Supreme Court Upholds Chinese Exclusion
The high court rules that Congress has the power to abrogate treaties, effectively ending the entry of Chinese laborers to the United States.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Recently the Scott Chinese exclusion act was put to the test before the U. S. Supreme Court, and hundreds of Chinese were anxiously awaiting the result. The court last Monday affirmed the validity of the act, and defined the value of the Chinese return certificates issued prior to the passage of the Scott bill as nil. The bill mentioned absolutely prohibited the entry of the Chinese and annulled all outstanding certificates. The decision then says the invalidity of the act is assailed as being in effect the expulsion from this country of Chinese laborers in violation of existing treaties, which it admits but holds that congress has the power to abrogate the treaties. The Bulletin in its comment says, 'The prospect is now that we shall be able to go forward with the development of our Christian civilization and that the mongolian heathen influx is stopped for good. The decision of the supreme court is the death blow to a new form of slavery that was creeping upon us.'
“The decision of the supreme court is the death blow to a new form of slavery that was creeping upon us.”
The 1888 Scott Act was a major escalation in the campaign of exclusion against Chinese residents in Washington and the American West. Today, this case remains a seminal reference for the plenary power doctrine, which still grants the federal government broad, largely unchecked authority over immigration policy.
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