TheUnited States Court for Berlin was aUnited StatesArticle II court that had jurisdiction overAmerican-occupied Berlin. It was in existence from 1955 until theTwo plus Four Treaty in 1990.
The United States High Commissioner for Germany[a] functioned until the abolition of theAllied High Commission on 5 May 1955 pursuant to theBonn–Paris conventions.[b] On 28 April 1955, only a few days before the occupation regime terminated in the rest of Germany, the High Commissioner promulgated Law No. 46[3] establishing the United States Court for Berlin.
The Court was only convened once, in 1979,[4] to hear the jury trial of theLOT Flight 165 hijacking defendants.[5][6] The case (U.S. v. Tiede) was notable in holding that the reach of theUnited States Constitution was a legal rather than a political question,[7] citing jurisprudence dating back toEx parte Milligan,[8] where theUnited States Supreme Court had declared, "The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times, and under all circumstances."[9]
During his appointment, JudgeHerbert Jay Stern was subjected to intense diplomatic pressure, which he alluded to when he sentenced Tiede to time served, and noted that there was "probably not a great future" for the Court.[10] This was confirmed at the end of the criminal trial, when a group of West Germans filed a civil suit with it alleging that a US military housing development violated a German zoning law.[11]Walter J. Stoessel Jr. (at that time theUnited States Ambassador to West Germany) advised Stern that his appointment was only for the criminal case that had been heard, and it was accordingly terminated.[12] The claimants later attempted to bring its suit in theUnited States District Court for the District of Columbia, where it was dismissed.[13]
Stern wrotea book about his experience that was published in 1984. The book,Judgment in Berlin, was adapted intoa movie of the same name four years later.
  | This article relating tolaw in the United States or its constituent jurisdictions is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |