Court Opinion

ID: 9636176
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 14:18:47.267597+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:42.783776
License: Public Domain

ON PETITION FOR REHEARING
PER CURIAM.
We dismissed this case on May 19, 1970.
Plaintiffs petition for rehearing.
It is made to appear, by affidavit of plaintiffs’ counsel, that a state court indictment has now been returned against plaintiff Jane E. Hodgson charg*37ing a violation of the Anti-Abortion Law. It is urged that these changed circumstances merit the granting of a rehearing.
We believe it inappropriate to grant a petition for rehearing upon events which have transpired since dismissal of the action. It well may be that the return of the indictment will support a new and different cause of action, but it does not furnish the basis for a rehearing of the action previously dismissed.
But regardless of this, we do not believe we should grant the rehearing. It appears that, as the result of the return of the indictment, the constitutionality of the Minnesota Anti-Abortion Law now has been put in issue before the Ramsey County State District Court. Arguments have been made and the issue awaits decision. An appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court is contemplated.
The law specially prohibits our issuing an injunction in these circumstances, 28 U.S.C. § 2283; and this prohibition cannot be avoided by the grant of a declaratory judgment because the same principles of comity and federalism pertain. Brooks v. Briley, 274 F.Supp. 538, 553 (M.D.Tenn.1967) (a decision of a three-judge court), aff’d per curiam, 391 U.S. 361, 88 S.Ct. 1671, 20 L.Ed.2d 647 (1968). See also McLucas v. Palmer, 427 F.2d 239 (2d Cir. 1970).
The United States Supreme Court has counselled us that—
“Proceedings in state courts should normally be allowed to continue unimpaired by intervention of the lower federal courts, with relief from error, if any, through the state appellate courts and ultimately this Court.”
Atlantic Coast Line RR Co. v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 398 U.S. 281, 90 S.Ct. 1739, 26 L.Ed.2d 234 (1970).
This very recent decision re-emphasizes the settled federal practice of maintaining a hands-off policy as to pending state court proceedings.
The petition for rehearing is
Denied.