Patchak v. Zinke
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 27, 2018 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Decided
- February 27, 2018
- Term
- October Term 2017
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Thomas
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
The D.C. Circuit affirmed. Patchak v. Jewell, 828 F.3d 995 (2016). It held that "[t]he language of the Gun Lake Act makes plain that Congress has stripped federal courts of subject matter jurisdiction" over suits, like Patchak's, that relate to the Bradley Property. Id., at 1001. The D.C. Circuit rejected Patchak's argument that § 2(b) violates Article III of the Constitution. Id., at 1001-1003. Article III prohibits Congress from "direct[ing] the result of pending litigation," the D.C. Circuit reasoned, but it does not prohibit Congress from " 'supply[ing] new law.' " Id., at 1002 (quoting Robertson v. Seattle Audubon Soc., 503 U.S. 429, 439, 112 S.Ct. 1407, 118 L.Ed.2d 73 (1992) ). Section 2(b) supplies new law: "[I]f an action relates to the Bradley Property, it must promptly be dismissed." 828 F.3d, at 1003. We granted certiorari to review whether § 2(b) violates Article III of the Constitution.2 See 565 U.S. 1092, 132 S.Ct. 845, 181 L.Ed.2d 548 (2017). Because it does not, we now affirm. II A The Constitution creates three branches of Government and vests each branch with a different type of power. See Art. I, § 1 ; Art. II, § 1, cl. 1 ; Art. III, § 1. "To the legislative department has been committed the duty of making laws; to the executive the duty of executing them; and to the judiciary the duty of interpreting and applying them in cases properly brought before the…
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