Judicial Power

Question 1

“Case or controversy”

Answer 1

Whether a case is justiciable depends on:
1. Is it an advisory opinion?
-Court cannot issue advisory opinion
-Advisory opinions lack an actual dispute or any legally binding effect on parties
2. Is it ripe or moot?
-A case is ripe when the issues are fit for a judicial decision AND P would suffer substantial hardship in the absence of review
-A case is not moot when there is a live controversy + ongoing injury
>Exceptions: capable of repetition but evade review; D voluntarily stops offending practice but is free to resume it; class action suits
3. Does P have standing?
-Injury in fact
-Causation
-Redressability

Question 2

Standing

Answer 2

Injury must be concrete and particularized
-Affects P in personal manner and is not hypothetical
-No citizen or taxpayer standing (too general), except to challenge tax bill or to challenge congressional spending on Establishment Clause grounds (religious)
-Must have already occurred or is imminent
-No third-party standing unless difficult for third party to assert rights or close relationship (i.e., parent-child); free speech overbreadth claims; or on behalf of organizations

Causation
-Must be a causal connection between the injury and the conduct complained of

Redressability
-A favorable decision for the litigant must be cable of eliminating their harm (i.e., money damages or injunction)

Question 3

Sovereign Immunity

Answer 3

The Eleventh Amendment bars a private party suit against a state in federal and state courts or agencies

Exceptions:
-Most states waive sovereign immunity in tort claims acts
-Structural waiver is when a state yields certain federal powers (i.e., military and eminent domain): requires federal power is complete + state implicitly consented as part of Constitution
-Local governments are not protected by sovereign immunity
-Federal government and states can sue other states
-Not applicable to bankruptcy proceedings
-A person can sue a state official

Question 4

Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court

Answer 4

Original jurisdiction in cases affecting high level officials and where a state is a party

Appellate jurisdiction in all cases to which federal judicial power extends, including the discretion to hear cases that come through a writ of certiorari by means of the highest state court or any federal court of appeal

Adequate and Independent State Grounds:
-If a state court decision rests on two grounds, one state law and the other federal law, and the reversal of federal law wouldn’t change the result, SCOTUS cannot hear the case

Question 5

Absentation

Answer 5

A federal court will temporarily abstain from resolving a constitutional question that rests on an unsettled state law question

Nor will a federal court enjoin pending state criminal proceedings except for bad faith prosecutions