Document Type
Article
Media Type
Text
Abstract
This article is the first exclusively devoted to analyzing nine over-looked words in Article III of the Constitution. While there has been extensive mining of most of the three sentences in Article III that the framers used to describe the role and jurisdiction of the federal courts, little, if any, attention has previously been given to the “affecting jurisdiction,” which is the second of the nine heads of jurisdiction and the first of the two forms of Supreme Court original jurisdiction. Examining the language and structure of Article III, the proceedings at the constitutional convention, the ratification debates, and the early post-ratification legislation and court decisions, this article concludes that the affecting jurisdiction was intended to be a central part of Article III and to play a role significantly greater than the one it plays today. Applying this new vision of the affecting jurisdiction to today’s debates, this article draws a number of conclusions about the ability of Congress to affect Supreme Court original jurisdiction, the scope of the federal question jurisdiction, and the propriety of the existing standing requirements for federal courts.
First Page
83
Last Page
142
Publication Date
9-1-2012
Department
Other
ISSN
0734-1490
Language
eng
Publisher
Northern Illinois University Law Review
Recommended Citation
Massaro, John C.
(2012)
"The Forgotten Jurisdiction,"
Northern Illinois University Law Review: Vol. 33:
Iss.
1, Article 6.
Suggested Citation
John C. Massaro, The Forgotten Jurisdiction, 33 N. Ill. U. L. Rev. 83 (2012).
