the Court, in Hollingsworth v. The State of Virginia,
3 Dallas, 378, on February 4, 1798, declared that it had
no jurisdiction "in any case, past or future in which a
State was sued by citizens of another State, or by citizens,
or subjects, of any foreign State." And thus all cases of
this nature pending on its docket were swept away.
After delivering its fateful decision in the Chisholm Case in February, 1793, the Court rendered no further opinions for a year, owing to the fact that, at the time of its usual August Term, yellow fever was raging in Philadelphia.[1] When it met for its February Term in 1794, a new Judge took his place on the Bench—William Paterson of New Jersey—whom President Washington had appointed on March 4, 1793, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Thomas Johnson. Paterson, then forty-four years of age, was the Chancellor of New Jersey, and had been State Attorney-General, one of the leaders of the Federal Convention, and United States Senator for four years.[2]
- ↑ Similar prevalence of yellow fever prevented any business at the August, 1794, Term, and the August, 1797, Term, 3 Dallas, 369. In August, 1798 and 1799, yellow fever was again prevalent in Philadelphia. In the Aurora, Sept. 31, 1799, it is stated that the offices of the Secretary of State, War, Treasury, Navy, etc., had been removed to Trenton, N. J. By the Act of Feb. 25, 1799, it was provided that: "Whenever in the opinion of the Chief Justice, or in case of his death or inability, of the Senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, a contagious sickness shall render it hazardous to hold the next stated session of the said Court at the seat of the government, it shall be lawful for the Chief or such Associate Justice to issue his order to the Marshal, 'to adjourn the session to another place within the same or an adjoining district.'"
- ↑ To Paterson, Washington had written, Feb. 20, 1793: "I think it necessary to select a person who is not only professionally qualified to discharge that important trust, but one who is known to the public, and whose conduct meets
their approbation. I shall have the satisfaction to believe that our country will be pleased with and benefited by the acquisition."
There is a singular and little known fact regarding this appointment. The nomination was first made to the Senate on Feb. 27, 1793, at a time when, under the Constitution, Paterson was disqualified from holding office, since the office of
Finally, notwithstanding the President's suggestion that the Amendment might now properly be declared adopted, and notwithstanding a resolution later on introduced in Congress, calling on him to proclaim the adoption of this Amendment, if in fact it had been ratified, yet it does not appear that either the President or Congress ever did formally declare the Eleventh Amendment adopted."
