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Article: 

Roger W. Kirst, Jury Trial and the Federal Tort Claims Act: Time to Recognize the Seventh Amendment Right, 58 TEXAS L. REV. 549 (1980). 

The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) has become an increasingly important remedy for people injured by tortious conduct of federal officials.  It will become even more important if Congress passes pending legislation that would replace the Bivens action with an action under the FTCA.  An action under the FTCA is much like any other federal court action except for the long-standing statutory prohibition on jury trials.  Many claimants have challenged this statutory prohibition in the lower federal courts as a violation of the 7^th amendment.  The courts have uniformly denied these challenges.  This article criticizes these courts for relying on obsolete precedent and outdated doctrine in their 7^th amendment analysis.  The article argues that, because of the increasing importance of the FTCA, the claim that the FTCA’s statutory prohibition violates the 7^th amendment should be seriously reconsidered.  The article concludes that the 7^th amendment guarantees a right to trial by jury in an action against the United States under the FTCA.