Ex parte Levitt

While serving as a U.S. senator, Hugo Black (defendant) helped pass a law giving Supreme Court justices full pensions upon retirement; Black was then appointed to the Supreme Court himself. Albert Levitt (plaintiff), a citizen and member of the bar, moved the Court for a show-cause order requiring Black to justify why his appointment did not violate Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution, which bars appointing a sitting congressman to a civil office whose compensation Congress increased while he was in office. Levitt offered no evidence of how he personally was harmed by Black's appointment beyond his general status as a citizen and lawyer.