Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol III).djvu/531

 CH. XXXVIII.]. Yet, as they are the public agents of the nation, to which they belong, and are often entrusted with the performance of very delicate functions of state, and as they might be greatly embarrassed by being subject to the ordinary jurisdiction of inferior tribunals, state and national, it was thought highly expedient to extend the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to them also. The propriety of vesting jurisdiction, in such cases, in some of the national courts seems hardly to have been questioned by the most zealous opponents of the constitution. And in cases against ambassadors, and other foreign ministers, and consuls, the jurisdiction has been deemed exclusive.