Patrick A. McKenna v. Floyd A. Wallis and Pan American Petroleum Corporation, Pan American Petroleum Corporation v. Floyd A. Wallis

I respectfully dissent.

I do not say that the Court’s decision is likely to start dangerous temblors in American federalism. It has always been in the cards that federal common law would expand as the activities of the national government expanded.1 For many years, before Erie, the federal “judge followed his own nose”; he “sat down and looked up what relevant federal law there might be in the cases and otherwise decided what the law ought to be * * * though in some few instances the judge might consider relevant state decisions”.2 Moreover, I agree with Judge Henry Friendly’s summary of the…