Congressional Limits on Judicial Power (pp. 12–18)
Interpretive/Congressional Limits
Exceptions and Regulations Limit
- Rule: Under Article III's Exceptions Clause, Congress has the power to make exceptions to and regulate the Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction.
- Under Ex Parte McCardle, 74 U.S. 506 (1869)., the Court must dismiss a case if Congress withdraws that jurisdiction while the case is pending.
- Jurisdiction is a threshold requirement.
- Without it, the Court cannot act, regardless of the merits.
- Congressional jurisdiction-stripping is not a due process or separation of powers violation (at least as the Court holds in McCardle).
- The Court's appellate jurisdiction is granted by the Constitution, but it is defined and bounded by Congress.
Separation of Powers Limits on Congressional Authority over the Judiciary
Limits on Statutory Directives
- Rule: Congress may not use statutory directives as a weapon to control the outcome of a specific case. Prescribing a rule of decision that compels a predetermined result crosses the line from legitimate legislation to interference with the judicial power. See United States v. Klein, 80 U.S. 128 (1871)..
- Congress can validly change the underlying substantive law, and courts must apply that new law.
- However, Congress cannot simultaneously strip jurisdiction and direct that the stripping itself operates as a judgment against a party.
Limits on Final Judgments
- Rule: Congress may not enact legislation that requires federal courts to reopen final judgments. Once a case has reached a final judgment, Article III prohibits Congress from retroactively commanding the judiciary to revise or set aside that decision, as doing so violates the separation of powers. See Plaut v. Spendthrift Farm, Inc., 514 U.S. 211 (1995).
Justiciability Limits
There are five limits to the justiciability of the judiciary. Two of these—advisory opinions and political questions—are prohibitions, and the final three—standing, ripeness, mootness—are doctrines on the cases and parties thereto.