458
Opinion of the Court
Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.
The Supreme Court of South Carolina dismissed petition-er'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.
I
A
When a federal district court has original jurisdiction over a civil cause of action, § 1367 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 "case 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
Mississippi, Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon of Missouri, David Samson of New Jersey, Wayne Stenehjem of North Dakota, W. A. Drew Edmondson of Oklahoma, Charlie Condon of South Carolina, Paul G. Summers of Tennessee, Greg Abbott of Texas, Mark L. Shurtleff of Utah, and Jerry W. Kilgore of Virginia; and for the Council of State Governments et al. by Richard Ruda and James I. Crowley.
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