The Federalists briefly created such jurisdiction in the Judiciary Act of 1801, but it was repealed the following year, and not restored until 1875.
Congress eliminated the requirement in actions against the United States in 1976 and in all federal question cases in 1980.
[2] This "well-pleaded complaint" rule has been criticized by legal scholars, but Congress has so far chosen not to change the law, although the Supreme Court has made clear it is free to do so.
The opinion delivered for the court included the phrase: "A suit arises under the law that creates the cause of action.
"[5] For almost a hundred years this test was the foundation for federal question qualification under § 1331 until the Supreme Court modified it in Mims v. Arrow Financial Services (2012) to be whether “federal law creates [both] a private right of action and furnishes the substantive rules of decision.”[6]