[468] Ibid. 484.
[469] Ibid. 500-501.
[470] Kendall v. United States, 12 Pet. 524 (1838); United States v. Lee, 106 U.S. 196 (1882). It should be noted, however, that if the President fails to act, or if he adopts a narrow construction of a statute which he dislikes, and on this ground professes inability to act, the only remedy available against him is impeachment.
[471] Noble v. Union River Logging R. Co., 147 U.S. 165 (1893); Philadelphia Co. v. Stimson, 223 U.S. 605 (1912).
[472] [Kendall v. United States], above; United States v. Schurz, 102 U.S. 378 (1880); United States ex rel. Dunlap v. Black, 128 U.S. 40 (1888). Cf. Decatur v. Paulding, 14 Pet. 497 (1840); and Riverside Oil Co. v. Hitchcock, 190 U.S. 316 (1903), where the rule is reiterated that neither injunction nor mandamus will lie against an officer to control him in the exercise of an official duty which requires the exercise of his judgment and discretion.
[473] This was originally on the theory that the Supreme Court of the District had inherited, via the common law of Maryland, the jurisdiction of the King's Bench "over inferior jurisdictions and officers." 12 Pet. at 614 and 620-621.
[474] Little v. Barreme, 2 Cr. 170 (1804); [United States v. Lee], above; Spaulding v. Vilas, 161 U.S. 483 (1896).
[475] Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. 678 (1946). The decision is based on an interpretation of 28 U.S.C. § 41 (1).
[476] Mitchell v. Clark, 110 U.S. 633 (1884). An official action is indemnifiable if Congress could have authorized it in the first place, or if it was done under "imperative orders which could not be resisted," or "under necessity or mistake." Ibid. 640-641.
[477] Tennessee v. Davis, 100 U.S. 257 (1880); In re Neagle, 135 U.S. 1 (1890). Cf. Maryland v. Soper, 270 U.S. 9 (1926).