SCOTUS Violates Marbury v. Madison By Granting Ex Parte Injunction Against Executive Branch In Its Original Jurisdiction
It is black letter law that the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction is fixed by the Constitution. By contrast, Congress can regulate the Supreme Court’s appellate jurisdiction. As a result, a litigant cannot simply file an action in the Supreme Court to demand relief. Poor William Marbury learned this lesson the hard way more than two centuries ago.
I thought this much was clear, but apparently not. The Supreme Court’s statement in A.A.R.P. v. Trump violated Marbury v. Madison. (I cannot call the statement an order or decision, because the Court was without jurisdiction.) When the Justices voted, the District Court had not issued a ruling and the Fifth Circuit ruled it had nothing to review. There was no credible allegation that the lower courts were dragging their feet. Indeed, both lower courts were moving with remarkable dispatch. Judge Ramirez’s concurrence explains why there was no “effective denial of injunctive relief based on the district court’s failure to issue the requested ruling within 42 minutes.” As a result, there was no actual lower court decision for the Fifth Circuit to review, and no lower court decision for the Supreme Court to review. The proper order, if any, was to deny the applica
Article from Reason.com
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