The Judicial Power Flashcards
(30 cards)
Article III
Federal Judicial power (derived from Art III) extends to cases involving:
Interpretation of the Constitution, federal laws, treaties, and admiralty and maritime laws.
Disputes between states, states and foreign citizens, and citizens of diverse citizenship.
Constitutional and Self-Imposed Limitations on Exercise of Federal Jurisdiction - “Strict Necessity”
Federal courts can hear a matter only if there is a “case or controversy.”
Whether there is a case or controversy depends on:
- What the case is requesting (is it an advisory opinion)?
- When it is brought (is it ripe or moot)?
- Who is bring it (does the P have standing)?
No Advisory Opinions
Fed courts cannot issue advisory opinions, which are decisions that lack:
- an actual dispute between adverse parties, or
- any legally binding effect on the parties.
Ripeness
To avoid issuing advisory opinions, courts wait until laws and policies have been formalized and can be felt in concrete ways.
A P can establish ripeness before a law of policy is enforced by showing two things:
- the issues are fit for judicial decision AND
- The P would suffer substantial hardship in the absence of review
Fit for Judicial Decision
The more the case involves legal as opposed to factual issues, the more likely the case will be fit for review.
This means that, generally, an issue is not fit for judicial decision if it relies on uncertain or contingent future events that might not occur.
Hardship to Parties
The P also needs to show that they would have to risk substantial hardship to provoke enforcement of law. The more hardship the P can show, the more likely the court will find the case to be ripe.
Mootness
A live controversy must exist at all stages of review. Therefore, the P needs to be suffering from an ongoing injury, or else the case will be dismissed as moot.
Exceptions to Mootness
A claim is not considered to be moot int eh following situations, even if the injury has passed:
- Controversies capable of repetition but that evade review because of their inherently short duration,
- Cases where the D voluntarily stops the offending practice but is free to resume it,
- Class actions in which the class representative’s controversy has become moot but the claim of at least one other class member is still viable.
Standing
A person must have standing at all stages of litigation, including on appeal.
Standing Components
Standing has three major components: Injury, Causation,, and Redressability
Standing - Injury
To have standing, a person needs to show an injury in fact, which requires both:
- A particularized injury - an injury that affects the P in a personal and individual way AND
- A concrete injury - one that actually exists (not hypothetical).
Citizenship Standing?
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.
EXCEPT: Challenging Tax Liability - a taxpayer has standing to challenge their tax bill.
EXCEPT: Tenth Amendment - A person may have standing to allege that federal action violates the 10th Amend by interfering with powers reserved to the states as long as the person has a redressable injury in fact.
EXCEPT: congressional Spending - People have standing to challenge congressional spending measures on 1st Amendment Establishment Clause grounds. The injury must ahve already occurred or imminently will occur. P must be the one who suffered the injury but there are exceptions.
Standing to Assert Rights of Others
A claimant with standing in their own right may assert the rights of a 3P if:
- it is difficult of the 3P to assert their own rights, or
- A close relationship exists between the claimant and the 3P.
Standing for Organizations
An organization has standing to sue on behalf of its members if:
- there is an injury in fact to the members,
- the members’ injury is related to the organization’s purpose, and
- individual member participation in the lawsuit is not required.
Standing for Free Speech Overbreadth Claim s
A person has standing to bring a free speech claim alleging that the government restricted substantially more speech than necessary, even if that person’s own speech would not be protected under the 1st Amendment.
Essentially, the P can bring a claim on behalf of others whose speech would be protected under the 1st Amend. However, this rules does not apply to restrictions on commercial speech.
Causation - Standing
There must be a causal connection between the injury and the conduct complained of
Redressability - Standing
A decision in the litigant’s favor must be capable of eliminating their harm
Congressional Conferral of Standing
Congress can’t eliminate the case or controversy requirement and, thus, cannot grant standing to someone who doesn’t have an injury.
However, a federal statute may create new interests, injury to which may be sufficient for standing.
Standing to Enforce Government Statutes
A P may have standing to enforce a federal statute if they are within the “zone of interests” Congress meant to protect.
Test Cases
Standing isn’t defeated simply because the P wanted to bring a case to test the constitutionality of a particular rule. The injury is still traceable to the government, even if the P knowingly triggered the application of the rule.
Sovereign Immunity and the Eleventh Amendment
The Supreme Court has held that the doctrine of sovereign immunity reflected in the 11th Amend bars a private party’s suit against a state in federal and state courts. Similarly, sovereign immunity bars claims against a state in federal and state agencies.
Sovereign Immunity Exceptions - Waiver
Express Waiver - states can be sued if they consent to it (that is by waiver). Most states have expressly waived sovereign immunity, at least to a limited extent, in their tort claims, etc.
Implicit Consent / Structural Waiver - When they joined the federal union, states implicitly agreed that their sovereign immunity would yield to certain federal powers.
Waiver extends to suits brought by the federal government as well as to suits by private parties if Congress delegates its power.
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.
Sovereign Immunity Exceptions Continued
Actins Against Local Governments
Suits by Other States or the Federal Government
Bankruptcy
Certain Actions Against State Officers (can sue for damages personally or to enjoin the official from future conduct that violates the constitution or federal law.
Congress Removes the immunity
