JUDICIAL POWER

Source

Article III requires the establishment of a Supreme Court and permits Congress to create other federal courts and limit their jurisdiction.

Scope

Judicial power is limited to cases and controversies (partial list):

• Arising under the U.S. Constitution, federal laws, and federal treaties

• When the United States is a party

• Between two or more states, or between a state and citizens of another state

• Between citizens of different states, or between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states or

• Between a state—or its citizens—and foreign states, citizens, or subjects.

Scope continued

Although not enumerated in the Constitution, the judiciary has the power to review:

• Another branch’s act and declare it unconstitutional

• The constitutionality of a decision by a state’s highest court and

• State actions under the Supremacy Clause to ensure conformity with the Constitution

Limitations

The Eleventh Amendment is a jurisdictional bar that:

• Prohibits citizens of one state from suing another state in federal court

• Immunizes states—but not local governments—from suits in federal court for money damages or equitable relief and

• Bars suits in federal court against state officials for violating state law.

Exceptions to the Eleventh Amendment

Exceptions to the Eleventh Amendment include consent, state official sued for injunctive or declaratory relief, damages paid by state officers, and congressional enforcement of Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendment rights.

• Note that sovereign immunity also bars citizens from suing their own state in state or federal court without the state’s consent.

Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court

• Original Jurisdiction—Cannot be expanded or limited by Congress

• State is a party of case affects ambassador, public ministers, or consults

Adequate and Independent State Grounds

The U.S. Supreme Court cannot review a final state-court judgment that rests on adequate and independent state grounds.

• Adequate = state law fully resolves the issues

• Independent = the state court’s ruling does not depend on an interpretation of federal law

Standing

A plaintiff must establish the following:

• Injury in fact:The plaintiff suffered a concrete and particularized injury, but it needed not be physical or economic. A future injury must be actual or imminent

• Causation: The plaintiff’s injury was caused by the defendant’s violation of a constitutional or other federal right.

• Redressability: The relief requested will likely prevent or redress the injury.

• Prudential Standing: The plaintiff is a proper party to invoke judicial resolution of the dispute.

However, there are some notable exceptions to this general rule:

Taxpayer status

– A taxpayer generally has no standing to challenge a government’s allocation of funds, but a taxpayer does have standing to:

• Litigate how much is owed on her tax bill

• Challenge government expenditures as violating the Establishment Clause

Third-party standing

– A plaintiff lacks standing to bring a lawsuit based on a third party’s claims except when:

• There is a special relationship between the plaintiff and the third party

• The third party is unable to assert its own rights and

• There is a risk that disallowing third-party standing will dilute the third party’s rights

Organizational standing

– An organization can sue on its own behalf or on behalf of its members if:

• Its members would have standing to sue in their own right and

• The interests at stake are germane to the organization’s purpose

Legislative standing

– Legislators lack standing to challenge laws they voted against, but the legislature may have institutional standing if the claim has something to do with its institutional functions.

• When answering questions about standing, focus on whether the plaintiff is legally qualified to bring a claim. Eliminate answer choices involving only the substance or merits of the claim.

Timeliness - Ripeness

The plaintiff must have experienced a real injury (or imminent threat thereof). An action brought too soon is “unripe.”

Timeliness - Mootness

– There must be a live controversy at each stage of review. An action that is brought too late is “moot.” A case is not moot in the following situations:

• The controversy is “capable of repetition” but is “evading review” (i.e., it will not last long enough to work through the judicial system).

• The defendant voluntarily ceases its illegal or wrongful action upon the commencement of litigation but can resume it any time.

Justiciability Issues

• Advisory opinions

• Declaratory judgments

• Political questions

Advisory opinions

– Abstract or hypothetical disputes are prohibited. An actual case or controversy must exist.

Declaratory judgments

– Lawsuits seeking a determination of the legal effect of proposed conduct but not damages or injunctive relief are permitted if the conduct poses a “real and immediate danger” to a party’s interests.

Political questions

– An issue is not subject to judicial review when the Constitution has assigned decision-making on the subject to a different government branch, or the matter is inherently not one that the judiciary can decide.

*** Fact patterns involving a request for declaratory judgment are likely testing advisory opinion prohibition

Abstention

A federal court may abstain from deciding a claim only when strong state interests are at stake. A court may abstain:

• Because there is unsettled case law (Pullman abstention)

• From pending state criminal cases in the absence of bad faith, harassment, or invalid state statute (Younger abstention)

• If parties are seeking injunctive relief that would interfere with a complex state regulatory scheme (Burford abstention) or

• If the case is substantially similar to another case being heard in state court (Colorado River abstention).