abstention
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 312 U.S. 496 - Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co. · 1941Most cited · 8,129 citing opinions
a doctrine of abstention appropriate to our federal system whereby the federal courts, 'exercising a wise discretion', restrain their authority because of 'scrupulous regard for the rightful independence of the state governments' and for the smooth working of the federal judiciary
How the Supreme Court has restated “abstention”
Each Supreme Court definition of “abstention,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “abstention”
Court decisions citing the 4 opinions that defined “abstention” — 11,655 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 4 definitions, chronological · 1941–1973
The doctrine of abstention, under which a District Court may decline to exercise or postpone the exercise of its jurisdiction, is an extraordinary and narrow exception to the duty of a District Court to adjudicate a controversy properly before it. Abdication of the obligation to decide cases can be justified under this doctrine only in the exceptional circumstances where the order to the parties to repair to the state court would clearly serve an important countervailing interest.
doctrine
- 1959·360 U.S. 167 - Harrison v. National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People[p18]· cited 1,275×
no principle has found more consistent or clear expression than that the federal courts should not adjudicate the constitutionality of state enactments fairly open to interpretation until the state courts have been afforded a reasonable opportunity to pass upon them. This principle does not, of course, involve the abdication of federal jurisdiction, but only the postponement of its exercise; it serves the policy of comity inherent in the doctrine of abstention; and it spares the federal courts of unnecessary constitutional adjudication.
Pullman doctrine
Abstention 'does not, of course, involve the abdication of federal jurisdiction, but only the postponement of its exercise.