Law Commons^™

Negotiating Jurisdiction: Retroceding State Authority Over Indian Country Granted By Public Law 280, Robert T. Anderson

Articles

This Article canvasses the jurisdictional rules applicable in American Indian tribal territories-"Indian country." The focus is on a federal law passed in the 1950s, which granted some states a measure of jurisdiction over Indian country without tribal consent. The law is an aberration. Since the adoption of the Constitution, federal law preempted state authority over Indians in their territory. The federal law permitting some state jurisdiction, Public Law 280, is a relic of a policy repudiated by every President and Congress since 1970. States have authority to surrender, or retrocede, the authority granted by Public Law 280, but Indian tribal …

Justice Scalia’S “Renegade Jurisdiction”: Lessons For Patent Law Reform, Xuan-Thao Nguyen

Articles

Justice Scalia called the Eastern District of Texas ("EDTX") the "renegade jurisdiction." Critics label it the "rocket-docket" for patents. All blame it on the ills of patent litigation, demanding for national reform. This Article challenges the prevailing myths with an empirical quantitative study of more than 27,000 patent cases filed in the last decade and a qualitative study on patent forum shopping. This Article contends that the proposed venue reforms will not prevent litigants from shopping for a favorable forum in which to resolve patent litigations. This Article suggests that instead of the quick fixes vis-à-vis proposed venue reform legislation …

American-Style Justice In No Man's Land, Peter Nicolas

Articles

This Article seeks to fill the gap in the existing literature by exploring the constitutional limits on federal court subject matter jurisdiction in the context of civil disputes arising in Indian Country and civil disputes arising elsewhere involving Indian tribes, tribal entities, and tribal members.

Part II of this Article catalogues the universe of "no forum" and "biased forum" jurisdictional quagmires with respect to civil disputes arising in Indian Country or those arising elsewhere involving Indian tribes, tribal entities, and tribal members, examining the existing legal obstacles that prevent federal, state, and tribal courts from exercising jurisdiction over the "no …

Fighting The Probate Mafia: A Dissection Of The Probate Exception To Federal Court Jurisdiction, Peter Nicolas

Articles

Despite the complexity and confusion surrounding the probate exception to federal court jurisdiction-or perhaps because of it-it has been given scant attention in the literature. This Article seeks to fill the gap. Part II of this Article sets forth the current application of the probate exception in the lower federal courts. Part III of this Article examines the statutory and constitutional constraints on the federal courts' exercise of subject matter jurisdiction over probate and probate related matters. Part III concludes that the probate exception is a mere gloss on the statutory grants of subject matter jurisdiction to the federal courts …

The Use Of Preclusion Doctrine, Antisuit Injunctions, And Forum Non Conveniens Dismissals In Transnational Intellectual Property Litigation, Peter Nicolas

Articles

Conflicting standards among the federal circuits over the applicability of inherent powers in the transnational intellectual property context and the divided authority regarding the jurisdiction of U.S. federal courts over foreign intellectual property claims severely hamper the ability of federal district courts to use these tools in such a manner so as to prevent parties in transnational intellectual property suits from engaging in strategic behavior. This Comment seeks to reconcile these conflicts where possible and, where irreconcilable, to demonstrate that the text and history of federal statutes conferring subject matter jurisdiction on federal courts and placing limits on their issuance …