Jurisdiction asks whether a court system may hear a case. Venue asks something narrower and more practical: which courthouse inside that system is the right one. A case can satisfy…
Federal Venue Rules and Transfer Under Section 1404
Diversity Jurisdiction: Citizenship and Amount Rules
Diversity jurisdiction exists so that an out-of-state litigant is not tried in a courthouse where the other side has a home-field advantage. Two conditions must be satisfied at the moment…
Federal Question Jurisdiction and the Well-Pleaded Rule
Federal question jurisdiction is the gateway most litigants assume is wide open and most often find closed. Section 1331 of title 28 lets district courts hear civil actions "arising under"…
Subject Matter Jurisdiction in Federal Court Explained
Subject matter jurisdiction is the single question a federal court must answer before it does anything else: does this court have the power to decide this kind of dispute at…
Advisory Opinions: Article III and Declaratory Relief
Article III extends the judicial power to “Cases” and “Controversies”, and those two words do a great deal of work. They mean that a federal court may resolve disputes between…
Property Clause: Congress and Federal Lands Explained
Most questions about congressional authority are difficult because the enumerated power has to be argued for. The Property Clause is the exception. Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2 gives Congress…
No Federal Police Power: Enumerated Powers and Enclaves
If there is one structural rule worth learning before any other, it is this: Congress has no general police power. The federal government is a government of enumerated powers, which…
Contracts Clause: When States May Impair Agreements
Article I, Section 10 provides that no state shall pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts. Read literally that would be an absolute bar, and for a period in…
Freedom of the Press: Publication Liability and Limits
The Press Clause has its own words in the First Amendment, which naturally suggests it must carry its own, larger set of rights. It does not. The settled position is…
Campaign Finance and Anonymous Speech: The Core Rules
Campaign finance looks intimidating because it is politically charged, but doctrinally it runs on two axes and almost nothing else. The first axis asks what kind of money is being…