United States v. Lee (1882)
1882 United States Supreme Court case / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about United States v. Lee (1882)?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
United States v. Lee, 106 U.S. 196 (1882),[1][2] is a 5-to-4 ruling by the United States Supreme Court which held that the Constitution's prohibition on lawsuits against the federal government did not extend to officers of the government themselves.[3] The case involved the heir of Mary Anna Custis Lee, wife of Confederate States of America General Robert E. Lee, who sued to regain control of Arlington House and its grounds. Arlington had been seized by the United States government in 1861 and eventually converted into Arlington National Cemetery. The estate had been sold to pay outstanding taxes, but the lawsuit contested the tax sale as improper. A jury found in favor of the Lees.[4] The Supreme Court, too, concluded that the tax sale was illegal.[5][6][7][8] In stripping the federal officers of their sovereign immunity, the Supreme Court agreed that suit against them was proper.[6][9]
United States v. Lee | |
---|---|
Argued October 18–19, 1882 Decided December 4, 1882 | |
Full case name | United States v. Lee. Kaufman and another v. Same. |
Citations | 106 U.S. 196 (more) 1 S. Ct. 240; 27 L. Ed. 171; 16 Otto 196 |
Case history | |
Prior | Error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Virginia. |
Holding | |
Sovereign immunity does not extend to officers of the government. | |
Court membership | |
| |
Case opinions | |
Majority | Miller, joined by Field, Harlan, Matthews, Blatchford |
Dissent | Gray, joined by Waite, Bradley, Woods |
Laws applied | |
Act for the Collection of Taxes in the Insurrectionary Districts (12 Stat. at L. 422); Fifth Amendment |
The jury verdict returned Arlington to the Lee family, but only temporarily. The family never returned to Arlington, but rather sold the estate to the United States government in 1883 for $150,000 ($4,905,000 in 2023 dollars).[10]