Court of Special Jurisdiction.

An early experiment with the concept of a court of special jurisdiction involved the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). The ICC had won considerable public support through its efforts to exercise fair but firm control over the railroads, whose activities and political influence had generated much controversy, particularly in the midwestern states. Accordingly, interest in extending the ICC's regulatory powers beyond the narrow field to which they had originally been confined was growing. Moreover, the commission had increasingly benefited from a series of Supreme Court decisions that reinforced its rule-making role and jurisdiction. Some Americans, particularly among the more conservative elements of the Republican Party, were concerned that no process of review had been created to consider the appropriateness of ICC decisions. Sensitive to the interests of the business community, but also desiring to strike a balance between...