Federal Removal

     Early in our history there was fierce independence on the part of the individual states making up our republic.  On the one hand, the states were sovereign governments; on the other, they were each players in a larger national government.

   The federal court system was developed initially to deal with disputes between state governments and between citizens of different states (to avoid any "home field advantage") as well as dealing with cases involving the application of purely federal law.   Today's federal courts typically hear cases involving interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, federal statutes, and disputes between citizens of different states were the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000.

   The federal removal statute (28 U.S.C. §1441) exists to allow a defendant sued in a state court to "remove" that case to federal court if it could have been brought in federal court initially.  The original purpose of the removal statute was to give non-local defendants the right to move the case to federal court based upon the belief that the federal courts, operating under the same rules regardless of geographic location, would provide a more neutral forum as compared to a "local" state court.