Court Opinion

ID: 9423740
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:08:58.579312+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:45.856976
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Brennan,
whom Mr. Justice Douglas and Mr. Justice Marshall join,
concurring.
I concur solely on the ground that this case presents one of the “narrowly limited ‘special circumstances’ ” which justify the invocation of “[t]he judge-made doctrine of abstention,” Zwickler v. Koota, 389 U. S. 241, 248. *595The “special circumstances,” as the Court states, arise from the fact that “[t]he state law issue which is crucial in this case is one of vital concern in the arid State of New Mexico, where water is one of the most valuable natural resources.” Cf. Alabama Public Service Comm’n v. Southern R. Co., 341 U. S. 341; Burford v. Sun Oil Co., 319 U. S. 315; see Zwickler v. Koota, supra, at 249, n. 11. I adhere however to my view, expressed in dissent in Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. City of Thibodaux, 360 U. S. 25, 31, that in a diversity case abstention from decision of a state law question is improper in the absence of such “special circumstances.”