Do federal courts have constitutional authority to issue writs?
Article III of the Constitution, which pertains to the judicial branch of government, contains no mention of the authority of federal courts to issue writs (a class of documents which includes court orders and injunctions). The framers of the Constitution could very easily have included a provision for courts to issue writs by inserting a clause such as: “The Supreme Court and all courts established by Act of Congress may issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law.” There is, however, no such language included in the text of the Constitution. Some may ask whether this may simply have been an oversight by the framers of the Constitution; after all what would be the purpose of having courts of law unless they were capable of issuing writs to enforce their rulings? Alexander Hamilton, who himself was a delegate to the convention that framed the Constitution, in his Federalist 78 provides comments that
