Cite as: 537 U. S. 28 (2002)
Opinion of the Court
the statutory requirements for removal. See Pennsylvania Bureau, supra, at 43 (All Writs Act "does not authorize [federal courts] to issue ad hoc writs whenever compliance with statutory procedures appears inconvenient or less appropriate").
Petitioners' question presented to this Court suggests a variation on this first argument, asking whether the All Writs Act "vests federal district courts with authority to exercise removal jurisdiction under 28 U. S. C. § 1441." Pet. for Cert. i (emphasis added). The general removal statute, 28 U. S. C. § 1441, provides that "any civil action brought in a State court of which the district courts of the United States have original jurisdiction, may be removed by the defendant or the defendants, to the district court of the United States for the district and division embracing the place where such action is pending," unless Congress specifically provides otherwise. § 1441(a). Under the plain terms of § 1441(a), in order properly to remove the Henson action pursuant to that provision, petitioners must demonstrate that original subject-matter jurisdiction lies in the federal courts. They concede that the All Writs Act "does not, by its specific terms, provide federal courts with an independent grant of jurisdiction." Brief for Petitioners 9; see also Clinton, supra, at 534-535 (express terms of the All Writs Act confine a court "to issuing process 'in aid of' its existing statutory jurisdiction; the Act does not enlarge that jurisdiction"). Because the All Writs Act does not confer jurisdiction on the federal courts, it cannot confer the original jurisdiction required to support removal pursuant to § 1441.
Second, petitioners contend that some combination of the All Writs Act and the doctrine of ancillary enforcement jurisdiction support the removal of the Henson action. As we explained in Peacock v. Thomas, 516 U. S. 349, 355 (1996), "[a]ncillary jurisdiction may extend to claims having a factual and logical dependence on 'the primary lawsuit.' " Petitioners emphasize that the Southern District of Alabama re-
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