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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Forum Defendant Rule In Arkansas, Scott Dodson
The Forum Defendant Rule In Arkansas, Scott Dodson
Faculty Publications
Section 1441(b) of the removal statute prohibits removal of a diversity case if a defendant is a citizen of the state in which the case was originally filed. The bar to removal is known as the Forum Defendant Rule. Is removal in violation of the Forum Defendant Rule a jurisdictional or nonjurisdictional defect? The characterization matters because a jurisdictional defect can be raised at any time, while a nonjurisdictional defect must be raised within a specific period of time or is waived. The Supreme Court has not resolved the characterization, but a number of circuit courts, including the Eighth Circuit, …
Anti-Federalist Procedure, A. Benjamin Spencer
Anti-Federalist Procedure, A. Benjamin Spencer
Faculty Publications
"[T]he new federal government will ... be disinclined to invade the rights of the individual States, or the prerogatives of their governments."
"[T]he Constitution of the United States ... recognizes and preserves the autonomy and independence of the States-independence in their legislative and independence in their judicial departments. . . . Any interference with either, except as [constitutionally] permitted, is an invasion of the authority of the State and, to that extent, a denial of its independence."
The understanding expressed by these opening quotes-that the national government was designed to be one of limited powers that would refrain from encroaching …
Pleading Standards After Bell Atlantic Corp. V. Twombly, Scott Dodson
Pleading Standards After Bell Atlantic Corp. V. Twombly, Scott Dodson
Faculty Publications
On May 21, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and gutted the venerable language from Conley v. Gibson that every civil procedure professor and student can recite almost by heart: that “a complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitled him to relief.” This Essay explains how Bell Atlantic did so and discusses some of its implications for pleading claims in the future.