I was teaching my class about Iqbal a few weeks ago, and the debate centered around how open the federal court doors should be. A few weeks before, I was talking about federal question jurisdiction, and how broadly it should be interpreted (Holmes in American Well Works v. Smith v. Merrel Dow, etc). Same debate–how easy should it be to get into federal court. Earlier in the semester we talked about the Federalist v. Anti-Federalist debate about the size and scope of the federal courts in relation to the state courts. Same question.

It amazes me how the same exact tropes keep popping up over two centuries, in different forms.

There really is nothing new under the (constitutional) sun.