Source: http://www.chanrobles.com/usa/us_supremecourt/407/225/case.php
Timestamp: 2019-10-22 02:07:46
Document Index: 118384113

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 2283', '§ 1', '§ 2', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983']

An Act of Congress, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, expressly authorizes a "suit in equity" to redress "the deprivation," under color of state law, "of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution. . . ." [Footnote 2] The question before us is whether this "Act of Congress" comes within the "expressly authorized" exception of the anti-injunction statute so as to permit a federal court in a § 1983 suit to grant an injunction to stay a proceeding pending in a state court. This question, which has divided the federal courts, [Footnote 3] has lurked in the background of many of our recent cases, but we have not until today explicitly decided it. [Footnote 4] chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
In denying injunctive relief, the District Court relied on this Court's decision in Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 398 U. S. 281. The Atlantic Coast Line case did not deal with the "expressly authorized" exception of the anti-injunction statute, [Footnote 7] but the Court's opinion in that case does bring into sharp focus the critical importance of the question now before us. For, in that case, we expressly rejected the view that the anti-injunction statute merely states a flexible doctrine of comity, [Footnote 8] and made clear that the statute imposes an absolute ban upon the issuance of a federal injunction against a pending chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Last Term, in Younger v. Harris, 401 U. S. 37, and its companion cases, [Footnote 9] the Court dealt at length with the subject of federal judicial intervention in pending chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
The anti-injunction statute goes back almost to the beginnings of our history as a Nation. In 1793, Congress enacted a law providing that no "writ of injunction be granted [by any federal court] to stay proceedings chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
in any court of a state. . . ." Act of March 2, 1793; 1 Stat. 335. The precise origins of the legislation are shrouded in obscurity, [Footnote 10] but the consistent understanding chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Despite the seemingly uncompromising language of the anti-injunction statute prior to 1948, the Court soon chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
recognized that exceptions must be made to its blanket prohibition if the import and purpose of other Acts of Congress were to be given their intended scope. So it was that, in addition to the bankruptcy law exception that Congress explicitly recognized in 1874, the Court through the years found that federal courts were empowered to enjoin state court proceedings, despite the anti-injunction statute, in carrying out the will of Congress under at least six other federal laws. These covered a broad spectrum of congressional action: (1) legislation providing for removal of litigation from state to federal courts, [Footnote 12](2) legislation limiting the liability of shipowners, [Footnote 13] (3) legislation providing for federal interpleader actions, [Footnote 14] (4) legislation conferring federal jurisdiction over farm mortgages, [Footnote 15] (5) legislation chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
In addition to the exceptions to the anti-injunction statute found to be embodied in these various Acts of Congress, the Court recognized other "implied" exceptions to the blanket prohibition of the anti-injunction statute. One was an "in rem" exception, allowing a federal court to enjoin a state court proceeding in order to protect its jurisdiction of a res over which it had first acquired jurisdiction. [Footnote 18] Another was a "relitigation" exception, permitting a federal court to enjoin relitigation in a state court of issues already decided in federal litigation. [Footnote 19] Still a third exception, more recently developed, permits a federal injunction of state chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
We proceed, then, upon the understanding that, in determining whether § 1983 comes within the "expressly authorized" exception of the anti-injunction statute, the chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
criteria to be applied are those reflected in the Court's decisions prior to Toucey. [Footnote 23] A review of those decisions makes reasonably clear what the relevant criteria are. In the first place, it is evident that, in order to qualify under the "expressly authorized" exception of the anti-injunction statute, a federal law need not contain an express reference to that statute. As the Court has said, "no prescribed formula is required; an authorization need not expressly refer to § 2283." Amalgamated Clothing Workers v. Richman Bros. Co., 348 U. S. 511, 348 U. S. 516. Indeed, none of the previously recognized statutory exceptions contains any such reference. [Footnote 24] Secondly, a federal law need not expressly authorize an injunction of a state court proceeding in order to qualify as an exception. Three of the six previously recognized statutory exceptions contain no such authorization. [Footnote 25] Thirdly, it is clear that, in order to qualify as an "expressly authorized" exception to the anti-injunction statute, an Act of Congress must have created a specific and uniquely federal right or remedy, enforceable in a federal court of equity, that could be frustrated if the federal court were not empowered to enjoin a state court proceeding. This is not chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Section 1983 was originally § 1 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871. 17 Stat. 13. It was "modeled" on § 2 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 14 Stat. 27, [Footnote 27] and was enacted for the express purpose of "enforc[ing] the Provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment." 17 Stat. 13. The predecessor of § 1983 was thus an important part of the basic alteration in our federal system wrought in the Reconstruction era through federal legislation and constitutional amendment. [Footnote 28] As a result of the chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
new structure of law that emerged in the post-Civil War era -- and especially of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was its centerpiece -- the role of the Federal Government as a guarantor of basic federal rights against state power was clearly established. Monroe v. Pape, 365 U. S. 167; McNeese v. Board of Education, 373 U. S. 668; Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U. S. 1; Zwickler v. Koota, 389 U. S. 241, 389 U. S. 245-249; H. Flack, The Adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment (1908); J. tenBroek, The Anti-Slavery Origins of the Fourteenth Amendment (1951). [Footnote 29] Section 1983 opened the federal courts to private citizens, offering a uniquely federal remedy against incursions under the claimed authority of state law upon rights secured by the Constitution and laws of the Nation. [Footnote 30] chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Those who opposed the Act of 1871 clearly recognized that the proponents were extending federal power in an attempt to remedy the state courts' failure to secure federal rights. The debate was not about whether the predecessor of § 1983 extended to actions of state chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Section 1983 was thus a product of a vast transformation from the concepts of federalism that had prevailed in the late 18th century, when the anti-injunction statute was enacted. The very purpose of § 1983 was to interpose the federal courts between the States and the people, as guardians of the people's federal rights -- to protect the people from unconstitutional action under color of state law, "whether that action be executive, legislative, or judicial." Ex parte Virginia, 100 U.S. at 100 U. S. 346. In carrying out that purpose, Congress plainly authorized the federal courts to issue injunctions in § 1983 actions by expressly authorizing a "suit in equity" as one of the means of redress. And this Court long ago recognized that federal injunctive relief against a state court proceeding can, in some circumstances, be essential to prevent great, immediate, and irreparable loss of a person's constitutional rights. Ex parte Young, 209 U. S. 123; cf. Truax v. Raich, 239 U. S. 33; Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U. S. 479. For these reasons, we conclude that, under the chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
See First National Bank & Trust Co. v. Village of Skokie, 173 F.2d 1; Baines, 337 F.2d 593. See also Taylor & Willis, The Power of Federal Courts to Enjoin Proceedings in State Courts, 42 Yale L.J. 1169, 1194 (1933).
"There is no record of any debates over the statute. See 3 Annals of Congress (1791-93). It has been suggested that the provision reflected the then strong feeling against the unwarranted intrusion of federal courts upon state sovereignty. 2 U. S. 291-292. Much more probable is the suggestion that the provision reflected the prevailing prejudices against equity jurisdiction. The Journal of William Maclay (1927 ed.), chronicling the proceedings of the Senate while he was one of its members (1789-1791), contains abundant evidence of a widespread hostility to chancery practice. See especially pp. 92-94, 101-06 (debate on the bill that became Judiciary Act of 1789). Moreover, Senator Ellsworth (soon to become Chief Justice of the United States), the principal draftsman of both the 1789 and 1793 Judiciary Acts, often indicated a dislike for equity jurisdiction. [email protected] Brown, Life of Oliver Ellsworth (1905 ed.) 194; Journal of William Maclay (1927 ed.) 103-04; Warren, New Light on the History of the Federal Judiciary Act of 1789, 37 Harv.L.Rev. 49, 96-100."
I concur in the opinion of the Court, and add a few words to emphasize what the Court is and is not deciding today, as I read the opinion. The Court holds chanroblesvirtualawlibrary