Constitutional Opinion No. 2026-0783
Case Information
- Source
- Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Reports Vol. 26 (1 Peters)
- Author
- Chief Justice John Marshall (opinion of the Court)
- Publication Date
- 1828-01-01
- Content Type
- Judicial Opinion / Legal-Normative Text
- Opinion Issued
- 2026-07-20
- AFCS Version
- 1.0
Holding
The United States possesses full sovereignty over acquired territory as the inevitable consequence of the right to acquire, so the people of a territory are citizens to whom the Constitution and laws extend; Congress governs the territories under Article IV and the general right of sovereignty; and the courts a territorial legislature establishes are legislative courts, not repositories of the Article III judicial power, which Congress may nonetheless vest with admiralty and other jurisdiction under its territorial power, so the Key West salvage decree was valid.
It is the judgment of this Court that Opinion No. 2026-0783 is hereby entered into the record, in accordance with the America First Constitutional Standard. The score stands. The reasoning is published. The record is public.