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  1. LII
  2. U.S. Constitution Annotated
  3. Article III. Judicial Branch

    Article III Judicial Branch

    • Section 1 Vesting Clause
      • Overview of the Judicial Vesting Clause
        • Historical Background of Judicial Review
          • Marbury v. Madison and Judicial Review
            • Inherent Powers of Federal Courts
              • Overview of Inherent Powers of Federal Courts
                • Inherent Powers over Judicial Procedure
                  • Inherent Powers over Contempt and Sanctions
                    • Inherent Power to Issue Judgments
                    • Congressional Control over Judicial Power
                      • Overview of Congressional Control over Judicial Power
                        • Reopening Final Judicial Decisions
                          • Imposing Non-Adjudicatory Functions on Courts
                          • Federal and State Courts
                            • Introduction to the Relationship Between Federal and State Courts
                              • Historical Background on the Relationship Between Federal and State Courts
                                • Doctrine on Federal and State Courts
                                  • State Court Jurisdiction to Enforce Federal Law
                                    • Supreme Court Review of State Court Interpretations of Federal Law
                                      • Limits on State Court Control of Federal Proceedings
                                        • Federal Non-Interference with State Jurisdiction
                                          • Exhaustion Doctrine
                                            • Habeas Review
                                            • Supreme Court Rulings
                                              • Overview of Supreme Court Rulings
                                                • Stare Decisis
                                                  • Historical Background on the Stare Decisis Doctrine
                                                    • Stare Decisis Doctrine: Current Doctrine
                                                      • The Stare Decisis Doctrine Generally
                                                        • Stare Decisis Factors
                                                      • Retroactivity of Supreme Court Decisions
                                                        • Overview of Retroactivity of Supreme Court Decisions
                                                          • Retroactivity of Criminal Decisions
                                                            • Retroactivity of Civil Decisions
                                                          • Congressional Power to Establish Article III Courts
                                                            • Overview of Establishment of Article III Courts
                                                              • Historical Background on Establishment of Article III Courts
                                                                • Congressional Power to Establish the Supreme Court
                                                                  • Establishment of Inferior Federal Courts
                                                                    • Congressional Power to Abolish Federal Courts
                                                                      • Congressional Power to Establish Courts of Specialized Jurisdiction
                                                                      • Congressional Power to Establish Non-Article III Courts
                                                                        • Overview of Congressional Power to Establish Non-Article III Courts
                                                                          • Congressional Power to Structure Legislative Courts
                                                                            • Supreme Court Review of Legislative Court Decisions
                                                                              • District of Columbia and Territorial Courts
                                                                                • Non-Article III Military Courts
                                                                                  • Legislative Courts Adjudicating Public Rights
                                                                                    • Article I Adjuncts to Article III Courts
                                                                                      • Bankruptcy Courts as Adjuncts to Article III Courts
                                                                                        • Consent to Article I Court Jurisdiction
                                                                                        • Federal Judiciary Protections
                                                                                          • Overview of Federal Judiciary Protections
                                                                                            • Good Behavior Clause
                                                                                              • Overview
                                                                                                • Historical Background
                                                                                                  • Doctrine and Practice
                                                                                                  • Compensation Clause
                                                                                                    • Historical Background of the Compensation Clause
                                                                                                      • Compensation Clause Doctrine and Practice
                                                                                                  • Section 2 Justiciability
                                                                                                    • Clause 1 Cases and Controversies
                                                                                                      • Overview of Cases and Controversies
                                                                                                        • Historical Background
                                                                                                          • Overview of Admiralty and Maritime Jurisdiction
                                                                                                            • Historical Background on Admiralty and Maritime Jurisdiction
                                                                                                              • Rules of Justiciability and the Case or Controversy Requirement
                                                                                                                • Overview
                                                                                                                  • Historical Background
                                                                                                                  • Advisory Opinions
                                                                                                                    • Overview of Advisory Opinions
                                                                                                                      • Advisory Opinion Doctrine and Practice
                                                                                                                        • Advisory Opinions and Declaratory Judgments
                                                                                                                        • Adversity Requirement
                                                                                                                          • Overview of Adversity Requirement
                                                                                                                            • Early Adversity Doctrine
                                                                                                                              • Modern Adversity Doctrine
                                                                                                                                • Intra-Branch Litigation
                                                                                                                                  • Challenges to Statutes that the Executive Branch Agrees are Unconstitutional
                                                                                                                                • Standing
                                                                                                                                  • Overview of Standing
                                                                                                                                    • Early Standing Doctrine
                                                                                                                                      • Standing Doctrine from 1940s to 1970s
                                                                                                                                        • Taxpayer Standing
                                                                                                                                          • Standing of Federal and State Legislators
                                                                                                                                            • Congressional Control of Standing
                                                                                                                                              • The Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife Test
                                                                                                                                                • Overview of the Lujan Test
                                                                                                                                                  • Concrete Injury
                                                                                                                                                    • Particularized Injury
                                                                                                                                                      • Actual or Imminent Injury
                                                                                                                                                        • Causation
                                                                                                                                                          • Redressability
                                                                                                                                                          • Representational Standing
                                                                                                                                                            • Overview of Representational Standing
                                                                                                                                                              • Associational Standing
                                                                                                                                                                • States and Parens Patriae
                                                                                                                                                                  • Assignees of a Claim
                                                                                                                                                                    • Agency and Standing
                                                                                                                                                                      • Overbreadth Doctrine
                                                                                                                                                                      • Prudential Standing
                                                                                                                                                                        • Overview of Prudential Standing
                                                                                                                                                                          • Zone of Interests Test
                                                                                                                                                                            • Third Party Standing
                                                                                                                                                                              • Generalized Grievances
                                                                                                                                                                            • Ripeness
                                                                                                                                                                              • Overview of Ripeness Doctrine
                                                                                                                                                                                • United Public Workers and Ripeness
                                                                                                                                                                                  • Abbott Laboratories Trilogy and Ripeness
                                                                                                                                                                                    • The Ripeness Doctrine Since 1967: Overview
                                                                                                                                                                                      • Fitness and Ripeness
                                                                                                                                                                                        • Hardship and Ripeness
                                                                                                                                                                                          • Contexts in Which Ripeness Arises
                                                                                                                                                                                            • Administrative Law and Ripeness
                                                                                                                                                                                              • Criminal Statutes and Ripeness
                                                                                                                                                                                                • Takings and Ripeness
                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Continuing Vitality of Ripeness Doctrine
                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Mootness
                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Overview of Mootness Doctrine
                                                                                                                                                                                                      • Early Mootness Doctrine
                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Modern Mootness Doctrine
                                                                                                                                                                                                          • General Criteria of Mootness
                                                                                                                                                                                                            • Exceptions to Mootness Overview
                                                                                                                                                                                                              • Voluntary Cessation Doctrine
                                                                                                                                                                                                                • Capable of Repetition, Yet Evading Review
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Criminal Cases and Mootness
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Class Action Litigation and Mootness
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Political Questions
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      • Overview of Political Question Doctrine
                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Marbury v. Madison and Political Question Doctrine
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          • Luther v. Borden and the Guarantee Clause
                                                                                                                                                                                                                            • From Coleman v. Miller to Baker v. Carr
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              • Modern Political Question Doctrine
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                • Foreign Affairs as a Political Question
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Congressional Governance as a Political Question
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Impeachment and Political Questions
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      • Political Process, Elections, and Gerrymandering
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Evolving Doctrine on Partisan Gerrymandering
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          • Nonjusticiability of Partisan Gerrymandering Claims
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          • Constitutional Avoidance Doctrine
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            • Overview of Constitutional Avoidance Doctrine
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              • The Judicial Branch in the Constitutional Framework
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                • The Counter-Majoritarian Difficulty
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Ashwander and the Rules of Constitutional Avoidance
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Judicial Minimalism
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      • The Last Resort Rule
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • The Constitutional-Doubt Canon
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Federal Question Jurisdiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          • Overview of Federal Question Jurisdiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            • Historical Background of Federal Question Jurisdiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              • Constitutional and Statutory Grants of Federal Question Jurisdiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                • Substantive Claims and Defenses in Federal Question Cases
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Removal from State Court to Federal Court
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Supplemental Jurisdiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Doctrine and Practice
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      • Federal Admiralty and Maritime Jurisdiction Generally
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Territorial Extent of Admiralty Jurisdiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          • Jurisdiction over Categories of Admiralty Cases
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            • Torts Committed on Navigable Waters
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              • Maritime Contracts or Services
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                • Exclusivity of Federal Admiralty and Maritime Jurisdiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                • Cases to Which the United States is a Party
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Overview of Cases to Which the United States is a Party
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Right of the United States to Sue
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      • Suits Against States
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Suits Against the United States
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Controversies Between Two or More States
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          • Background on Controversies Between Two or More States
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            • Boundary Disputes Between States
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              • Modern Suits Between States
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                • Cases Where the Court Has Declined Jurisdiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Enforcement Authority
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Controversies Between a State and Citizens of Another State
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Historical Background on Controversies Between a State and Citizens of Another State
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      • Jurisdiction Confined to Civil Cases
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • The State’s Real Interest
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Diversity Jurisdiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          • Overview
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            • Historical Background
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              • Citizens of Different States and Diversity Jurisdiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                • Citizenship of Natural Persons and Corporations
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Insufficient or Manufactured Diversity
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    • State Law in Diversity Cases and the Erie Doctrine
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      • Conflicts-of-Law and Procedural Rules in Diversity Cases
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Land Grants by Different States
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          • Controversies Between a State or its Citizens and Foreign States or Citizens
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            • Overview of Controversies with Foreign States or Citizens
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              • Suits Involving Foreign States
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                • Limitations on Jurisdiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            • Clause 2 Jurisdiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              • Overview of Supreme Court Jurisdiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                • Supreme Court Original Jurisdiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Original Cases Affecting Ambassadors, Public Ministers, and Consuls
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Supreme Court Appellate Jurisdiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      • Supreme Court Review of State Court Decisions
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Exceptions Clause and Congressional Control over Appellate Jurisdiction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Clause 3 Trials
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          • Jury Trials
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Section 3 Treason
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          • Clause 1 Meaning
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            • Historical Background on Treason
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              • Levying War as Treason
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                • The Burr Trial
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Aid and Comfort to the Enemy as Treason
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Clause 2 Punishment for Treason
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Punishment of Treason Clause

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                U.S. Constitution Annotated Toolbox

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                • Explanation of the Constitution - from the Congressional Research Service


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