States stamps on the island, and the extension
 of numerous federal statutes to Porto Rico, did
 not, singly or altogether, have the effect of
 incorporating Porto Rico into the Union.

7. Courts 438-United States District
 Court for Porto Rico Is not true United
 States court.

 The United States District Court for Porto
 Rico is not a true United States court
 established under Const. art. 3, to administer
 the judicial power of the United States, but was
 created by virtue of the sovereign
 congressional faculty, granted under article 4,
 3, of making all needful rules and regulations
 respecting the territory belonging to the United
 States.

8. Territories 7, 8-Legislative
 recognition that questions under
 federal Constitution can arise in Porto
 Rico does not Incorporate it into the
 Union.

 Legislative recognition that questions
 under the Constitution of the United States
 may arise in the court of Porto Rico, as
 evidenced by provisions for review of decisions
 of the courts on such questions, does not
 indicate that the island has been incorporated
 into the United States, since the Constitution is
 in force therein as it is wherever the sovereign
 power of the United States is exerted, though
 certain grounds of power and limitations are not
 always and everywhere applicable thereto.

 Writs of Error to the Supreme Court
 of Porto Rico.

 Jesus M. Balzac was convicted in two
 separate prosecutions for criminal libel.
 Judgments of conviction were affirmed by the
 Supreme Court of Porto Rico (28 P. R. 139,
 141), and defendant brings error. Affirmed.

 Mr. Jackson H. Ralston, of Washington, D.
 C., for plaintiff in error.

 Mr. Grant T. Trent, of Washington, D. C., for
 the People of Porto Rico.


 Mr. Chief Justice TAFT delivered the
 opinion of the Court.

 These are two prosecutions for criminal
 libel, brought against the same defendant,
 Jesus M. Balzac, on informations filed in the
 district court for Arecibo, Porto Rico, by the
 district attomey for that district. Balzac was the
 editor of a daily paper published in Arecibo,
 known as "El Baluarte," and the articles upon
 which the charges of libel were based were
 published on April 16 and April 23, 1918,
 respectively. In each case the defendant
 demanded a jury. The Code of Criminal
 Procedure of Porto Rico grants a jury trial in
 cases of felony, but not in misdemeanors. The
 defendant, nevertheless, contended that he
 was entitled to a jury in such a case, under the
 Sixth Amendment to the Constitution, and that
 the language of the alleged libels was only fair
 comment, and their publication was protected
 by the First Amendment. His contentions were
 overruled; he was tried by the court, and was
 convicted in both cases and sentenced to five
 months' imprisonment in the district jail in the
 first, and to four months in the second, and to
 the payment of the costs of each. The
 defendant appealed to the Supreme Court of
 Porto Rico. That court affirmed both
 judgments. People v. Balzac, 28 P.R. R. 139;
 second case, 28 P.R. R. 141.

 [1] The first question in these cases is one
 of jurisdiction of this court. By section 244 of
 the Judicial Code, approved March 3, 1911 (36
 Stat. 1157), it was provided that writs of error
 and appeals from the final judgments and
 decrees of the Supreme Court of Porto Rico
 might be prosecuted to this court in any case in
 which was drawn in question the validity of a
 treaty or statute of, or authority exercised
 under, the United States or wherein the
 Constitution of the United States, or a treaty
 thereof, or an act of Congress was brought in
 question and the right claimed thereunder was
 denied, and this without regard to the amount
 involved. By the Act of January 28, 1915 (38
 Stat. 803), section 244 of the Judicial Code
 was repealed, but section 246 (Comp. St.
 1223) was amended and made to apply to the
 appellate jurisdiction of this court in respect to
 the decisions of the Supreme Court, not only
 of Hawaii, as before, but also Porto Rico, and it
was provided that writs of error to those courts