Georgevich v. Strauss

SLOVITER, Circuit Judge, with whom Judges GIBBONS, HIGGINBOTHAM and MANSMANN join,

dissenting.

In their zeal to deprive the plaintiff class of prisoners access to federal court to assert their federal constitutional rights, the majority extends the abstention doctrine in contravention of the relevant Supreme Court precedent.

In Hawaii Housing Authority v. Mid-kiff, 467 U.S. 229, 104 S.Ct. 2321, 2327, 81 L.Ed.2d 186 (1984), the Supreme Court’s most recent discussion of abstention under the standards announced in Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co., 312 U.S. 496, 61 S.Ct. 643, 85 L.Ed. 971 (1941),…