Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

11-4-2007

SSRN Discipline

Legal Scholarship Network; Law School Research Papers - Legal Studies; Litigation, Procedure & Dispute Resolution eJournals; LSN Subject Matter eJournals; Law School Research Papers - Public Law & Legal Theory; delete2; Political Science Network

Abstract

Recently the Supreme Court has suggested that despite the distinctive nature of jurisdictional statutes such statutes implicate only traditional notions of statutory construction Indeed the Courts most recent jurisdictional statutory interpretation decision Exxon Mobil Corp v Allapattah Services Inc seemed to suggest that there was nothing special about jurisdictional statutes But as this Article explains this has not been and is not true The distinctive nature of federal jurisdiction statutes demands a more constitutionallyoriented interpretive approach traditional methods of statutory interpretation are inadequate because they fail to take this unique character into account Jurisdictional statutes are subject to unique interpretive difficulties not encountered in the judicial construction of ordinary congressional legislation These unique interpretive difficulties necessitate a wider range of considerations in the jurisdictional arena including the traditional rules of statutory construction plus the Constitution itself as an interpretive document all the while being cognizant of the potential for separation of powers and conflict of interest issues In short this Article proposes that in approaching their tasks of statutory construction in this area involving the reach of their own powers federal courts should be guided by rules as understood and informed by the gravitational pull of Article III and saving constructions are inappropriate I explore these interpretive issues in the specific context of the interpretation of the 1988 amendment to 1332 pertaining to permanent resident aliens an odd and interesting provision that has generated three different interpretive results from the three circuit courts that have examined it despite the unconstitutionality of the statutes unambiguous plain language

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