Yeazell,
pp. 215-228: Federal Question Jurisdiction
First,
Stevie gives us a bit of history: until a little after the Civil War, Congress
declined to give the lower federal courts general jurisdiction over
“federal questions”. Instead, Congress
drafted statutes that gave federal courts jurisdiction in bits and pieces. This changed in 1875.
Today,
28 U.S.C. § 1331
gives federal district courts jurisdiction over cases “arising under” the
Constitution, statutes, or treaties of the federal government. The problem is that nobody quite knows what
“arising under” means.
Steve
asks us to consider two examples:
1. The worker
will claim that federal courts have jurisdiction because the case “arises
under” the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
However, the employer may claim that though the statute applies to this
employment relationship, the dispute does not arise from that Act
because the problem is that the worker has overstated his hours.
2. The newspaper
will clearly argue that this is a First Amendment case that belongs in federal
court. The plaintiff may argue, however,
that the case does not arise from the First Amendment, but rather from
libel law. The First Amendment issue is
a defense, and thus is sort of reactive rather than proactive. I think this would be pretty solidly in
federal court, though.
Case:
Louisville & Nashville
Railroad v. Mottley
Note: Challenging Federal
Subject Matter Jurisdiction