I taught Federal Jurisdiction for at least fifteen years at Northwestern Law School, from 1990 to 2005, and I have written several law review articles on this subject. I have long admired the federal removal statutes, which allow allow federal officers and persons acting under a law of the United States to remove their cases from state to federal court. See generally In re Neagle, 135 U.S. 1 (1890). One such law was passed during Reconstruction, in 1875, in the wake of the Civil War, to prevent the eleven former Confederate states from harassing or oppressing federal officers or those with a duty to act under federal law.
State judges are often elected, and they can sometimes be biased for reasons of race, sex, politics, or religion. That bias is evident in both the New York State criminal and civil lawsuits brought against former President Donald Trump this year. Those cases were tried in the most liberal borough, of one of the most liberal cities, of one of the most liberal states in the nation.
Regional biases against former Presidents are sometimes quite pronounced. The NY civil and criminal cases brought against former President Donald Trump are evidence of this fact. This makes broader removal statutes necessary and proper so that talented people will not be dissuaded from running for the office of President of the United States.
