Duty of Government to render prompt justice against itself in favor

[David Lockmiller]

JOURNAL OF THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT HISTORICAL SOCIETY - VOLUME 8, 2014

GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS AND THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT: A HISTORY OF JUDICIAL REMEDIES AGAINST THE SOVEREIGN
by By Collin D. Swan *

(Mr. Swan is an attorney with Wiley Rein LLP, Washington, D.C., specializing in federal contracts law and is a former law clerk to Hon. Jimmie V. Reyna, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.)

SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL DESIGN

President Abraham Lincoln, in his annual address to Congress in 1861, pushed for a “more convenient means” for adjudicating claims and famously pronounced:

"It is as much the duty of Government to render prompt justice against itself, in favor of citizens, as it is to administer the same between private individuals. The investigation and adjudication of claims, in their nature belong to the judicial department; besides, it is apparent that the attention of Congress will be more than usually engaged, for some time to come, with great national questions." [Cong. Globe, 37th Cong., 2d Sess. app. 2 (1862).]

Despite praising the Court of Claims as “an effective and valuable means of investigation,” President Lincoln ultimately concluded that the court failed to “effect the object of its creation” due to its lack of power to issue final judgments. After a much-fought debate, Congress gave the Court of Claims the power to issue final judgments, with the right of appeal to the Supreme Court on all judgments on claims exceeding $3,000. [Act of March 3, 1863, ch. 92, 12 Stat. 765.] A last-minute amendment provided that “no money shall be paid out of the Treasury for any claim passed upon by the Court of Claims till after an appropriation therefor shall be estimated for by the Secretary of the Treasury.” Id. § 14. This provision effectively undermined the Act’s “finality” provision and was not corrected until 1866. See Act of March 17, 1866, 14 Stat. 9.