essional
authorization of such suits.[411] Later this rule was extended to other
types of actions. In the absence of statutory provisions to the contrary
such suits are initiated by the Attorney General in the name of the
United States.[412] As in other judicial proceedings, the United States,
like any other party plaintiff, must have an interest in the subject
matter and a legal right to the remedy sought.[413] By the Judiciary Act
of 1789 and subsequent amendments Congress has vested jurisdiction in
the federal district courts to hear all suits of a civil nature at law
or in equity, brought by the United States as a party plaintiff.[414]

SUITS AGAINST STATES

Controversies to which the United States is a party include suits
brought against States as party defendants. The first such suit occurred
in United States _v._ North Carolina[415] which was an action by the
United States to recover upon bonds issued by North Carolina. Although
no question of jurisdiction was raised, in deciding the case on its
merits in favor of the State, the Court tacitly assumed that it had
jurisdiction of such cases. The issue of jurisdiction was directly
raised by Texas a few years later in a bill in equity brought by the
United States to determine the boundary between Texas and the Territory
of Oklahoma, and the Court sustained its jurisdiction over strong
arguments by Texas to the effect that it could not be sued by the United
States without its consent and that the Supreme Court's original
jurisdiction did not extend to cases to which the United States is a
party.[416] Stressing the inclusion within the judicial power of cases
to which the United States and a State are parties, Justice Harlan
pointed out that the Constitution made no exception of suits brought by
the United States. In effect, therefore, consent to be sued by the
United States "was given by Texas when admitted to the Union upon an
equal footing in all respects with the other States."[417]

Suits brought by the United States against States have, however, been
infrequent. All of them have arisen since 1889, and they have become
somewhat more common since 1926. That year the Supreme Court decided a
dispute between the United States and Minnesota over land patents issued
to the State by the United States in breach of its trust obligations to
the Indians.[418] In United States _v._ West Virginia,[419] the Court
refused to take jurisdiction of a suit in equity brought by t