Paul Anthony Ashby v. United States

As both the United States and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals recognized in this case, the Pinkerton doctrine of co-conspirator liability is not authorized by any statute in the District of Columbia and did not exist in the common law that Congress adopted for the District of Columbia in the 1901 Code. The question presented is whether the District of Columbia Court of Appeals unlawfully usurped the role of the legislature in violation of the separation-ofpowers principles that Congress incorporated into the District of Columbia Charter when it held that it had the “inherent power” to adopt Pinkerton liability without authorization by the legislature.