Judicial Review Flashcards
Article III, Section II limits the jurisdiction of the courts to:
Law-based Federal Jurisdiction:
1) cases arising under the Constitution or federal law
2) cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction
Party Based Jurisdiction:
1) U.S. Government
2) State v. State (border disputes)
3) state vs other state citizen
4) diversity jurisdiction + amount in controversy
5) Foreign diplomats
Federal Courts are courts of:
Limited Jurisdiction
The 11th amendment prohibits:
private individuals from suing states for money damages in any court because of state sovereign immunity.
Exceptions to the application of the 11th amendment:
1) federal suits brought by one state against another state or suits brought by the federal government against a state
2) subdivisions of a state (cities, towns, and counties) do not have immunity from suit under the 11th amendment.
3) most suits for injunctions, a private citizen may sue to enjoin a state official from acting in violation of the Plaintiff’s federal constitutional rights
4) A state may consent to suit in federal court if it clearly waives its 11th amendment immunity and does so expressly and unequivocally
5) enforcement powers
Other limitations on Jurisdiction of Federal Courts
Case or Controversy: RAMPS…to get into federal court you have to go up the RAMPS
RAMPS
Ripeness, Abstention, Adequate, Mootness, Political Questions, Standing.
Standing: Article III requires a person litigating a constitutional question to show:
a) injury in fact: The P must show and direct and personal injury, actual or imminent, caused by the action that he is challenging. Where the plaintiff has not suffered any personal injury or harm, he does not have standing.
b) Injury was caused by the challenged action
c) Redressability: p must show that he will benefit from the remedy sought.
Test for standing
1) Injury in fact: actual or imminent injury
2) Causation
3) redressability
People who do not have standing:
1) legislator
2) private individual who merely believes law is unconstitutional
3) Taxpayer who does not want his tax dollars being used to enforce a law he believes is unconstitutional
Exception: a taxpayer can challenge he believes violates the establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Specialized problems of standing
Third parties: Under the traditional view, a litigant lacks standing to assert rights of third parties not before the court.
Exception: Two part test
1) A special relationship: b/w the claimaint and third party because of the connection b/we the interests of the claimant and the constitutional rights of the third person
2) incapacity
When does an organization have standing?
1) the members would otherwise have standing to sue in their own right
2) the interest asserted is germane to the associations purpose
3) neither the claim asserted nor the relief requested would require participation by the individual members in the lawsuit. (must be individually suited)
Ripeness
Ripeness bars consideration of claims before they have fully developed. (suing before injury) (no advisory opinion)
Mootness
If a controversy or matter has been resolved, then the case will be dismissed as moot. Exception: The case will not be dismissed if the injury is capable of repetition, yet evading review" meaning that is is a practical impossibility for there to be adjudication or appellate review before the claims of the plaintiff or other individuals who are members of the class become moot. (Example: Pregnancy restrictions)
If the answer is ripeness or mootness the question will most likely deal with
declaratory judgment
Factors for Political Questions
1) Textual commitment: Federal courts cannot hear cases involving political questions. A political question is something in the constitution suggests that the ultimate decision making authority is given to another government actor and (rare) Example: Const. says Senate should have sole power to try impeachments.
2) the required decision is political rather than legal in character.
PC exam tip:
textual commitment: impeachment
no standards: partisan gerrymander, foreign affairs
Abstention
1) deference to state courts.
2) state court enforcement proceeding (individual is being prosecuted in state court and goes to federal court and wants them to declare law is unconstitutional)
3)
How abstention is tested:
maybe there is a constitutional issue, maybe there is not
Adequate and Independent State Ground
U.S. Supreme Court won’t here a case from a state high court if that decision can rest on state law grounds. (ban on advisory opinions) (you will see two grounds)
Example of A & I
A party to a K breaches one provision of the K. The matter goes up through the state system, and the state court rules that the entire K is nullified because the breached provision was not severable as a matter of state law and because of in violation of federal antitrust laws. The court has ruled on one state law ground and on federal law ground. The Supreme Court cannot hear this case because the state law ground is adequate to support the decision.
Exception: for Independent
State follows Fed
Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court: Original and Appellate
Original jurisdiction over cases involving foreign diplomats and states ( Congress cannot change the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction) This is party based.
Parties include ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls (foreign diplomats; and states
Appellate jurisdiction exists
where the federal constitution or a question of federal law are at issue.
Congress’s power Over the Courts
Lower federal courts: can do what they want
Supreme Court: Unsettled
Congress cannot: take a case from appellate jurisdiction and move it to original jurisdiction (Marbury v. Madison)
