Court is vested with original jurisdiction by the
Constitution and that this jurisdiction cannot be extended or restricted
deprives Congress of any power to define it, it allows a considerable
latitude of interpretation to the Court itself. In some cases, as in
Missouri _v._ Holland,[583] the Court has manifested a tendency toward a
liberal construction of original jurisdiction; in others, as in
Massachusetts _v._ Mellon,[584] it has placed a narrow construction upon
the grant through the device of a restrictive interpretation of cases
and controversies; and in still other cases, as in California _v._
Southern Pacific Co.,[585] it has stated that its original jurisdiction
"is limited and manifestly to be sparingly exercised, and should not be
expanded by construction."

CONCURRENT JURISDICTION OF THE LOWER FEDERAL COURTS

Although Congress can neither enlarge nor restrict the original
jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, it may vest concurrent jurisdiction
in the lower federal courts in cases over which the Supreme Court has
original jurisdiction.[586] Thus among the grounds given for the
decision in Wisconsin _v._ Pelican Insurance Co.,[587] that the Court
had no original jurisdiction of an action by a State to enforce a
judgment for a pecuniary penalty awarded by one of its own courts, was
the provision of the 13th section of the Judiciary Act of 1789[588] that
"the Supreme Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction of controversies of
a civil nature, where a State is a party, except between a State and its
citizens; and except also between a State and citizens of other States,
or aliens, in which latter case it shall have original but not exclusive
jurisdiction." Speaking of that act with particular reference to this
section, Justice Gray declared that it "was passed by the first Congress
assembled under the Constitution, many of whose members had taken part
in framing that instrument, and is contemporaneous and weighty evidence
of its true meaning."[589] In cases affecting consuls, moreover, the
original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is shared concurrently with
State courts unless Congress by positive action makes such jurisdiction
exclusive.[590]

The Appellate Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court

SUBJECT TO LIMITATION BY CONGRESS

Unlike its original jurisdiction, the appellate jurisdiction of the
Supreme Court is subject to control by Congress in the exercise of the
broadest discretion. Although the prov