Federal Courts 2-

Catalog description

This course should be of benefit to any student that may bring or defend a case in a federal court. The goal is to demystify the subject through an emphasis on commonly encountered issues and problems students would face in litigating a civil case in federal court or when serving as a judicial clerk. Topics include justiciability, arising under jurisdiction (the well-pleaded complaint rule, the cause of action rule, the state-created cause of action that arises under federal law, preemption, and determining whether a declaratory judgment action is proper), supplemental and removal jurisdiction, the Eleventh Amendment and state and tribal sovereign immunity, Section 1983 lawsuits, the Anti-Injunction Act, abstention doctrines, full faith and credit, common law in the federal courts, applying state law in the federal courts, motion practice in the federal courts and the role of injunctive relief, canons of statutory interpretation, and habeas petitions.