Court Opinion

ID: 9425519
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:14:57.330713+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:56.093511
License: Public Domain

Me. Justice Rehnquist,
with whom Mr. Justice Powell joins, concurring.
The majority opinion persuasively demonstrates that the plaintiffs’ right to possession in this case was and is rooted firmly in federal law. Thus, I agree that this is not a case which depends for its federal character solely on possible federal defenses or on expected responses to *683possible defenses. I also agree that the majority decision is consistent with our decision in Gully v. First National Bank, 299 U. S. 109 (1936). However, I think it worthwhile to add a brief concurrence to emphasize that the majority opinion does not disturb the long line of this Court’s cases narrowly applying the principles of 28 U. S. C. § 1331 and the well-pleaded complaint rule to possessory land actions brought in federal court.
As the majority seems willing to accept, the complaint in this action is basically one in ejectment. Plaintiffs are out of possession; the defendants are in possession, allegedly wrongfully; and the plaintiffs claim damages because of the allegedly wrongful possession. These allegations appear to meet the pleading requirements for an ejectment action as stated in Taylor v. Anderson, 234 U. S. 74 (1914). Thus the complaint must be judged according to the rules applicable to such cases.
The federal courts have traditionally been inhospitable forums for plaintiffs asserting federal-question jurisdiction of possessory land claims. The narrow view of the scope of federal-question jurisdiction taken by the federal courts in such cases probably reflects a recognition that federal issues were seldom apt to be dispositive of the lawsuit. Commonly, the grant of a land patent to a private party carries with it no guarantee of continuing federal interest and certainly carries with it no indefinitely redeemable passport into federal court. On the contrary, as the majority points out, the land thus conveyed was generally subject to state law thereafter.
Thus, this Court’s decisions have established a strict rule that mere allegation of a federal source of title does not convert an ordinary ejectment action into a federal case. As the Court noted in Shoshone Mining Co. v. Rutter, 177 U. S. 505, 507 (1900), “a suit to enforce a right which takes its origin in the laws of the United *684States is not necessarily one arising under the Constitution or laws of the United States, within the meaning of the jurisdiction clauses, for if it did every action to establish title to real estate (at least in the newer States) would be such a one, as all titles in those States come from the United States or by virtue of its laws.” This rule was even applied to cases in which land grants to Indians, subject to limited restrictions on alienation, were involved. See Taylor, supra.
The majority today finds this strict rule inapplicable to this case, and for good reason. In contrast to the typical instance in which the Federal Government conveys land to a private entity, the Government, by transferring land rights to Indian tribes, has not placed the land beyond federal supervision. Rather the Federal Government has shown a continuing solicitude for the rights of the Indians in their land. The Nonintercourse Act of 1790 manifests this concern in statutory form. Thus, the Indians’ right to possession in this case is based not solely on the original grant of rights in the land but also upon the Federal Government’s subsequent guarantee. Their claim is clearly distinguishable from the claims of land grantees for whom the Federal Government has taken no such responsibility.
The opinion for the Court today should give no comfort to persons with garden-variety ejectment claims who, for one reason or another, are covetously eyeing the door to the federal courthouse. The general standards for determining federal jurisdiction, and in particular the standards for evaluating compliance with the well-pleaded complaint rule, will retain their traditional vigor tomorrow as today.