1201
• 4 Alaska Fed. 201

Syllabus

<p>Judicial Code, § 134, governing the right to review cases in the District of Alaska, changed the general rule of the prior law by taking capital cases out of the class which could come to this court directly because they were capital cases and by bringing such cases within the final reviewing power of the Circuit Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit.</p> <p>Under § 247, Judicial Code, this court has power to review directly the action of the District Courts of Alaska practically in the same classes of cases as were provided in § 5 of the Judiciary Act of 1891.</p> <p>As the record in this case does not show that any reliance was placed, of that any exceptions were based, on the Constitution in the court below, the assignments are inadequate to give this court jurisdiction of a direct appeal from the District Court for Alaska in a capital case.</p> <p>Although under §§ 134 and 247, Judicial Code, the right to direct review on a constitutional question is confined to cases where the question was raised in the court below, this court still has power to pass upon the question either by certificate from the Circuit Court of Appeals or by certiorari from this court, if in its judgment the question was of sufficient importance to warrant issuing the writ.</p>