Land Grant Jurisdiction Clause

Looks to founding-era sources to analyze the original constitutional plan for the federal courts. Compares provisions of Article III to the Articles of Confederation, as the same four subject matters for federal jurisdiction are present in both. Regarding the land grant jurisdiction clause, cites Madison’s notes that James Sherman moved to insert these words according to the 9th Article of Confederation, and they were agreed to without objection.

Concludes that “citizen” in Article III’s diversity clause refers to natural persons; thus, corporations cannot be considered citizens within the original public meaning of Article III. Argues that the original public meaning of “citizen” communicated a person’s ability to form affective ties with a community. Synthesizes historical accounts, primary source evidence from the framers and founding-era jurists, and corpus linguistics analysis.

Explores why sovereign immunity has become the norm and concludes that sovereign immunity is based on an erroneous historical interpretation.