Could Thomas and Alito be Right About SCOTUS Original Jurisdiction in State-versus-State Cases?
The state of Florida attempted to sue the states of California and Washington, alleging that the latter two permit undocumented immigrants to obtain commercial driver's licenses even if they cannot read English. Article III of the Constitution grants the Supreme Court original jurisdiction of such state-versus-state cases, and a federal statute, 28 U. S. C. §1251 (a), makes such jurisdiction exclusive of the lower federal courts. Nonetheless, last week, the Supreme Court disallowed the lawsuit in a one-sentence order: "The motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied." That order prompted a dissent by Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Alito. They contended, as they had in prior state-versus-state cases in which the Court had likewise denied leave to file, that the Court's doing so was unauthorized. Indeed, the Thomas dissent quoted Chief Justice John Marshall in Cohens v. Virginia : "We have no more right to decline the exercise of jurisdiction which ...