P. Beiersdorf & Co., Inc. v. McGohey Judge

Although there is now seemingly some trend toward the breakdown, of federal jurisdiction, this case in my understanding goes measurably beyond anything I have seen. Here the district judge claimed a wide power to pick and choose among cases to be heard federally; and our decision, however reluctantly reached, cedes to him that power.

Of course the earlier rule has been contra. Princess Lida v. Thompson, 305 U.S. 456, 466, 59 S.Ct. 275, 83 L.Ed. 285, citing cases; Moore’s Federal Practice § 3.05, 1st Ed.; Moore’s Commentary on the U.S. Judicial Code 403, 404, 1950. The reasons have seemed…