In 1966, Los Angeles officials tried to put a man in prison for handing out leaflets in protest of a fatal police shooting. Today, we know the case as Younger v. Harris, which kicked off the doctrine of Younger abstention, the bane of many a civil rights plaintiff. On this episode, we examine the origins, the impact, and the relentless expansion of the doctrine.
Click here for transcript.
Resources
Fred Smith & Peter O’Neill, The Forgotten Face of “Our Federalism”
Fred Smith, Younger and Older Abstention
John Giammatteo, The New Comity Abstention
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