Totten v. United States

Totten v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided April 10, 1876
Full case name	Totten, Administrator, v. United States
Citations	92 U.S. 105 (more) 23 L. Ed. 605; 1875 U.S. LEXIS 1732; 2 Otto 105
Prior history	Appeal from the Court of Claims
Holding
Courts cannot hear cases in disputes involving spying contracts, because it might do harm to make public the details of the enterprise and embarrass the government.
Court membership
Chief Justice Morrison Waite Associate Justices Nathan Clifford · Noah H. Swayne Samuel F. Miller · David Davis Stephen J. Field · William Strong Joseph P. Bradley · Ward Hunt
Case opinions
Majority	Field, joined by unanimous

Totten v. United States, 92 U.S. 105 (1876), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court ruled on judicial jurisdiction in espionage cases. The court deemed an oral contract between a deceased spy and President Lincoln was unenforceable because courts cannot hear cases in disputes involving spying contracts, because it might do harm to make public the details of the enterprise and embarrass the government.

This case was later referenced by the court in a similar context in the 2005 case of Tenet v. Doe.

See also

• State Secrets Privilege
• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 92

External links

• Works related to Totten v. United States at Wikisource
• Full text opinion from Findlaw.com