Federal Courts

Catalog description

Federal Courts examines the scope of and limitations on the federal judicial power, focusing on three main themes: (1) the courts' relationship to the other two branches of the federal government, (2) the proper relationship between the federal and state governments, and (3) the mechanisms employed by federal and state courts to enforce rights created by federal constitutional and statutory law. The topics covered include congressional control of federal court jurisdiction, justiciability, Supreme Court review of state court decisions, sovereign immunity and its abrogation, abstention, civil rights lawsuits, judicially created rights of action, and habeas corpus.