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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Admiralty and Federalism
Admiralty and FederalismExtension of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction to navigable waters within a state does not, however, of its own force include general or political powers of government. Thus, in the absence of legislation by Congress, the states through their courts may punish offenses upon…
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Citizenship of Natural Persons
Citizenship of Natural PersonsFor purposes of diversity jurisdiction, state citizenship is determined by the concept of domicile 1 rather than of mere residence.2 That is, while the Court's defini…
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Right of the United States to Sue
Right of the United States to SueIn the first edition of his Treatise, Justice Story noted that while "an express power is no where given in the constitution," the right of the United States to sue in its own courts "is clearly implied in that part respecting the judicial power…. In…
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Citizenship of Corporations
Citizenship of CorporationsIn Bank of the United States v. Deveaux,1 Chief Justice Marshall declared: "That invisible, intangible, and artificial being, that mere legal entity, a corporation aggregate, is certainly not a citizen; and consequentl…
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Suits Against States
Suits Against StatesControversies to which the United States is a party include suits brought against states as party defendants. The first such suit occurred in United States v. North Carolina,1 which was an action by the United States to recover up…
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Manufactured Diversity
Manufactured DiversityA litigant who, because of diversity of citizenship, can choose whether to sue in state or federal court, will properly consider where the advantages and disadvantages balance, and if diversity is lacking, a litigant who perceives the balance to favor the federal forum will som…
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Immunity of the United States
Immunity of the United States From SuitPursuant to the general rule that a sovereign cannot be sued in its own courts, the judicial power does not extend to suits against the United States unless Congress by statute consents to such suits. This rule first emanated in embryonic form in an obiter dict…
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Diversity Cases
The Law Applied in Diversity CasesBy virtue of § 34 of the Judiciary Act of 1789,1 state law expressed in constitutional and statutory form was regularly applied in federal courts in diversity actions to govern the disposition of such cases. But…
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Removal from State Court
Removal From State Court to Federal CourtA limited right to "remove" certain cases from state courts to federal courts was granted to defendants in the Judiciary Act of 1789,1 and from then to 1872 Congress enacted several specific removal …
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Suits Against Officials
Suits Against United States OfficialsUnited States v. Lee, a 5-to-4 decision, qualified earlier holdings that a judgment affecting the property of the United States was in effect against the United States, by ruling that title to the Arlington estate of the Lee family, then being used as a national …
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Land Controversies
Controversies Between Citizens of the Same State Claiming Land Under Grants of Different StatesThe genesis of this clause was in the report of the Committee of Detail which vested the power to resolve such land disputes in the Senate,1 but this propo…
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Corporations Chartered by Congress
Corporations Chartered by CongressIn Osborn v. Bank of the United States,1 Chief Justice Marshall seized upon the authorization for the Bank to sue and be sued as a grant by Congress to the federal courts of jurisdiction in all cases to which the ban…
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Suits Against Government Corporations
Suits Against Government CorporationsThe multiplication of government corporations during periods of war and depression has provided one motivation for limiting the doctrine of sovereign immunity. In Keifer & Keifer v. RFC,1 the Court held that the g…
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Controversies
Controversies Between a State, or the Citizens Thereof, and Foreign States, Citizens, or SubjectsThe scope of this jurisdiction has been limited both by judicial decisions and the Eleventh Amendment. By judicial application of the law of nations, a foreign state is immune from suit in the federal co…