Page:United States Reports 502 OCT. TERM 1991.pdf/633

 502US2$28N 02-10-99 15:12:54 PAGES OPINPGT

Cite as: 502 U. S. 437 (1992)

475

Thomas, J., dissenting

462 U. S. 554, 570 (1983); California v. Texas, 457 U. S. 164, 168 (1982) (per curiam); Maryland v. Louisiana, 451 U. S. 725, 739 (1981); Arizona v. New Mexico, 425 U. S. 794, 796– 798 (1976) (per curiam). I believe that the Court’s decision to accept jurisdiction over this case is a misguided exercise of that discretion. “It has long been this Court’s philosophy that ‘our original jurisdiction should be invoked sparingly.’ ” Illinois v. City of Milwaukee, 406 U. S. 91, 93 (1972) (quoting Utah v. United States, 394 U. S. 89, 95 (1969)). The sound reasons for this approach have been set forth on many occasions, see, e. g., Ohio v. Wyandotte Chemicals Corp., supra, at 498; Maryland v. Louisiana, supra, at 761–763 (Rehnquist, J., dissenting), and I need not repeat them here. As Chief Justice Fuller aptly observed almost a century ago, our original jurisdiction “is of so delicate and grave a character that it was not contemplated that it would be exercised save when the necessity was absolute.” Louisiana v. Texas, 176 U. S. 1, 15 (1900). In determining which cases merit the exercise of original jurisdiction, the Court typically has focused on two considerations: the nature of the claims involved and the availability of alternative forums where they can be addressed. See, e. g., Illinois v. City of Milwaukee, supra, at 93; Massachusetts v. Missouri, 308 U. S. 1, 18–19 (1939). In my view, both factors cut strongly against exercising original jurisdiction here. Wyoming claims to be injured as follows: The Oklahoma statute decreases coal sales by Wyoming mining companies to Oklahoma buyers, which supposedly decreases the amount of coal those companies extract in N. Y. U. L. Rev. 543, 561 (1985) (calling “unanswerable” criticism of the Court’s discretionary approach to cases within its exclusive original jurisdiction). As noted in text, the Court has held otherwise and those precedents have not been challenged here. The exercise of discretion is probably inevitable as long as the Court’s approach to standing is as relaxed as it is today.