Two Advisory Opinions by Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth

Abstract

Today advisory opinions are anathema to the federal judiciary, but the early justices of the Supreme Court were not so loath to provide extrajudicial advice to the Executive Branch. In 1796, Ellsworth wrote an advisory opinion on a looming constitutional dispute between the President and the House of Representatives. Two years later, Ellsworth advised the Secretary of State on the constitutionality of the recently enacted Sedition Act. Chief Justice Ellsworth's two advisory opinions follow.