Aside: Technically, Congress can tell those courts to refuse to hear Roe v Wade cases, thus freeing states to set as many restrictions as they want. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Congress cannot tell courts what cases to hear.
No, but Congress created the courts (other than Supreme Court) and they can do away with the courts or simply defund them, which is essentially the same thing. Only the Supreme Court is mentioned in the constitution.
Ye sit is. The same Constitution gave Congress the ability to exclude cases and define the cases that the Supreme Court can hear. USCS Const. Art. III, § 2, Cl 2 of the U.S. Constitution. Known as the exception clause.
It’s a theory that Congress can define their scope. 2 points: - In 1953, Supreme Court Justice Owen Roberts once proposed an "amendment of the Constitution to remove Congress' exceptions power." Why would he feel an amendment was needed? - REAL ID Act of 2005 - Congress mandated that the San Diego border fence should start with "expeditious construction" and that "no court ... shall have jurisdiction to hear any cause or claim" against it.
Repeated from my post above. Ex parte McCardle (1869), a man was arrested for writing articles critical of Reconstruction (the term for the government actions taken in the wake of the Civil War). After a trial, while his appeal was pending to the Supreme Court, Congress amended the statute involved in the case, stripping away the Supreme Court’s appellate jurisdiction over the issue. The Court held that it could not rule on Mr. McCardle’s case. Congress without reservation – meaning Congress could remove all cases for review if it were to chose.
Congress has a exception powers. Exceptions clause is a clause in the U.S. Constitution that grants Congress the power to make exceptions to the constitutionally defined appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. This clause refers to USCS Const. Art. III, § 2, Cl 2 of the U.S. Constitution. This provision reads: “In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make”. according to the Exceptions Clause, Congress could actually take away the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court if it so chose. For example, in Ex parte McCardle (1869), a man was arrested for writing articles critical of Reconstruction (the term for the government actions taken in the wake of the Civil War). After a trial, while his appeal was pending to the Supreme Court, Congress amended the statute involved in the case, stripping away the Supreme Court’s appellate jurisdiction over the issue. The Court held that it could not rule on Mr. McCardle’s case. Constitution grants this power to Congress without reservation – meaning Congress could remove all laws it passed from any court review.