Gilliam v. Foster

In an extraordinary decision, this court has just stayed a state trial of three defendants charged with murder and lynching, literally while the jury is hearing testimony. I dissent.

In my view, the majority has thrust itself into the affairs of the State of South Carolina in disregard of Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971), and has, in violation of the plain command of Arizona v. Washington, 434 U.S. 497, 98 S.Ct. 824, 54 L.Ed.2d 717 (1978), substituted its view for that of the state trial and federal district courts on the quintessential discretionary issue of…