Legal doctrine of political matters' justiciability
United States federal civil procedure doctrines
Justiciability
Advisory opinions
Standing
Ripeness
Mootness
Political questions
Constitutional avoidance
Jurisdiction
Subject-matter
Federal question
Diversity
Amount in controversy
Supplemental
Removal
Class Action Fairness Act of 2005
Personal
In personam
In rem
Quasi in rem
Federalism
Erie doctrine
Abstention
Anti-Injunction Act
Sovereign immunity
Abrogation
Rooker–Feldman doctrine
Adequate and independent state ground
v
t
e
In United States constitutional law, the political questiondoctrine holds that a constitutional dispute that requires knowledge of a non-legal character or the use of techniques not suitable for a court or explicitly assigned by the Constitution to the U.S. Congress, or the President of the United States, lies within the political, rather than the legal, realm to solve, and judges customarily refuse to address such matters. The idea of a political question is closely linked to the concept of justiciability, as it comes down to a question of whether or not the court system is an appropriate forum in which to hear the case. This is because the court system only has the authority to hear and decide a legal question, not a political one. Legal questions are deemed to be justiciable, while political questions are nonjusticiable.[1] One scholar explained:
The political question doctrine holds that some questions, in their nature, are fundamentally political, and not legal, and if a question is fundamentally political ... then the court will refuse to hear that case. It will claim that it doesn't have jurisdiction. And it will leave that question to some other aspect of the political process to settle out.
— John E. Finn, professor of government, 2006[2]
A ruling of nonjusticiability, in the end, prevents the issue that brought the case before the court from being resolved in a court of law. In the typical case where there is a finding of nonjusticiability due to the political question doctrine, the issue presented before the court is either so specific that the Constitution gives sole power to one of the political branches, or the issue presented is so vague that the Constitution does not even consider it. A court can only decide issues based on the law. The Constitution dictates the different legal responsibilities of each respective branch of government. If there is an issue where the court does not have the Constitution as a guide, there are no legal criteria to use. When there are no specific constitutional duties involved, the issue is to be decided through the democratic process. The court will not engage in political disputes.
^Huhn, Wilson R. American Constitutional Law Volume 1. 2016.
^John E. Finn (2016). "Civil Liberties and the Bill of Rights". The Teaching Company. Part I: Lecture 4: The Court and Constitutional Interpretation (see page 55 in the guidebook)
and 24 Related for: Political question information
hear and decide a legal question, not a political one. Legal questions are deemed to be justiciable, while politicalquestions are nonjusticiable. One...
The Kaliningrad question is a politicalquestion concerning the status of Kaliningrad Oblast as an exclave of Russia, and its isolation from the rest of...
Question"). He argued that Jews could achieve political emancipation only if they let go their religious consciousness, as he proposed that political...
Karelian question or Karelian issue (Finnish: Karjala-kysymys, Swedish: Karelska frågan, Russian: Каре́льский вопро́с) is a dispute in Finnish politics over...
Endlösung, pronounced [diː ˈʔɛntˌløːzʊŋ] ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (German: Endlösung der Judenfrage, pronounced [ˈɛntˌløːzʊŋ deːɐ̯ ˈjuːdn̩ˌfʁaːɡə]...
In diplomatic history, the Eastern question was the issue of the political and economic instability in the Ottoman Empire from the late 18th to early...
on the attempt by Jews to achieve political emancipation in Prussia. Bauer argued that Jews could achieve political emancipation only by relinquishing...
certiorari; or by determining that the central issue of the case is a politicalquestion better decided by the executive or legislative branches of government;...
Political violence is violence which is perpetrated in order to achieve political goals. It can include violence which is used by a state against other...
to acquit or convict); the validity of an impeachment trial is a politicalquestion that is nonjusticiable (i.e., is not reviewable by the courts). In...
The term social question refers to the social grievances that accompanied the Industrial Revolution and the following population explosion, that is, the...
The Irish question was the issue debated primarily among the British government from the early 19th century until the 1920s of how to respond to Irish...
v. Borden (1849), declared that the definition of republic was a "politicalquestion" in which it would not intervene. In two later cases, it did establish...
Kingdom found that the public were frustrated with "repetitive gotcha" politicalquestions being asked during press briefings about the COVID-19 pandemic. Concision...
challenging the legality of the Vietnam War; the courts ruled it was a politicalquestion. The necessity defence has sometimes been used as a shadow defence...
The "German question" was a debate in the 19th century, especially during the Revolutions of 1848, over the best way to achieve a unification of all or...
The Polish question (Polish: kwestia polska or sprawa polska) was the issue, in international politics, of the existence of Poland as an independent state...
legitimate republican form as guaranteed by the Constitution is a politicalquestion to be resolved by the Congress. In effect, the court held the clause...
2015) brief popular survey. Schuchman, John S. "The Political Background of the Political-Question Doctrine: The Judges and the Dorr War," American Journal...
The Armenian question was the debate following the Congress of Berlin in 1878 as to how the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire should be treated. The term...
means. The latter refused to do so, noting it was a "significant politicalquestion." The ROC currently administers the island of Taiwan (Formosa), Penghu...
doctrine exist. The dispute must not seek resolution on a politicalquestion. Politicalquestions are those matters which are constitutionally committed...
Canadian political journalist, currently serving as the chief political correspondent for CTV News. She formerly was the host of Power & Politics on CBC...
Global Information