ConLaw: Overview and Federal Judicial Power

General Federal Judicial Power

Federal judicial power extends to cases involving: (1) interpretation of the Constitution, federal laws, treaties, and admiralty and maritime laws; and (2) disputes between states, states and foreign citizens, and citizens of diverse citizenship

Justiciability Doctrines

Standing, Ripeness, Mootness, Political Question

Standing, generally

Standing requires: (1) an injury in fact; (2) causal connection; and (3) redressability

Standing Injury:

A person must be able to prove that they have been or imminently will be injured. Plaintiffs may only assert injuries that they personally have suffered, but the injury need not be economic

Standing and Injunctive/Declaratory Relief

Plaintiffs seeking injunctive or declaratory relief must show a likelihood of future harm

Standing and Test Cases

Plaintiffs are permitted to bring a case to test the constitutionality of a particular rule, even if the plaintiff knowingly triggered the application of the rule, so long as the plaintiff was injured

Standing Causal Connection

There must be a causal connection between the injury and the conduct complained of. Plaintiffs must prove that the defendant (often the government) caused the injury

Standing: Redressability

Plaintiffs must show that a favorable court decision is likely to remedy the injury, that the court is capable of eliminating the harm

Third Party Standing Exception: Close-Relationship

A claimant with standing in their own right may also assert the rights of a third party if there is a close relationship between the plaintiff and the injured third party

Third Party Standing Exception: Unlikely to Sue

A claimant with standing in their own right may assert the rights of a third party if the injured third party is unlikely to be able to assert their own rights

Standing of Organizations

An organization may sue for its members if: (1) the members would have standing to sue; (2) the interests are germane to the organization’s purpose; and (3) neither the claim nor the relief requires the participation of individual members

Standing: Generalized Grievances

With some exceptions, the plaintiff must not be suing solely as a citizen or a taxpayer interested in having the government follow the law.

Standing: Establishment Clause Exception

Taxpayers do have standing to challenge government expenditures made pursuant to federal (or state or local) statutes violating the Establishment Clause

Standing: Tax Bill Exception

A taxpayer has standing to litigate their own tax bill

Ripeness Test: Pre-enforcement

When determining ripeness for pre-enforcement actions, a federal court considers: (1) the hardship that will be suffered without pre-enforcement review; and (2) the fitness of the issues and the record for the judicial review (does the court have all it needs to effectively decide the issue on the merits?)

Typical Ripeness Example: Regulation

If a challenger will suffer hardship because they must choose between taking steps to comply with a rule (causing injury) or facing possible sanctions for not complying, the case will usually be found to be ripe

Mootness generally

If events after the filing of the lawsuit end the plaintiff’s injury, the case will be dismissed as moot

Mootness: CRYER Exception

Wrongs that are Capable of Repetition Yet Evading Review, such as pregnancy-related issues, are not moot simply because the particular instance of the wrong has terminated

Mootness: Voluntary Cessation

If the defendant voluntarily halts the offending conduct, the case will not be dismissed as moot if the defendant is free to resume the conduct at any time

Mootness: Class Actions

A class action will not be dismissed as moot if the named plaintiff’s claim becomes moot so long as one member of the class has an ongoing injurty

Political Question Doctrine

Federal Courts will not adjudicate political questions, which involve issues: (1) constitutionally committed to another branch of government; or (2) inherently incapable of judicial resolution

Examples of Political Questions

Challenges to the President’s conduct of foreign policy, challenges to the impeachment and removal process, and challenges to partisan gerrymandering

Political Question Notable Exception

A lawsuit challenging the validity of a federal statute should not be dismissed as a political question even if the case involves a dispute between branches of the government regarding foreign affairs

Advisory Opinions

Article III prohibits advisory opinions, and therefore the court will not render decisions in moot cases, cases where the parties aren’t actually adverse, or cases that won’t have a binding effect on the parties

Supreme Court Appellate Jurisdiction, generally

SCOTUS has appellate jurisdiction in all cases to which federal power extends, subject to congressional exceptions and regulation. Such cases come before the Court through either Writ of Certiorari or through Appeal

Writ of Certiorari

Virtually all cases come to SCOTUS via cert. SCOTUS has complete discretion to hear these cases. Cases that come by cert are: (1) cases from state courts where (a) the constitutionality of a federal statute, federal treaty, or state statute is in issue; or (b) a state statute allegedly violates federal law; and (2) all cases from federal courts of appeal

Appellate Jurisdiction: Appeals

SCOTUS must hear cases that come to it by appeal. These cases are confined to decisions by three-judge federal district court panels that grant or deny injunctive relief

SCOTUS Original jurisdiction

SCOTUS has original and exclusive Jx over suits between the states and original Jx where just one of the parties is a state. SCOTUS also has original Jx in all cases affecting ambassadors, public ministers, and consuls, but Congress has given concurrent jurisdiction to lower federal courts in all of these cases. Original Jx can only be expanded via constitutional amendment

Final Judgment Rule

Generally, SCOTUS may hear cases only after there has been a final judgment from the highest state court, a federal court of appeal, or a three-judge federal district court

Adequate and Independent State Grounds

SCOTUS will review a state court decision only if the decision is not supported by an independent and adequate state law ground. State law grounds are adequate if they are fully dispositive of the case. They are independent if the decision is not based on federal case interpretations of identical federal provisions. If the state court did not clearly indicate whether its decision rests on state law, SCOTUS may hear the case

SCOTUS Power of Judicial Review

SCOTUS may review the constitutionality of acts or rules of other branches of federal government and may review state acts pursuant to the Supremacy Clause

11th Amendment and Sovereign Immunity

Federal Courts (and state courts) may not hear suits against state governments. The eleventh amendment bars suits against states in federal court and sovereign immunity bars suits against states in state courts or federal agencies

Express Waiver Immunity Exception

States can be sued if they consent to it. Most states have expressly waived sovereign immunity, at least to a limited extent, in their tort claims acts

State Immunity Exception: Congressional Removal

States may be sued pursuant to federal laws adopted under Section 5 of the 14th Amendment, but it must be unmistakably clear that Congress intended to remove the protection. Congress cannot authorize suits against states under other provisions

State Immunity Exception: Fed and Other State Suits

The federal government may sue state governments and other states can sue state governments

Immunity Exception: Suits based on the Plan of the Convention

By joining the federal union, states implicitly agreed that their sovereign immunity would yield to certain federal powers. This has been used to allow suits involving bankruptcy and federal laws adopted based on Congress’s power to raise an army and a navy. This exception extends to suits brought by the federal government as well as to suits by private parties if Congress delegates the power

State Immunity: Suit against State Officers

A person can sue a state official: (1) for damages personally; or (2) to enjoin the official from future conduct that violates the Constitution or federal law, even if this will require prospective payment from the state. However, retroactive damages are barred

Immunity Exception: Local governments

Local governments are not protected by sovereign immunity, and neither are entities such as police departments

Abstention

There are multiple abstention doctrines, but the two most commonly cited are: (1) federal courts may not enjoin pending state court proceedings; and (2) if state law is unclear and state court clarification could make a federal constitutional ruling unnecessary