Judicial power: U.S. Supreme Court Flashcards
Original jurisdiction
For a limited group of cases—“all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls and those in which a State shall be a party”—a plaintiff may file a case in the U.S. Supreme Court in the first instance.
Congress cannot expand or limit this jurisdiction, but it can grant concurrent original jurisdiction to lower federal courts.
Review of state court judgments: adequate and independent state grounds
The U.S. Supreme Court can only review a state court judgment if:
(1) The state judgment below turned on federal grounds and
(2) It did not rest on an adequate and independent state law ground.
A state law ground is an AISG if it controls no matter how a federal issue is decided, i.e., when the federal claimant wins anyway under state law.
Adequate and independent state grounds: adoption of federal law
For there to be an AISG, the applicable state law must not depend on an interpretation of federal law—i.e., there is no AISG if the state law adopts or follows federal law.
Adequate and independent state grounds: unclear basis
When a state court decision is unclear as to the basis of the decision—i.e., as to whether it has ruled based on the state constitution or the federal constitution—the Court can review the federal issue.
If the Supreme Court finds that the state court decision turns on a federal issue, then the Supreme Court may rule on whether the state court correctly decided the federal issue. If not, then the Supreme Court must dismiss the appeal.
Review of state court judgments: disposition
If the U.S. Supreme Court agrees with the state court’s decision of federal law, it affirms the decision.
if the Court disagrees with the state court’s understanding of the federal issue, it remands the case to the state court so that it can reconsider state law.
State courts of last resort
Although the Supreme Court generally reviews only decisions made by the highest court of a state, there is no constitutional requirement that the Supreme Court do so.
Limits by Congress
Pursuant to the Article III, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Supreme Court’s appellate jurisdiction is subject to “such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.”
Original jurisdiction: statutory concurrent jurisdiction
By statute, Congress has granted federal district courts concurrent original jurisdiction over all controversies over which the Constitution granted the U.S. Supreme Court original jurisdiction—except for a controversy between two states.
