In
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
law, federal question jurisdiction is a type of
subject-matter jurisdiction that gives
United States federal courts the power to hear
civil cases where the plaintiff alleges a violation of the
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nat ...
,
federal law, or a
treaty
A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal per ...
to which the United States is a party. The federal question jurisdiction statute is codified at .
Statute
Overview
Article III of the United States Constitution permits federal courts to hear such cases, so long as the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washi ...
passes a statute to that effect. However, when Congress passed the
Judiciary Act of 1789
The Judiciary Act of 1789 (ch. 20, ) was a United States federal statute enacted on September 24, 1789, during the first session of the First United States Congress. It established the federal judiciary of the United States. Article III, Sec ...
, which authorized the newly created federal courts to hear such cases, it initially chose not to allow the lower federal courts to possess federal question jurisdiction for fear that it would make the courts too powerful. The
Federalists briefly created such jurisdiction in the
Judiciary Act of 1801
The Midnight Judges Act (also known as the Judiciary Act of 1801; , and officially An act to provide for the more convenient organization of the Courts of the United States) represented an effort to solve an issue in the U.S. Supreme Court during t ...
, but it was repealed the following year, and not restored until 1875.
Unlike
diversity jurisdiction
In the law of the United States, diversity jurisdiction is a form of subject-matter jurisdiction that gives U.S. federal courts the power to hear lawsuits that do not involve a federal question. For a U.S. federal court to have diversity juris ...
, which is based on the parties coming from different states, federal question jurisdiction no longer has any
amount in controversy requirement—Congress eliminated this requirement in actions against the United States in 1976, and in all federal question cases in 1980. Therefore, a federal court can hear a federal question case even if no money is sought by the
plaintiff.
To meet the requirement of a case "arising under" federal law, the federal question must appear on the face of the plaintiff's
complaint
In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party ...
.
[Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company v. Mottley, 211 U.S. 149 (1908)] There has been considerable dispute over what constitutes a "federal question" in these circumstances, but it is now settled law that the plaintiff cannot seek the jurisdiction of a federal court merely because it anticipates that the
defendant
In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case.
Terminology varies from one jurisdi ...
is going to raise a defense based on the Constitution, or on a federal statute. This "well-pleaded complaint" rule has been criticized by legal scholars, but Congress has so far chosen not to change the law, although the Supreme Court has made clear it is free to do so.
Related cases
Eight years after ''Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company v. Mottley,''
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes established the Holmes Test in ''
American Well Works Co. v. Layne & Bowler Co.'' The opinion delivered for the court included the phrase: "A suit arises under the law that creates the cause of action." For almost a hundred years this test was the foundation for federal question qualification under § 1331 until the Supreme Court modified it in ''Mims v. Arrow Financial Services'' (2012) to be whether “federal law creates
otha private right of action and furnishes the substantive rules of decision.”
[{{Cite journal, last=Mulligen, first=Lumen, date=2012, title=You Cannot Go Holmes Again, url=https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&context=nulr, journal=Northwestern University Law Review]
See also
*
Diversity jurisdiction
In the law of the United States, diversity jurisdiction is a form of subject-matter jurisdiction that gives U.S. federal courts the power to hear lawsuits that do not involve a federal question. For a U.S. federal court to have diversity juris ...
*
Supplemental jurisdiction
*
Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. v. Mottley
References
United States civil procedure
Jurisdiction
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