Susan Jinks v. Richland County, South Carolina (538 U.S. 456)

U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 22, 2003 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)

Citation
538 U.S. 456 · 123 S. Ct. 1667
Decided
April 22, 2003
Term
October Term 2002
Vote
9–0
Majority author
Justice Scalia
Issue area
Judicial Power
Disposition
Reversed and remanded
Outcome
Petitioning party won
Ideological direction
Liberal

Opinion excerpt

Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court. The Supreme Court of South Carolina dismissed petitioner’s lawsuit against Richland County (hereinafter respondent) as time barred. In doing so it held that 28 U. S. C. § 1367(d), which required the state statute of limitations to be tolled for the period during which petitioner’s cause of action had previously been pending in federal court, is unconstitutional as applied to lawsuits brought against a State’s political subdivisions. The issue before us is the validity of that constitutional determination. HH £> When a federal district court has original jurisdiction over a civil cause of action, § 1867 determines whether it may exercise supplemental jurisdiction over other claims that do not independently come within its jurisdiction, but that form part of the same Article III “ease or controversy.” Section 1367(a) provides: “Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c) or as expressly provided otherwise by Federal statute, in any civil action of which the district courts have original jurisdiction, the district courts shall have supplemental jurisdiction over all other claims that are so related to claims in the action within such original jurisdiction that they form part of the same case or controversy under Article III of the United States Constitution. Such supplemental jurisdiction shall include claims that involve the…

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