Martin v. United States

The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) creates a federal right of action against the United States for torts committed by federal employees and waives sovereign immunity for claims that fall within the scope of that right of action. The FTCA provides that, with some exceptions, the United States shall be liable for torts to the same extent as a private person under similar circumstances. It does so by adopting as its standard for liability the principles of state tort law that would be applicable to a private person in the state where the allegedly tortious conduct occurred.

In this case, the Eleventh Circuit held that the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause bars enforcement of the FTCA’s requirement that the tort liability of the United States be based on principles borrowed from state tort law. According to the court of appeals, the Supremacy Clause prohibits imposition of tort liability on the United States under the FTCA if the tortious acts “have some nexus with furthering federal policy and can reasonably be characterized as complying with the full range of federal law.”

Public Citizen filed an amicus brief explaining that the court of appeals’ holding turns the Supremacy Clause upside down. As the brief explains, the FTCA is a federal law that dictates that the United States be held liable in circumstances where a private person would be liable under state tort law. The Supremacy Clause therefore does not preempt liability under the FTCA, but requires courts to apply the standard of liability that the FTCA specifies.