Opinion ID: 711154
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Exceptions to Abstention

Text: 38 Having determined that the three requirements for Younger abstention are met in a given case, this Court will normally order a district court to dismiss a complaint unless the plaintiff can show that one of the exceptions to Younger applies, such as bad faith, harassment, or flagrant unconstitutionality. See Trainor v. Hernandez, 431 U.S. 434, 97 S.Ct. 1911, 52 L.Ed.2d 486 (1977). 39 In his legal briefs in the district court, Fieger argued that the Commission engaged in bad-faith prosecution because it did not prosecute Governor John Engler for statements which Engler made that were critical of a judge from the Ingham County Circuit Court. This claim of selective prosecution really amounts to a weak equal protection claim. And, as Justice Holmes pointed out in the only part of Buck v. Bell that remains unrepudiated, a claim of a violation of the Equal Protection Clause based upon selective enforcement is the usual last resort of constitutional arguments. 274 U.S. 200, 208, 47 S.Ct. 584, 585, 71 L.Ed. 1000 (1927). We agree with the district court that Fieger has not introduced sufficient evidence to make out a claim of an equal protection/selective prosecution violation. Fieger has not demonstrated that the Commission's actions against him were motivated by bad-faith or with intent to harass. In Younger, the Supreme Court discussed the scope of the bad faith exception. The Court pointed out that in Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U.S. 479, 85 S.Ct. 1116, 14 L.Ed.2d 22 (1965), an injunction against enforcement of certain state criminal statutes properly issued because the prosecutor made repeated threats against the federal plaintiffs to enforce the statutes without any expectation of securing a valid conviction. Younger, 401 U.S. at 48, 91 S.Ct. at 752. These threats were made with the intent to harass the plaintiffs and to discourage them from asserting their constitutional rights. Id. Fieger has not demonstrated that the Commission is using the lawyer disciplinary proceeding against him solely for the purpose of suppressing his exercise of free speech rights and with no real hope of ultimate success. We find that the disciplinary proceedings were brought lawfully and instituted in good faith. 40 From a review of the arguments made below, we do not understand Fieger to have been seeking an exception to abstention on the ground that the challenged statutes are flagrantly and patently violative of express constitutional prohibitions in every clause, sentence and paragraph, and in whatever manner and against whomever an effort might be made to apply it. Younger, 401 U.S. at 53-54, 91 S.Ct. at 755 (quoting Watson v. Buck, 313 U.S. 387, 402, 61 S.Ct. 962, 967, 85 L.Ed. 1416 (1941)). However, even if he had made this argument, it would have failed. In Younger, the Court determined that a 'chilling effect,' even in the area of First Amendment rights, has never been considered a sufficient basis, in and of itself, for prohibiting state action. 401 U.S. at 51, 91 S.Ct. at 754. Fieger will have adequate opportunity to test whether M.C.R. 9.104(1)-(4) and Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct 3.5(c), 8.2(a) and 8.4(a)-(c) are unconstitutional on their face, or whether they can be subject to a narrowing construction. As the Court concluded in Younger, the possible unconstitutionality of a statute 'on its face' does not in itself justify an injunction against good-faith attempts to enforce it, especially absent any showing of bad faith, harassment, or any other unusual circumstance that would call for equitable relief. 401 U.S. at 54, 91 S.Ct. at 755.