Chicago v. International College of Surgeons, 522 U.S. 156, 32 (1997)

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Cite as: 522 U. S. 156 (1997)

Ginsburg, J., dissenting

variety appeals from . . . local administrative decisions," id., at 3, appeals in which the federal issues ultimately raised "are inextricably intertwined with [the State's] administrative review scheme," id., at 4. Not a case in which pendent or supplemental jurisdiction has ever been exercised is touched by the argument ICS in fact made, which trained constantly on the impropriety of cross-system appellate review. Far from urging the Court to "read the supplemental jurisdiction statute out of the books," ante, at 167, ICS simply asked the Court not to read into § 1367 more than any other tribunal has conceived to be there. What ICS sought to convey, the Court obscures: "[T]he City fail[ed] to cite a single case in which a federal court specifically assumed pendent or supplemental jurisdiction over an on-the-record state administrative appeal." Brief for Respondents 24, n. 11.

IV

Even if the Court were correct in maintaining that Congress thrust local administrative agency on-the-record review proceedings into federal court at the option of either party, given diversity or an ultimate constitutional argument, the Court's reluctance to "articulat[e] general standards" for the guidance of the lower courts is puzzling. Cf. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668, 698 (1984) (after "articulat[ing] general standards for judging ineffectiveness [of counsel] claims," the Court considered it "useful to apply those standards to the facts of th[e] case in order to illustrate the meaning of the general principles"). ICS, seeking such guidance, did not simply "allud[e] to" the District Court's extraordinary course. Cf. ante, at 174. This is a summary of the points ICS made in urging the impropriety of federal-court retention of the case, assuming, arguendo, federal-court power to keep it. The permits in question were sought under Chicago's Landmarks Ordinance, a measure "Illinois courts have never had an opportunity to interpret." Brief for Respondents 4. "The issues of Illinois constitu-

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