Ann Althouse, How To Build a Separate Sphere: Federal Courts and State Power 100 Harv. L. Rev. 1485 (1987).
Abstract
States are not inviolable spheres of sovereignty. In our federal system, state courts can and must interpret federal law and are consequently subject to Supreme Court review, state legislatures enact laws that may find their way into lawsuits brought in federal court, and state-run institutions are bound by requirements of federal statutory and consitutional law. Interaction between the federal and state systems is thus inherent in the constitutional structure. Yet the federal courts base numerous doctrines of federal jurisdiction on a supposed need to respect the separateness of the states. What is the place for _separate spheresÓ in the analysis of jurisdictional doctrine? If the states cannot claim an entitlement to separateness, what determines when federal courts will respect their separateness nonetheless?
