Judicial power

Question 1

justiciability

Answer 1

(1) what a lawsuit must request – no advisory opinions

(2) when it is brought – ripeness

(3) who can bring the suit — plaintiff with standing

Question 2

what are advisory opinions

Answer 2

FEDERAL courts may not issue them! it violates justiciability requirement

DEFINITION:
decisions that lack (1) an actual dispute between adverse parties, or (2) any legally binding effect on the parties.

EXAMPLE:
if a federal court submits its final judgment to be reviewed under final appellate review done by another branch of government, it is advisory. {if another branch can decide whether or not to follow court’s final jdugment, it is advisory}

**State court MAY issue advisory opinions

Question 3

Ripeness requires:

Answer 3

Either:

(a) laws are passed and enforced against challenger

or

(b) pre-enforcement review under following circumstances:

– The issues are fit for a judicial decision [case involves legal issues, not dependent on facts]

AND

— The plaintiff would suffer substantial hardship in the absence of review [harm must be likely in the future]

Question 4

what is the opposite of ripeness

Answer 4

mootness

Question 5

what is mootness

Answer 5

A claim is moot when the plaintiff is NOT still suffering from an ongoing injury, showing that the case is no longer a “live” controversy

bars cases after they have been developed

Question 6

exceptions to mootness … a claim is not moot, even if injury has passed, if

Answer 6

(1) Controversies capable of repetition but that evade review be- cause of their inherently short duration [not prison sentence, something shorter like “one year requirement of residency to vote”]

(2) D voluntarily stops but can resume at will

(3) class actions with one live claim

Question 7

what is standing

Answer 7

(1) injury in fact

(2) Causation

(3) repressibility

Question 8

Standing: what is injury in fact?

Answer 8

concrete and particularized injury to the P

Concrete: actual injury, not hypothetical

particularized: personal and individual to the P [no third party standing]

Ex: physical harm, economic harm, environmental harm, loss of statutory and constitutional right

Question 9

does citizenship confer standing?

Answer 9

——- People have no standing merely as “citizens” or “taxpayers” to claim that government action violates federal law or the Constitution. The injury is too generalized.

Question 10

Exceptions to the rule that citizenship and taxpayer status lack “injury” for article III standing

Answer 10

(1) taxpayer can challenge own tax liability

(2) Congressional spending in violation of the first Amendment establishment clause – but spending power must be implicated (ex: congressionally approved federal expenditures to aid parochial schools)

(3) A person may have standing to allege that federal action violates the Tenth Amendment by interfering with powers reserved to the states as long as the person has a redressable injury in fact

Question 11

when does timing of Article III injury occur

Answer 11

must have already occurred or will imminently occur

Question 12

exceptions to the “no third party standing rule”

Answer 12

[1] A claimant with standing in their own right may assert the rights of a third party if:
(1) it is difficult for the third party to assert their own rights, or

(2) a close relationship exists between the claimant and the third party.

Ex: parent asserting rights of her child; NAACP asserting rights of its members, since members could not challenge law without disclosing identities

[2] organization may sue on behalf of members

[3] Free speech over breadth claims

[4] a seller of goods may have third party standing to challenge a law that adversely affects the rights of her customers

Question 13

to what extent does organization have standing to sue on behalf of its members

Answer 13

1) there is an injury in fact to the members,

2) its members’ injuries are related to the organization’s purpose,

AND

3) Individual member participation in the lawsuit is not required (for example, they’re not seeking individualized damages).

Question 14

what is the free speech over breadth exception to article 3 standing

Answer 14

A person has standing to bring a free speech claim alleging that the government restricted substantially more speech than necessary (in other words, that the restriction was overbroad), even if that person’s own speech would not be protected under the First Amendment.

Essentially, the plaintiff can bring a claim on behalf of others whose speech would be protected under the First Amendment. However, this rule does not apply to restrictions on commercial speech.

Question 15

what is the causation requirement of standing

Answer 15

showing the injury is fairly traceable to the defendant

can’t be purely speculative, can’t be result of many intertwining factors

Question 16

what is the redressibility requirement of standing

Answer 16

A decision in the litigant’s favor must be capable of eliminating their harm (for example, through money damages or an injunction).

Question 17

can congress eliminate the case or controversy requirement ?

Answer 17

no

Question 18

Standing to Enforce Government Statutes

Answer 18

A plaintiff may have standing to enforce a federal statute if they are within the “zone of interests” Congress meant to protect (that is, a court is likely to find standing if it concludes that Congress intended the statute to protect such persons and also intended to allow private persons to bring federal court actions to enforce the statute).

Question 19

can a P bringing a test case have standing?

Answer 19

yes

Question 20

what does sovereign immunity do {11th Am}

Answer 20

(1) bars private parties from suing a state [in fed and state court]

(2) bars parties from suing state in an agency’s court

Question 21

Exceptions to sovereign immunity

Answer 21

(1) express waiver by state [ex: tort claims acts]

(2) implicit consent/structural waiver

(3) you can sue local governments

(4) states can sue other states

(5) fed gov’t can sue states

(6) no sovereign immunity in bankruptcy

(7) you can sue state officials

(8) congress removes sovereign immunity as to actions created under the Fourteenth Amendment power to prevent discrimi- nation, but it must be unmistakably clear that Congress intended to remove the immunity [civil rights]

Question 22

structural waiver of sovereign immunity

Answer 22

When they joined the federal union, states implicitly agreed that their sovereign immunity would yield to certain federal powers (for example, eminent domain and military-related powers). Structural waiver applies when:
A federal power is complete in itself AND
The states implicitly consented to the federal government exercising that power as part of the plan of the Constitution

Question 23

when will courts abstain from resolving a constitutional claim?

Answer 23

(1) when disposition of claim rests on unsettled question of state law

(2) pending state criminal proceedings [unless case of harassment or bad-faith prosecutions]

Question 24

what are political questions and can they be decided?

Answer 24

issues (1) constitu- tionally committed to another branch of government or (2) inherently incapable of judicial resolution.

they will not be decided

** exception: **Interbranch disputes involving foreign affairs are not subject to the political questions doctrine when they concern the validity of a federal statute

Question 25

when does Supreme Court have original jurisdiction

Answer 25

all cases affecting ambassadors, public ministers, consuls, and those in which a state is a party, but Congress has given concurrent jurisdiction to lower federal courts in all cases except those between states.

Question 26

when does scotus have appellate jurisdiction

Answer 26

all cases to which federal judicial power extends under Article III, subject to congres- sional exceptions and regulation

– judicial review
– supremacy clause power

Question 27

how do cases come to the Supreme Court for it to exercise appellate jurisdiction?

Answer 27

a. Writ of Certiorari—Most Cases
The Supreme Court has complete discretion to hear cases that come to it by certiorari.

Cases from the highest state court capable of providing a de- cision where (1) the constitutionality of a federal statute, federal treaty, or state statute is in issue, or (2) a state statute allegedly violates federal law; and
All cases from federal courts of appeals

b. Appeal—Rare Cases
The Supreme Court 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 injunctions.

Question 28

rule of adequate and independent state law grounds

Answer 28

The Supreme Court will not hear a case from a state court, even though it has jurisdic- tion over the parties and the subject matter, if there are adequate and independent state grounds to support the decision.

State law grounds are adequate if they are fully dispositive of the case. They are indepen- dent if the decision is not based on federal case interpretations of identical federal provisions.

If the state court has not clearly indicated that its decision rests on state law, the Supreme Court may hear the case.

4 requirements for supreme court to review state court decision
(1) final judgment
(2) from the highest state court
(3) substantial federal question raised
(4) decision by state court did NOT rest on adequate and independent state grounds