Crucial Exams

Multistate Bar Examination Practice Question

Congress enacts a statute that provides:

"No court of the United States and no court of any State shall have jurisdiction to hear or decide any civil action or claim arising under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 or under any other statute enacted pursuant to the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, or Fifteenth Amendments."

A plaintiff files a § 1983 action in federal district court, alleging that police officers violated his federal civil rights. The district court dismisses for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction under the new statute. On appeal, the plaintiff argues that the jurisdiction-stripping provision itself is unconstitutional.

Which of the following is the strongest ground for striking down the provision?

  • The statute is an ex post facto law because it was enacted after the plaintiff's rights were violated.

  • By abolishing all judicial forums-federal and state-for enforcing federal civil-rights statutes, Congress has violated due process and the separation of powers, because some court must remain available to vindicate federal rights.

  • The statute discriminates against civil-rights plaintiffs and therefore violates the Equal Protection Clause.

  • The provision is invalid because Article III forbids Congress from making any exceptions to the Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction in cases arising under federal law.

Multistate Bar Examination
Constitutional Law
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