Tag: Controversies
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Judicial Review
The Establishment of Judicial ReviewJudicial review is one of the distinctive features of United States constitutional law. It is no small wonder, then, to find that the power of the federal courts to test federal and state legislative enactments and other actions by the standards of what the Consti…
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Civil Rights Act Jurisdiction
Civil Rights Act JurisdictionPerhaps the most important of the special federal question jurisdictional statutes is that conferring jurisdiction on federal district courts to hear suits challenging the deprivation under color of state law or custom of any right, privilege, or immunity secured by the …
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Boundary Disputes
Boundary Disputes: The Law AppliedOf the earlier examples of suits between states, that between New Jersey and New York 1 is significant for the application of the rule laid down earlier in Chisholm v. Georgia that the Supreme Court may proceed ex pa…
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Narrow Construction of the Jurisdiction
Narrow Construction of the JurisdictionAs in cases of diversity jurisdiction, suits brought to the federal courts under this category must clearly state in the record the nature of the parties. As early as 1809, the Supreme Court ruled that a federal court could not take jurisdiction of a cause wher…
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Pendent Jurisdiction
Pendent JurisdictionOnce jurisdiction has been acquired through allegation of a federal question not plainly wanting in substance, 1 a federal court may decide any issue necessary to the disposition of a case, notwithstanding that other non-federal q…
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Suits between States
Modern Types of Suits Between StatesBeginning with Missouri v. Illinois & Chicago District,1 which sustained jurisdiction to entertain an injunction suit to restrain the discharge of sewage into the Mississippi River, water rights, the use of water r…
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Indian Tribes
Commerce With Indian TribesCongress's power to regulate commerce "with the Indian tribes," once almost rendered superfluous by Court decision,1 has now been resurrected and made largely the basis for informing judicial judgment with res…
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Protective Jurisdiction
Protective JurisdictionA conceptually difficult doctrine, which approaches the verge of a serious constitutional gap, is the concept of protective jurisdiction. Under this doctrine, it is argued that in instances in which Congress has legislative jurisdiction, it can confer federal jurisdiction, wit…
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Declined Jurisdiction
Cases of Which the Court Has Declined JurisdictionIn other cases, however, the Court, centering its attention upon the elements of a case or controversy, has declined jurisdiction. In Alabama v. Arizona,1 where Alabama sought to enjoin nineteen state…
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Maritime Law
Maritime Law (Necessary and Proper Clause)Congress may implement the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction conferred upon the federal courts by revising and amending the maritime law that existed at the time the Constitution was adopted, but in so doing, it cannot go beyond the reach of that jurisdict…
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Real Interest
The Requirement of a Real InterestAlmost inseparable from the requirements of adverse parties and substantial enough interests to confer standing is the requirement that a real issue be presented, as contrasted with speculative, abstract, hypothetical, or moot issues. It has long been the Court'…
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Supreme Court Review of State Court Decisions
Supreme Court Review of State Court DecisionsIn addition to the constitutional issues presented by § 25 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 and subsequent enactments,1 questions have continued to arise concerning review of state court judgments which g…
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Virginia v. West Virginia
The Problem of Enforcement: Virginia v. West VirginiaA very important issue in interstate litigation is the enforcement of the Court's decree, once it has been entered. In some types of suits, this issue may not arise, and if it does, it may be easily met. Thus, a judgment putting a state in pos…
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Ambassadors
Suits Affecting Ambassadors, Other Public Ministers, and ConsulsThe earliest interpretation of the grant of original jurisdiction to the Supreme Court came in the Judiciary Act of 1789, which conferred on the federal district courts jurisdiction of suits to which a consul might be a party. This legi…
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Citizens
Controversies Between a State and Citizens of Another StateThe decision in Chisholm v. Georgia 1 that cases "between a state and citizens of another state" included those where a state was a party defendant provoked the proposal and ratific…