FEDERAL COURTS JURISDICTION AND VENUE CLARIFICATION ACT OF 2010

September 28, 2010

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia: Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4113, the Federal Courts Jurisdiction and Venue Clarification Act of 2010, is intended to clarify a number of uncertainties and technical flaws in laws regarding Federal court jurisdiction and venue that have come to light in recent years. Let me just cite one example.

Under current law, we have an odd scenario where State law claims can be brought in Federal court using a diversity of citizenship basis for Federal jurisdiction even though both parties are residents of the same State; but because one party is a permanent resident, not a citizen, they can claim diversity of citizenship.

H.R. 4113 makes clear that permanent legal residents are treated the same as citizens for the purpose of diversity of citizenship. There are many other technical clarifications in the bill like that.

I would like to thank our ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Smith, for his leadership in bringing this bill to the floor, and I urge my colleagues to support the bill.