On March 19, 1954, petitioner filed an action for declaratory relief in the District Court for the Southern District of California. She alleged that the Post Office had no power to impound her mail without a hearing, that she was suffering irreparable injury, and that her constitutional rights had been violated. She sought a decree enjoining the so-called impound order, hereinafter referred to as the interim order, and any other order which might be entered by the Post Office, pursuant to the hearing. The District Court dismissed the complaint, holding that the Post Office had power to impound petitioner's mail pending the administrative determination, and that petitioner could not question the administrative proceeding itself, because she had not exhausted her administrative remedies.
121 F.Supp. 607. Petitioner appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where the appeal is now pending. She also made a motion for relief from the interim order, pending review. The Court of Appeals heard argument on the motion and took it under submission, but then vacated the submission and ordered the motion held in abeyance until June 15, 1954, to permit the Post Office Department to make a final and judicially reviewable order. The court stated that it was of the opinion that the motion should not be acted upon at that time.