If a plaintiff has a federal claim for civil rights and includes a plumbing violation claim without diversity, what is the status of the plumbing claim?

In this scenario, the plumbing claim does not satisfy the constitutional requirements for federal jurisdiction because it does not arise under federal law or meet the criteria for diversity jurisdiction. The presence of a federal claim related to civil rights does not automatically confer jurisdiction over unrelated state claims unless certain conditions are met.

Federal jurisdiction requires that cases involve either a federal question or diversity of citizenship with an amount in controversy exceeding the statutory threshold. In this case, without diversity and considering that the plumbing violation is a state law claim, the plumbing claim remains outside the scope of federal jurisdiction.

This situation illustrates a key principle in federalism: state claims generally remain under the purview of state courts unless a federal question is sufficiently involved. The plumbing violation simply does not create a federal question and therefore cannot be entertained in the federal court system.

While a plaintiff may bring state law claims alongside federal claims, they would typically rely on supplemental jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1367, which allows for the joinder of claims that are part of the same case or controversy. However, if the plumbing claim is not related to the civil rights claim in any meaningful way (i.e., does not share a common nucleus of operative fact), it could be viewed as failing to meet