Constitutional US Law

Tag: Judicial Power and Jurisdiction

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Appellate Jurisdiction

    Appellate JurisdictionIn Wiscart v. D'Auchy,1 the issue was whether the statutory authorization for the Supreme Court to review on writ of error circuit court decisions in "civil actions" gave it power to review admiralty cases.1171 A m…

  • Conflicts of Jurisdiction

    Conflicts of Jurisdiction: Federal Court Interference with State CourtsOne challenging the constitutionality, under the United States Constitution, of state actions, statutory or otherwise, could, of course, bring suit in state court; indeed, in the time before conferral of federalquestion jurisdict…

  • Admiralty Cases

    Cases of Admiralty and Maritime JurisdictionThe admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the federal courts had its origins in the jurisdiction vested in the courts of the Admiral of the English Navy. Prior to independence, vice-admiralty courts were created in the Colonies by commissions from the Eng…

  • Civil Cases

    Jurisdiction Confined to Civil CasesIn Cohens v. Virginia, 1 there is a dictum to the effect that the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court does not include suits between a state and its own citizens. Long afterwards, the Supreme Court dismissed…

  • Jurisdiction of the Inferior Federal Courts

    Jurisdiction of the Inferior Federal CourtsThe Framers, as we have seen,1 divided with regard to the necessity of courts inferior to the Supreme Court, simply authorized Congress to create such courts, in which, then, judicial power "shall be ve…

  • Injunctions

    Federal Restraint of State Courts by InjunctionsEven where the federal anti-injunction law is inapplicable, or where the question of application is not reached,1 those seeking to enjoin state court proceedings must overcome substantial prudential bar…

  • Admiralty

    Admiralty and Maritime CasesAdmiralty and maritime jurisdiction comprises two types of cases: (1) those involving acts committed on the high seas or other navigable waters, and (2) those involving contracts and transactions connected with shipping employed on the seas or navigable waters. In the fir…

  • Parens Patriae

    The State as Parens PatriaeThe distinction between suits brought by states to protect the welfare of their citizens as a whole and suits to protect the private interests of individual citizens is not easily drawn. Thus, in Oklahoma v. Atchison, T. & S.F. Ry.,<a name=t1 href=#f1 target="_self&qu…

  • Congressional Control over Writs and Processes

    Congressional Control Over Writs and ProcessesThe Judiciary Act of 1789 contained numerous provisions relating to the times and places for holding court, even of the Supreme Court, to times of adjournment, appointment of officers, issuance of writs, citations for contempt, and many other matters whi…

  • Writ Scope

    Habeas Corpus: Scope of the WritAt the English common law, habeas corpus was available to attack pretrial detention and confinement by executive order; it could not be used to question the conviction of a person pursuant to the judgment of a court with jurisdiction over the person. That common law m…

  • Admiralty Proceedings

    Admiralty ProceedingsProcedure in admiralty jurisdiction differs in few respects from procedure in actions at law, but the differences that do exist are significant.1 Suits in admiralty traditionally took the form of a proceeding in rem against the v…

  • Controversies between Citizens of Different States

    Controversies Between Citizens of Different StatesThe records of the Federal Convention are silent on why the Framers included controversies between citizens of different states among the judicial power of the United States,1 but Congress has given &…

  • Theory of Plenary Congressional Control Reconsidered

    The Theory of Plenary Congressional Control ReconsideredDespite the breadth of the language of many of the previously cited cases, the actual holdings constitute something less than an affirmance of plenary congressional power to do anything it desires by manipulation of jurisdiction, and, indeed, t…