Abstention doctrine

Abstention doctrine allows federal courts to refrain from hearing lawsuits under a variety of circumstances that concern possible interference with other proceedings.

The major abstention doctrines are:

• Younger abstention (ongoing state judicial proceedings)
• Pullman doctrine (when a constitutional issue might be avoided by allowing state courts to interpret an ambiguous state law)
• Colorado River abstention doctrine (avoid duplicative proceedings in another state or federal court)

These circumstances include the following:

Federal courts have the power to refrain from hearing cases that would interfere with a pending state criminal proceeding, see Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 (1971), or with certain types of state civil proceedings, see Huffman v. Pursue, Ltd., 420 U.S. 592 (1975); Juidice v. Vail, 430 U.S. 327 (1977); cases in which the resolution of a federal constitutional question might be obviated if the state courts were given the opportunity to interpret ambiguous state law, see Railroad Comm'n of Tex. v. Pullman Co., 312 U.S. 496 (1941); cases raising issues "intimately involved with [the States'] sovereign prerogative," the proper adjudication of which might be impaired by unsettled questions of state law, see Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. City of Thibodaux, 360 U.S. 25, 28 (1959); id., at 31 (Stewart, J., concurring); cases whose resolution by a federal court might unnecessarily interfere with a state system for the collection of taxes, see Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Huffman, 319 U.S. 293 (1943); and cases which are duplicative of a pending state proceeding, see Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. United States, 424 U.S. 800 (1976); Pennsylvania v. Williams, 294 U.S. 176 (1935).

See also

• Rooker-Feldman doctrine