Fourth Circuit· 4/18/1988

Smith v. Reagan

Citations

844 F.2d 195
56 U.S.L.W. 2608

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

“The Act’s vagueness suggests that Congress intended the President to exercise broad discretion, and intended to foreclose traditional judicial review in this area.”
“Not every suit that touches on foreign relations is beyond judicial cognizance. A cause of action under the Hostage Act, however, would ineseapa- bly involve courts in matters of the most delicate diplomacy.”
“The courts have often recognized that this doctrine calls for the exercise of judicial restraint when the issues involve the resolution of questions committed by the text of the Constitution to a coordinate branch of government.”
“Accountability lies in oversight by Congress or in criticism from the electorate, but not in the judgments of the courts. The Hostage Act sets the terms of political debate, not the standards of adjudication. The adversary process here is more political than litigious.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Judges: Butzner, Eastern, Ellis, Virginia, Wilkinson

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12 cases in this archive cite this case.

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