Court Opinion

ID: 9431156
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:31:27.862754+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:16:47.301045
License: Public Domain

Justice White,
with whom Justice O’Connor joins, concurring.
Respondents, targets of a state grand jury investigation, filed this § 1983 suit, alleging, inter alia, that petitioners had violated their federal constitutional rights in the execution of a search warrant and three grand jury subpoenas. The federal action sought damages as well as an order for the return of the seized property. Relying on Younger v. Harris, 401 U. S. 37 (1971), the District Court dismissed both the equitable and the damages claims. The Court of Appeals reversed. It held, first, that even if there was a need for abstention on respondents’ claims for equitable relief, the District Court erred in dismissing the damages phase of the case, at least when that remedy may not be had in pending state proceedings. 798 F. 2d 632, 635 (CA3 1986). Second, the Court of Appeals held that a state grand jury investigation is not the kind of proceeding that calls for abstention under Younger. 798 F. 2d, at 636-638. We granted certiorari on both questions. 479 U. S. 1063 (1987).
I agree with the Court that the issue of Younger1 s applicability to state grand jury proceedings is moot, and that the judgments of the Court of Appeals and the District Court must be vacated insofar as they dealt with that question. I concur in the Court’s judgment that, because respondents are no longer seeking equitable relief in this action, the grand jury question is no longer properly before us. Ante, at 200-201. It is worth noting, however, that the reason respondents give for withdrawing their injunctive claim is that the return of an indictment against three of them has now created a state criminal proceeding in which their federal constitutional claims may be adjudicated. It is thus not surprising that respondents no longer seek a federal court injunction: had they not withdrawn their request or conceded that the indictments *206mooted their injunctive claim, it is likely that we would have vacated the Court of Appeals’ judgment and remanded in light of the intervening indictments.
The mooting of the claim for injunctive relief leaves the question whether the Court of Appeals was correct in reversing the District Court’s dismissal of the damages claim. I agree with the Court that it was. To permit dismissal of a claim for damages when such relief may not be obtained in any pending state proceeding is surely not required by any notions of comity. Moreover, dismissal might foreclose, on statute of limitations grounds, the subsequent pursuit of a damages action in federal court in the event that the state court holds that a violation of constitutional rights took place. No doubt this is why Courts of Appeals which have applied Younger to damages actions have ordered stays, and not dismissals, of damages claims to which Younger applies.1
My difficulty with the Court’s opinion is that, while approving the Court of Appeals’ decision to stay and not dismiss the damages claim, it does not adequately explain why the federal courts must or may stay, rather than proceed to adjudicate, the federal constitutional claims for damages. After all, the Court’s opinion cites the “virtually unflagging obligation” of the federal courts to adjudicate claims within their jurisdiction absent extraordinary circumstances, as we recognized in Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. United States, 424 U. S. 800 (1976). Why, then, stay the § 1988 damages claim asserting a violation of federal constitutional rights? Why does not the District Court’s “unflagging obligation” require it to proceed on that claim?
In sanctioning this decision to stay, the Court recites the rule of the Third Circuit that when there is abstention on an equitable claim because of a pending state proceeding, the *207damages claim should be stayed and not dismissed. Ante, at 202-203, citing Crane v. Fauver, 762 F. 2d 325 (CA3 1985), and Williams v. Red Bank Bd. of Ed., 662 F. 2d 1008 (CA3 1981).2 The Third Circuit rule, which the Court endorses, appears to rest on “prudential considerations” and not on the view that Younger requires that a damages action be stayed when there is a parallel state criminal (or “quasi-criminal”) proceeding underway. See, e. g., Crane v. Fauver, supra, at 329. But we have never held that in all cases where there are parallel state and federal proceedings involving a federal constitutional issue, the federal court should hold its hand and allow the state court to proceed first.
To affirm the Court of Appeals’ judgment ordering a stay requires a more substantial basis than “prudential consideration,” and that basis is not difficult to find: it is that Younger requires, not only dismissal of the equitable claim in this case, but also that the damages action not go forward. Several times before this Court has declined to state that Younger applies to damages actions. E. g., Tower v. *208Glover, 467 U. S. 914, 923 (1984); Juidice v. Vail, 430 U. S. 327, 339, n. 16 (1977). In the absence of direction from this Court, it now appears that a plurality of the Circuits apply the Younger doctrine — in some fashion — to damages claims like respondents’.3
The reasons for such an approach are obvious. As the Younger decision itself recognized, it has long been the rule that the federal courts should not interfere with or pre-empt the progress of state criminal proceedings. Younger v. Harris, 401 U. S., at 43-44, 53-54. A judgment in the federal damages action may decide several questions at issue in the state criminal proceeding. It may determine, for example, that certain evidence was seized contrary to the Fourth Amendment, or that an interrogation was conducted in violation of the Sixth Amendment, or that Fifth Amendment rights were somehow violated. In fact, in this case, such claims — and many more — are all being pressed by respondents in their § 1983 damages action. If the claims the Court remands today were disposed of on the merits by the District Court, this decision would presumably be owed res judicata effect in the forthcoming state criminal trial of respondents. “[T]he potential for federal-state friction is obvious.” Guerro v. Mulhearn, 498 F. 2d 1249, 1253 (CA1 1974).4
*209It was for these same reasons that we held that a federal court should not entertain a declaratory judgment action aimed at adjudicating a federal issue involved in a state criminal proceeding. See Samuels v. Mackell, 401 U. S. 66, 72-73 (1971). As was true in Samuels, here, “the practical effect of the two forms of relief [here, damages and injunctions] will be virtually identical, and the basic policy against federal interference with pending state criminal prosecutions will be frustrated as much by a declaratory judgment [or, I believe, a damages award] as it would be by an injunction.” See id., at 73. Under Samuels, for example, if a state criminal prosecution is ongoing, a federal court cannot adjudicate a plaintiff’s request for a declaration that evidence being used in that prosecution was seized contrary to the Fourth Amendment. Yet if Younger does not apply to damages claims, that same court in the same circumstances could rule the search unconstitutional as long as the federal plaintiff was seeking damages in addition to a determination of the unconstitutionality of the seizure — a prerequisite of any damages award. Why the latter action should be considered less problematic for purposes of comity or “Our Federalism” escapes me. If anything, I would have thought just the opposite would be true.
In light of the developments in this case and our decisions in Younger and Samuels, it is clear that the District Court should not dismiss the damages claims, yet must not proceed to judgment on them either. Consequently, I would couple our remand of this case with a holding that, pursuant to Younger, the lower courts may not adjudicate respondents’ *210damages claims until the conclusion of the pending state criminal proceedings.5

 See, e. g., McCurry v. Allen, 606 F. 2d 795, 799 (CA8 1979), rev’d on other grounds, 449 U. S. 90 (1980); Doby v. Strength, 758 F. 2d 1405, 1406 (CA11 1985).

 The Court also appears to rest its decision upon respondents’ assurance that they will seek a stay of their federal damages action on remand, holding their claims in abeyance until the conclusion of the state criminal proceedings. Ante, at 201-202. There is a distinct difference, however, between the weight the Court should give this assurance, and the weight the Court properly accords to the representations which respondents made concerning the mootness of their equitable-relief claims.
With respect to the latter, the Court’s reliance on respondents’ disclaimer of any interest in equitable relief has resulted in a dismissal of these claims as moot. This dismissal, with prejudice, effectively prevents a reversal of position on the part of respondents. However, there is nothing in the Court’s decision today that bars respondents from changing their views on seeking a stay of their damages claim. Such an altered litigation posture may come out of a good- or bad-faith change of heart, and may lead respondents to request an immediate adjudication of their damages claims. Unfortunately, for the reasons discussed above, the Court’s opinion does not adequately address why the District Court must not accommodate such a renewed request.

 See Landrigan v. Warwick, 628 F. 2d 736, 743 (CA1 1980); McCurry v. Allen, supra, at 799; Mann v. Jett, 781 F. 2d 1448, 1449 (CA9 1986); Parkhurst v. State, 641 F. 2d 775, 777 (CA10 1981); Doby v. Strength, supra, at 1406.
Some courts have taken a more ambiguous position, akin to the Third Circuit cases discussed supra. See, e. g., Suggs v. Brannon, 804 F. 2d 274, 279 (CA4 1986); Giulini v. Blessing, 654 F. 2d 189, 193 (CA2 1981); Singleton v. New York City, 632 F. 2d 185, 190 (CA2 1980).
By contrast, the Fifth and Sixth Circuits both hold that Younger has no applicability to a claim for damages, see Thomas v. Texas State Bd. of Medical Examiners, 807 F. 2d 453, 457 (CA5 1987); Carras v. Williams, 807 F. 2d 1286, 1291-1292 (CA6 1986), although the Sixth Circuit’s rule on this point appears to be “flexible,” see id., at 1292.

 It is not surprising that several Courts of Appeals, in considering whether or not Younger applies to claims for damages, have found that *209many of the same considerations which suggest that a federal plaintiff should not be able to enjoin ongoing state criminal proceedings also militate against a damages award to a similarly situated federal plaintiff. See, e. g., Mann v. Jett, supra, at 1449; Parkhurst v. State, supra, at 777; Guerro v. Mulhearn, 498 F. 2d, at 1251-1252.

 While three of the respondents have been indicted, three others have not. See ante, at 198, and n. 1. Even if Younger does not apply to their claims for damages, the District Court would be prudent, under Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. United States, 424 U. S. 800 (1976), to stay the adjudication of these claims — virtually indistinguishable from the substance of the ongoing state criminal proceedings involving the other respondents — as well.