However, the Federal Circuit, in transferring the case to the Seventh Circuit, was the first to decide the jurisdictional issue. That the Federal Circuit did not explain its rationale is irrelevant. Thus, the law of the case was that the Seventh Circuit had jurisdiction, and it was the Seventh Circuit that departed from the law of the case. Moreover, the doctrine merely expresses the practice of courts generally to refuse to reopen what has been decided, not a limit on their power. Most importantly, law of the case cannot bind this Court in reviewing decisions below.
Courts created by statute only have such jurisdiction as the statute confers.
Such situations inhere in the very nature of jurisdictional lines, for few jurisdictional lines can be so finely drawn as to leave no room for disagreement on close cases. However, the courts of appeals should achieve the end of quick settlement of questions of transfer by adhering strictly to principles of law of the case. Under those principles, if the transferee court can find the transfer decision plausible, its jurisdictional inquiry is at an end. 822 F.2d 1544, vacated and remanded. All graphics and HTML are copyright Anthony D. Becker 1994-2001.