Judicial power: abstention

Question 1

Younger abstention

Answer 1

A federal court will not enjoin a pending state criminal case in the absence of:

(a) bad faith,
(b) harassment, or
(c) a patently invalid state statute.

Question 2

Pullman abstention

Answer 2

A federal court may refrain from ruling on a federal constitutional claim that depends on resolving an unsettled issue of state law best left to the state courts.

Question 3

Younger abstention: civil proceedings

Answer 3

Abstention also may be appropriate with respect to:

(1) a state civil enforcement proceeding; or
(2) a state civil proceeding involving an order uniquely in furtherance of the state courts’ ability to perform their judicial functions, such as a civil contempt order.