Opinion of the Court. United States. The limitation which is sought must be made, if at all, by construction, not by separation. This, it has often been decided, is not enough. Thus, in United States v. Reese, 92 U. S. 214, the indictment was against two of the inspectors of a municipal election in Kentucky, under $$ 3 and 4 of the act of May 31, 1870, c. 114, 16 Stat. 140, which provided in general terms for the punishment of inspectors who should wrongfully refuse to receive the vote of a citizen when presented under certain circumstances, and for the punishment of those who by unlawful means hindered or delayed any citizen from doing any act required to be done to qualify him to vote, or from voting at any election. There was nothing in either of the sections to limit their operation to a refusal or hindrance "on account of the race, color, or previous condition of servitude" of the voter, and it was held that they were unconstitutional because, on their face, they were broad enough to cover wrongful acts without as well as within the constitutional power of Congress. An attempt was made there as here to limit the statute by construction, so as to make it operate only on that which Congress might rightfully prohibit and punish; but to this the court said, p. 221: "For this purpose we must take these sections of the statute as they are. We are not able to reject a part which is unconstitutional, and retain the remainder, because it is not possible to separate that which is unconstitutional, if there be any such, from that which is not. The proposed effect is not to be attained by striking out or disregarding words that are in the section, but by inserting those that are not now there. Each of the sections must stand as a whole, or fall altogether. The language is plain. There is no room for construction, unless it be as to the effect of the Constitution. The question then to be determined is, whether we can introduce words of limitation into a penal statute so as to make it specific, when, as expressed, it is general only." This was answered in the negative, the court remarking: “To limit this statute in the manner now asked for would be to make a new law, not to enforce an old one." Following this were the Trade-Mark Cases, 100 U. S. 82, in Opinion of the Court. which there were indictments under § 4 and 5 of the act of August 14, 1876, c. 274, 19 Stat. 141, "to punish the counterfeiting of trade-mark goods and the sale or dealing in of counterfeit trade-mark goods." Of this act the court said, speaking through Mr. Justice Miller, p. 98, that its broad purpose" was to establish a universal system of trade-mark registration, for the benefit of all who had already used a trade-mark, or who wished to adopt one in the future, without regard to the character of the trade to which it was to be applied or the residence of the owner, with the solitary exception that those who resided in foreign countries which extended no such privileges to us were excluded from them here." A statute so broad and sweeping was then held not to be within the constitutional grant of legislative power to Congress, but p. 95, "whether the trademark bears such a relation to commerce in general terms as to bring it within congressional control, when used or applied to the classes of commerce which fall within that control,” was properly left undecided. The indictment, however, presented a case in which the defendant was charged with having in his possession counterfeits and colorable imitations of the trade-marks of foreign manufacturers, and it was suggested that if Congress had power to regulate trade-marks used in commerce with foreign nations and among the several States, this statute might be held valid in that class of cases, if no further; but the court decided otherwise, and in so doing said, p. 98: "While it may be true that when one part of a statute is valid and constitutional, and another part is unconstitutional and void, the court may enforce the valid part, where they are distinctly separable, so that each can stand alone, it is not within the judicial province to give to the words used by Congress a narrower meaning than they are manifestly intended to bear, in order that crimes may be punished which are not described in language that brings them within the constitutional power of that body." And again, further on, after citing United States v. Reese, and quoting from the opinion in that case, it was said, p. 99: "If we should, in the case before us, undertake to make by judicial construction a law which Congress did not make, it is quite probable we should do what, Opinion of the Court. if the matter were now before that body, it would be unwilling to do; namely, make a trade-mark law which is only partial in its operation, and which would complicate the rights which parties would hold, in some instances under the act of Congress, and in others under State law." The same question was also considered and the former decisions approved in United States v. Harris, supra; and in the Virginia Coupon Cases, 114 U. S. 269, 305, it was said that "to hold otherwise would be to substitute for the law intended by the legislature one they may never have been willing by itself to enact." It is suggested, however, that Packet Co. v. Keokuk, 95 U. S. 80, and Presser v. Illinois, 116 U. S. 252, are inconsistent with United States v. Reese and the Trade-Mark Cases; but we do not so understand them. In Packet Co. v. Keokuk, the question arose upon an ordinance of the city of Keokuk establishing a wharf on the Mississippi River and the rates of wharfage to be paid for its use. In its general scope the ordinance was broad enough to include a part of the shore of the river declared to be a wharf, which was in its natural condition and unimproved. The city had, however, actually built, paved, and improved a wharf at a large expense within the limits of the ordinance, and the charges then in question were for the use of the facilities thus provided for receiving and discharging cargoes. An objection was made to the validity of the ordinance, because it provided for charges to be paid for the use of the unimproved bank as well as for the improved wharves, but the court said, p. 89: "The ordinance of Keokuk has imposed no charge upon these plaintiffs which it was beyond the power of the city to impose. To the extent to which they are affected by it there is no valid objection to it. Statutes that are constitutional in part only will be upheld so far as they are not in conflict with the Constitution, provided the allowed and prohibited parts are severable. We think a sev erance is possible in this case. It may be conceded that the ordinance is too broad, and that some of its provisions are unwarranted. When those provisions are attempted to be enforced, a different question may be presented." That was Opinion of the Court. not a penal statute, but only a city ordinance regulating wharfage, and the suit was civil in its nature. The only question was whether the packet company was bound to pay for the use of improved wharves when the ordinance, taken in its breadth, fixed the charges and required payment for the use of that part of the established wharf which was unimproved as well as that which was improved. The precise point to be determined was whether, under those circumstances, the vessel owners were excused from paying for the use of that which was improved. In Presser v. Illinois, the indictment was for a violation of the provisions of one of the sections of the Military Code of Illinois, and it was claimed that the whole code was invalid, because in its general scope and effect it was in conflict with Title XVI of the Revised Statutes of the United States upon the subject of "The Militia." But the court held that, even if the first two sections of the code, on which the objection rested, were invalid, they were easily separable from the rest which could be maintained. The objectionable sections related to the enrolment of the militia in the state generally, and the rest to the organization of eight thousand men as a "volunteer active militia.” This evidently brought that case within the rule which controls the determination of this class of questions, that the constitutional part of a statute may be enforced and the unconstitutional part rejected, "where the parts are so distinctly separable that each can stand alone, and where the court is able to see and to declare that the intention of the legislature was that the part pronounced valid should be enforcible, even though the other part should fail." Virginia Coupon Cases, 114 U. S. at p. 305. As was said in Louisiana v. Allen, 103 U. S. 80, 84: "The point to be determined in all such cases is whether the unconstitutional provisions are so connected with the general scope of the law as to make it impossible, if they are stricken out, to give effect to what appears to have been the intent of the legislature." Applying this rule to the present case, it is clear that § 5519 cannot be sustained in whole or in part in its operation within a state, unless United States v. Harris is overruled, and this VOL. CXX-44 Opinion of the Court. we see no occasion for doing. That case was carefully considered at the time, and subsequent reflection has not changed our opinion as then expressed. For this reason we answer the second branch of the fourth question, which has been certified in the negative. This disposes of all the other points included in the first six questions, and no further answer to them is necessary. We come now to the questions certified, which arise under § 5508. That this section is constitutional was decided in Ee parte Yarbrough, 110 U. S. 651, and United States v. Waddell, 112 U. S. 76. The real question to be determined, therefore, is, whether what is charged to have been done by Baldwin constitutes an offence within the meaning of its provisions. The section is found in Title LXX, c. 7, of the Revised Statutes embracing "Crimes against the Elective Franchise and Civil Rights of Citizens," and it provides for the punishment of those "who conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any citizen in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having exercised the same;" and of those who go in companies of two or more "in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured." The person on whom the wrong to be punishable must be inflicted is described as a citizen. In the Constitution and laws of the United States the word "citizen" is generally, if not always, used in a political sense to designate one who has the rights and privileges of a citizen of a state or of the United States. It is so used in section 1 of Article XIV of the amendments of the Constitution, which provides that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside," and that "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." But it is also sometimes used in popular language to indicate the same thing as resident, inhabitant, or person. That it is not so used in § 5508 in the Revised Statutes is quite |
