Opinion ID: 183767
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: pullman abstention and the rooker-feldman doctrine

Text: In the alternative, Defendants first argue that even if this court has jurisdiction, we should abstain from deciding the case. Abstention under Railroad Commission of Texas v. Pullman Co., 312 U.S. 496, 61 S.Ct. 643, 85 L.Ed. 971 (1941), is appropriate only where state law is unclear and a clarification of that law would preclude the need to adjudicate the federal question. See Haw. Hous. Auth. v. Midkiff, 467 U.S. 229, 236, 104 S.Ct. 2321, 81 L.Ed.2d 186 (1984). The Ohio Supreme Court's decision in Painter clarified any relevant confusion regarding Ohio law's treatment of provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct and made equally plain that the resolution of state-law issues does not resolve the constitutional dispute properly before this court. Pullman abstention is, therefore, inappropriate. The Board's Rooker-Feldman argument is equally meritless. The Rooker-Feldman doctrine applies narrowly to cases brought by state-court losers complaining of injuries caused by state-court judgments rendered before the district court proceedings commenced.  Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Saudi Basic Indus. Corp., 544 U.S. 280, 284, 125 S.Ct. 1517, 161 L.Ed.2d 454 (2005) (emphasis added). The state-court judgment that forms the basis of the Board's Rooker-Feldman argument was issued nearly seven weeks after Hunter filed her complaint in federal district court. Accordingly, Rooker-Feldman does not divest us of subject-matter jurisdiction.