hed by the argument that in
establishing courts for the District, Congress is performing dual
functions in pursuance of two distinct powers, the power to constitute
tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court, and its plenary and exclusive
power to legislate for the District of Columbia. However, article III,
Sec. 1, limits this latter power with respect to tenure and compensation,
but not with regard to vesting legislative and administrative powers in
such courts. Subject to the guarantees of personal liberty in the
Constitution, "Congress has as much power to vest courts of the District
with a variety of jurisdiction and powers as a State legislature has in
conferring jurisdiction on its courts."[137] The effect of the
O'Donoghue decision is to confer a dual status on the courts of the
District of Columbia. As regards their organization, and the tenure and
compensation of their judges they are constitutional courts, as regards
jurisdiction and powers they are simultaneously legislative and
constitutional courts, and as such can be vested with nonjudicial powers
while sharing the judicial power of the United States.[138]

Jurisdiction: Cases and Controversies

Section 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law
and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United
States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their
Authority;--to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers
and Consuls;--to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;--to
Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;--to
Controversies between two or more States;--between a State and Citizens
of another State;--between Citizens of different States;--between
Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different
States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign
States, Citizens or Subjects.

THE TWO CLASSES OF CASES AND CONTROVERSIES

By the terms of the foregoing section the judicial power extends to nine
classes of cases and controversies, which fall into two general groups.
In the words of Chief Justice Marshall in Cohens _v._ Virginia:[139] "In
the first, their jurisdiction depends on the character of the cause,
whoever may be the parties. This class comprehends 'all cases in law and
equity arising under this constitution, the laws of the United States,
and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority.' This
cause extends the jurisdict