18
Scalia, J., dissenting
cause of action does not support federal-question jurisdiction, see id., at 393. Relatedly, today's holding also represents a sharp break from our long tradition of respect for the autonomy and authority of state courts. For example, in Healy v. Ratta, 292 U. S. 263, 270 (1934), we explained that "[d]ue regard for the rightful independence of state governments, which should actuate federal courts, requires that they scrupulously confine their own jurisdiction to the precise limits which the statute has defined." And in Shamrock Oil & Gas Corp. v. Sheets, 313 U. S. 100, 108 (1941), we insisted on a "strict construction" of the federal removal statutes.2 Today's decision ignores these venerable principles and effectuates a significant shift in decisional authority from state to federal courts.
In an effort to justify this shift, the Court explains that "[b]ecause [12 U. S. C.] §§ 85 and 86 provide the exclusive cause of action for such claims, there is . . . no such thing as a state-law claim of usury against a national bank." Ante, at 11. But the mere fact that a state-law claim is invalid no more deprives it of its character as a state-law claim which does not raise a federal question, than does the fact that a federal claim is invalid deprive it of its character as a federal claim which does raise a federal question. The proper response to the presentation of a nonexistent claim to a state court is dismissal, not the "federalize-and-remove" dance authorized by today's opinion. For even if the Court is correct that the National Bank Act obliterates entirely any state-created right to relief for usury against a national bank, that does not explain how or why the claim of
2 Our traditional regard for the role played by state courts in interpreting and enforcing federal law has other doctrinal manifestations. We indulge, for example, a "presumption of concurrent [state and federal] jurisdiction," which can be rebutted only "by an explicit statutory directive, by unmistakable implication from legislative history, or by a clear incompatibility between state-court jurisdiction and federal interests." Gulf Offshore Co. v. Mobil Oil Corp., 453 U. S. 473, 478 (1981).
Page: Index Previous 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007