Opinion ID: 310938
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: 4 The first question is whether the district court, and therefore this court, has jurisdiction of the action. Plaintiffs relied for jurisdiction on 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1343 and 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. Because they did not allege the deprivation of any constitutional rights, their complaint raised in acute form the question left unanswered in King v. Smith, 392 U.S. 309, 312 n. 3, 88 S.Ct. 2128, 20 L.Ed.2d 1118 (1968): whether 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1343 gives the federal courts jurisdiction to hear purely statutory claims. 5 In a supplementary brief, plaintiffs have requested leave to amend their complaint in this court so that it will assert the deprivation of a constitutional right. They also claim jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1337. Although amendment in the court of appeals is unusual, and not a practice to be encouraged, we believe that a substantial saving in judicial time and labor justifies the amendment in this case. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1653; Barrow Development Co. v. Fulton Insurance Co., 418 F.2d 316, 12 A. L.R.Fed. 420 (9th Cir. 1969). We grant leave to amend. 6 The amended complaint states facts establishing jurisdiction under the Act of Congress regulating commerce provision of Sec. 1337. The food stamp program has been held to be such an act. Moreno v. United States Department of Agriculture, 345 F.Supp. 310, 313 (D.D. C.1972), prob. juris. noted, 409 U.S. 1036, 93 S.Ct. 526, 34 L.Ed.2d 485 (1972); Murphy v. Colonial Federal Savings and Loan Ass'n, 388 F.2d 609 (2d Cir. 1967). We need not reach the claim that federal jurisdiction is based upon a denial of a constitutional right.