UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE

Under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), a federal district court in which a civil action has been properly brought is not empowered to transfer the action on the motion of the defendant to a district in which the plaintiff did not have a right to bring it. Pp. 363 U. S. 335-344.

(a) The phrase "where it might have been brought" in § 1404(a) cannot be interpreted to mean "where it may now be rebrought, with defendants' consent." Pp. 363 U. S. 342-343.

(b) Under § 1404(a), the power of a district court to transfer an action to another district is made to depend not upon the wish or waiver of the defendant, but upon whether the transferee district is one in which the action "might have been brought" by the plaintiff. Pp. 363 U. S. 343-344.

260 F.2d 317, 261 F.2d 467, affirmed.