As my Civ Pro students know, I like to analogize supplemental jurisdiction to an ice cream cone:
- The cone is the federal district court.
- The ice cream is original jurisdiction. Examples include sections 1331, 1332, 1335, 1338, etc.
- The sprinkles are supplemental jurisdiction.
Can you have an ice cream cone without ice cream? No, that’d be an empty cone. For a federal district court to hear a case, it must have original jurisdiction.
Can you have sprinkles without ice cream? No, that’d simply be gross. You first need the ice cream, and then you can add sprinkles. For a federal district court to exercise supplemental jurisdiction, it must first have original jurisdiction.
The moral: you want supplemental jurisdiction? First make sure you’ve got some ice cream.
For additional study materials on supplemental jurisdiction, including handouts and problems, see here.
Bonus question: what kind of jurisdiction is Patrick Star exercising? Original? Supplemental? Both?
Thanks to Sylvia F. for reminding me of Patrick’s love of ice cream.
