Federal Courts

The course examines both the historical and current role of the federal judicial system - and the Supreme Court, in particular - in resolving political, social, and economic conflicts. Issues scrutinized include the original and appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, the control that Congress exercises over the lower federal courts through the creation of Article I "legislative courts" and jurisdiction-stripping legislation, and conflicts between state and federal courts as manifested by civil rights removal, federal injunctions against state court proceedings, and federal habeas corpus. Federal suits against governmental abuses of rights and the restraints imposed upon the litigants in such suits by the Constitution, by legislation and by self-imposed judicial doctrine, are also examined.