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Sorting Out Federal And State Judicial Roles In State Insitutional Reform: Abstention's Potential Role, Charles R. Wise, Robert K. Christensen Jan 2001

Sorting Out Federal And State Judicial Roles In State Insitutional Reform: Abstention's Potential Role, Charles R. Wise, Robert K. Christensen

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The U.S. Supreme Court has given federal courts the authority to abstain from hearing certain cases and defer to state courts in some cases where constitutional or federal statutory rights have been violated. This piece attempts to clarify the abstention requirements and provide a clear rationale for the doctrine. Part I of this piece discusses the origin and development of the abstention doctrine, focusing specifically on the Burford abstention, a kind of abstention particularly salient to institutional reform cases. Part I also illustrates the inconsistencies inherent in the application of the abstention doctrine in its current form. Parts II and …


A Precept Of Managerial Responsibility: Securing Collective Justice In Instituational Reform Litigation, Anthony M. Bertelli, Laurence E. Lynn Jr. Jan 2001

A Precept Of Managerial Responsibility: Securing Collective Justice In Instituational Reform Litigation, Anthony M. Bertelli, Laurence E. Lynn Jr.

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Institutional reform litigation confronts public administrators with troubling dilemmas, court directives often contradict the duties and responsibilities of public managers. Thus, the argument for judicial intervention is rarely straightforward. The authors argue that federal courts should refuse to hear institutional reform cases not only when federal court intervention would upset a state administrative scheme, but also when the institutional defendant is governed by a precept of managerial responsibility. When the agency's challenged actions have comported with this precept, they urge federal courts to let their state counterparts determine the agency's managerial responsibility in a common law process. The analysis begins, …