'Twixt City and State

Twixt City and State

By the Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution the judicial powers of the United States do not extend to any suit "commenced or prosecuted" by the citizens of one state against any other of the United States. The interpretation of this amendment was recently brought into question before the Supreme Court in a controversy between the state of Georgia and the city of Chattanooga.

The deep seat of the trouble is that 80 years ago Georgia, in trying to open up the northwestern part of her territory, built a railroad -- the Western and Atlantic from Atlanta to Chattanooga. This road is under lease to the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, but it is still the property of the State of Georgia. Now Chattanooga wants to condemn land for a street through the railroad yards of Georgia's railway. Georgia asked the Supreme Court for an injunction to prevent it. Chattanooga countered by denying the Supreme Court's jurisdiction under the Eleventh Amendment. Last week Georgia filed a brief declaring that although the Eleventh Amendment prevented the citizens of one State from suing another, there was nothing in the Constitution to prevent one state from filing proceedings in a federal court against the citizens of another. Chief Justice Taft and his associates must shortly set forth a solution.