Opinion ID: 109669
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Abstention

Text: There are, of course, two primary types of federal abstention. The first, usually referred to as Pullman abstention, involves an inquiry focused on the possibility that the state courts may interpret a challenged state statute so as to eliminate, or at least to alter materially, the constitutional question presented. Railroad Comm'n v. Pullman Co., 312 U. S. 496 (1941). See Bellotti v. Baird, 428 U. S. 132 (1976). The second type is Younger abstention, in which the court is primarily concerned, in an equitable setting, with considerations of comity and federalism, both as they relate to the State's interest in pursuing an ongoing state proceeding, and as they involve the ability of the state courts to consider federal constitutional claims in that context. Younger v. Harris, 401 U. S. 37 (1971). See Huffman v. Pursue, Ltd., 420 U. S. 592 (1975); Juidice v. Vail, 430 U. S. 327 (1977); Trainor v. Hernandez, ante, at 448 (concurring opinion). A. In the present case, appellants, who in effect are the State of Ohio, argued before the District Court that appellee was free to pursue his pending administrative appeal and have his constitutional claim adjudicated in the Court of Common Pleas, and that principles of comity therefore required abstention. [6] Although appellants in their written submission to that court cited Pullman, the argument was clearly to the effect that Younger abstention should apply. [7] The District Court held that abstention was unwarranted. It first asserted that in Gibson v. Berryhill, 411 U. S. 564 (1973), this Court stated specifically that administrative remedies need not be exhausted where the federal court plaintiff states a good cause of action under 42 U. S. C. § 1983. 408 F. Supp., at 1019. [8] The court then stated that § 4141.29 (D) (1) (a), on its face, would appear to except the plaintiff from unemployment benefits for the period he was laid off due to coal miners' strike, and that the Employment Bureau has denied benefits to plaintiff . . . solely on the basis of the challenged labor dispute disqualification. 408 F. Supp., at 1019. The court held that exhaustion of administrative remedies would be futile because the administrative appeal process would not permit a challenge to the constitutionality of the statute, and the Ohio courts had held the statute to be constitutional. Id., at 1019, and n. 1. Although the court observed that Huffman v. Pursue, Ltd., supra , broadened the Younger doctrine to include a prohibition against federal court interference with certain ongoing civil proceedings in the state courts, 408 F. Supp., at 1019-1020, the court held that Huffman was limited to the enjoining of ongoing state-initiated judicial proceedings, 408 F. Supp., at 1020 (emphasis in original), and did not apply to a challenge to administrative actions. Finally, the court held that abstention, along the Pullman line, would not be proper in this case because the challenged statute is not an ambiguous one involving unsettled questions of state law which could be rendered constitutionally inoffensive by a limiting construction in the state courts. 408 F. Supp., at 1020. The court concluded that it would be improper to require the appellee to undertake three administrative appeals [9] before he could challenge the statute in state court where, moreover, the issue as to the constitutionality of the labor dispute disqualification has apparently been settled. Ibid. In this Court, as has been noted, appellants have not argued that Younger requires a remand with directions to the District Court to abstain, and at oral argument they resisted the suggestion of such a remand. Tr. of Oral Arg. 9-10. Instead, it is amicus Republic Steel that has made the suggestion. Younger v. Harris reflects a system in which there is sensitivity to the legitimate interests of both State and National Governments, and in which the National Government, anxious though it may be to vindicate and protect federal rights and federal interests, always endeavors to do so in ways that will not unduly interfere with the legitimate activities of the States. 401 U. S., at 44. See Huffman v. Pursue, Ltd., 420 U. S., at 604; Juidice v. Vail, 430 U. S., at 334; Trainor v. Hernandez, ante, at 441-443, 445-446, and id., at 448 (concurring opinion). Younger and these cited cases express equitable principles of comity and federalism. They are designed to allow the State an opportunity to set its own house in order when the federal issue is already before a state tribunal. It may not be argued, however, that a federal court is compelled to abstain in every such situation. If the State voluntarily chooses to submit to a federal forum, principles of comity do not demand that the federal court force the case back into the State's own system. In the present case, Ohio either believes that the District Court was correct in its analysis of abstention or, faced with the prospect of lengthy administrative appeals followed by equally protracted state judicial proceedings, now has concluded to submit the constitutional issue to this Court for immediate resolution. In either event, under these circumstances Younger principles of equity and comity do not require this Court to refuse Ohio the immediate adjudication it seeks. [10] B. Amicus AFL-CIO argues that Pullman abstention is proper here. [11] The basis for the claimed applicability of Pullman is found in the facts that there were other steelworkers, at other Ohio facilities, laid off at the same time as appellee and assertedly for the same reason, and yet they were awarded unemployment compensation by the Bureau. See Brief for Appellants 3. Benefits were granted on the ground that the company-owned coal mines did not supply a sufficient amount of fuel to the plants there involved to effect a plant shutdown. [12] Amicus argues that if appellee were to pursue his administrative appeal, he might be granted benefits on the same ground. The problems with this approach, however, are several. First, appellee did not press any such claim before the Bureau or on administrative appeal, Tr. of Oral Arg. 9, and there is no indication that a claimant may be awarded benefits on the basis of a claim not made to the Bureau or Board of Review. Second, there is no indication that the plant at which appellee worked is situated similarly to the plants as to which benefits were granted. The Bureau apparently applied a test under which the closing of a plant was held not to be due to the labor dispute if the plant received less than 50% of its coal from the employer's struck mines. Id., at 7-8. There has been no claim or showing that the 50% test is unreasonable or improper and there has been no claim that appellee's plant was not dependent on the struck mines for more than 50% of its coal. What amicus suggests is that the court abstain on the basis of speculation that the unchallenged facts may not be as the Bureau obviously saw them, or that the Board might overturn an unchallenged standard of causation, or that the Board might even come up with a hitherto unknown and unclaimed reason for awarding benefits to appellee, such as a theory that because the coal strike was nationwide it was not  `at the employers' mines.'  See Brief for AFL-CIO as Amicus Curiae 8. None of these suggestions is based on fact or solid legal precedent. As has been noted, Pullman abstention is an equitable doctrine that comes into play when it appears that abstention may eliminate or materially alter the constitutional issue presented. There is a point, however, at which the possible benefits of abstention become too speculative to justify or require avoidance of the question presented. That point has been reached and surpassed here. We conclude that Pullman abstention is not appropriate.