Cornell Law Review

Article

Distributed Federalism: The Transformation of Younger

Anne Rachel Traum, Professor of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

For decades federal courts have remained mostly off limits to civil rights cases challenging the constitutionality of state criminal proceedings. Younger abstention, which requires federal courts to abstain from suits challenging the constitutionality of pending state prosecutions, has blocked plaintiffs from bringing meritorious civil rights cases and insulated local officials and federal courts from having…

Feb 2022