Ruhrgas AG v. Marathon Oil Co., 526 U.S. 574, 9 (1999)

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582

RUHRGAS AG v. MARATHON OIL CO.

Opinion of the Court

limited to the question whether subject-matter jurisdiction existed under 9 U. S. C. § 205. See 522 U. S. 967 (1997).

The Fifth Circuit, on its own motion, granted rehearing en banc, thereby vacating the panel decision. See 129 F. 3d 746 (1997). In a 9-to-7 decision, the en banc court held that, in removed cases, district courts must decide issues of subject-matter jurisdiction first, reaching issues of personal jurisdiction "only if subject-matter jurisdiction is found to exist." 145 F. 3d, at 214. Noting Steel Co.'s instruction that subject-matter jurisdiction must be " 'established as a threshold matter,' " 145 F. 3d, at 217 (quoting 523 U. S., at 94), the Court of Appeals derived from that decision "counsel against" recognition of judicial discretion to proceed directly to personal jurisdiction. 145 F. 3d, at 218. The court limited its holding to removed cases; it perceived in those cases the most grave threat that federal courts would "usur[p] . . . state courts' residual jurisdiction." Id., at 219.6

Writing for the seven dissenters, Judge Higginbotham agreed that subject-matter jurisdiction ordinarily should be considered first. See id., at 231. If the challenge to personal jurisdiction involves no complex state-law questions, however, and is more readily resolved than the challenge to subject-matter jurisdiction, the District Court, in the dissenters' view, should take the easier route. See ibid. Judge Higginbotham regarded the District Court's decision dismissing Marathon's case as illustrative and appropriate: While Ruhrgas' argument under 9 U. S. C. § 205 presented a difficult issue of first impression, its personal jurisdiction challenge raised "[n]o substantial questions of purely state law," and "could be resolved relatively easily in [Ruhrgas'] favor." 145 F. 3d, at 232-233.

6 The Fifth Circuit remanded the case to the District Court for it to consider the "nove[l]" subject-matter jurisdiction issues presented. 145 F. 3d 211, 225 (CA5 1998). The appeals court "express[ed] no opinion" on the vacated panel decision which had held that the District Court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. Id., at 225, n. 23.

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