Has Congress Ever Limited The Jurisdiction Of The Federal Courts
And What Does The Supreme Court Say About It?
1799 – In Turner v. Bank of North America (4 U.S., 8 (1799)) the Supreme Court concluded that the
federal courts derive their judicial power from Congress, not the Constitution.
1845 – In Cary v. Curtis (44 U.S., 236 (1845)), a statute made final the decision of the secretary of the
Treasury in certain tax deductions. The statute was challenged as an unconstitutional deprivation of the
judicial power of the courts. The Supreme Court concluded that the jurisdiction of the lower federal
courts was in the sole power of Congress.
1850 – Sheldon v. Sill (49 U.S., 441 (1850)) involved the validity of the assignee clause of the Judicial
Act of 1789 restricting such action to establish federal court jurisdictions. The Supreme Court sustained
the power of Congress to limit the jurisdiction of the inferior federal courts.
1868 – In Ex Parte McCardle (73 U.S., 318 (1868)), the Supreme Court accepted review on certiorari of a
denial of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus by the circuit court. Congress, fearful the Supreme Court
would honor the writ, passed a law repealing the act that authorized the appeal. The Supreme Court
dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction stating, “the power to make exceptions to the appellate
jurisdiction of this Court is given by express words.”
1938 – In Lauf v EG Shinner & Co (303 U.S. 323 (1938)), the Supreme Court upheld the power of
Congress to define and limit the jurisdiction of the inferior courts of the United States in the form of
restrictions on the issuance of injunctions in labor disputes under the Norris-La Guardia Act of 1932.
1943 – In Lockerty v. Phillips (319 U.S., 182 (1943)), Congress provided for a special court to appeal
price control decisions under the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942. The Supreme Court sustained this
restriction.
1946 – In 1946 the Supreme Court handed down the portal-to-portal pay decision, which was generally
recognized to be a big mistake that would send hundreds of firms into bankruptcy. Congress simply
removed jurisdiction from the federal courts to handle any more such cases by passing the “Portal-toPortal Act” (29 USC 254).
1979 – One of the outstanding Constitutional scholars in the Senate is Robert Byrd (WV). In 1979, in
order to once again allow voluntary prayer in public schools, he introduced a bill to except this subject
from the federal court system under Article III, Section 2. Unfortunately, it was not enacted into law.
2001-2002 – In the 107th Congress, Congress used the authority of Article III, Section 2 on 12 occasions
to limit the jurisdiction of the federal courts. One of these uses was when Senator Tom Daschle (SD) used
the exception authority of Article III, Section 2 in order to cut timber in South Dakota.
Other examples of recent Congressional use of Article III, Section 2 were the “Intelligence Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2003”, the “Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002”, the “Small Business Liability
Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act”, the “USA Patriot Act”, the “Andean Trade Promotion and
Drug Eradiction Act of 2001”, the “Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Response Act of 2001”, the
“Aviation Security Act”, and the “Small Business Investment Company Amendments of 2001”.
It is quite clear that Congress has used this authority in the past and that the Supreme Court has
upheld the right of Congress to limit the jurisdiction of the courts, including that of the Supreme
Court. Isn’t it about time we used it to protect our most basic freedoms and rights!