Jefferson v. City of Tarrant

This ease, still sub judice in Alabama, was brought to this Court too soon. We granted certiorari to consider whether the Alabama Wrongful Death Act, Ala. Code § 6-5-410 (1993), governs recovery when a decedent’s estate claims, under 42 U. S. C. § 1988, that the death in question resulted from a deprivation of federal rights. We do not decide that issue, however, because we conclude that we lack jurisdiction at the current stage of the proceedings. Congress has limited our review of state-court decisions to “[fjinal judgments or decrees rendered by the highest court of a State in which a…