Bush Complaint/Abstention???

[Pamela Karlan]

There is an abstention issue here, I think.  The most recent analogous case
is Growe v. Emison, 507 U.S. 25 (1993), a case involving reapportionment,
where the Supreme Court said that federal courts should defer to ongoing
state-court litigation where the state is addressing that question itself.
Of course, redistricting is a much more discretionary process -- that is,
there isn't one and only one theoretically correct answer -- but it at
least suggests an atmospheric notion that state courts are part of a
state's electoral machinery.

Pam Karlan

At 07:09 PM 11/11/2000 -0600, Eric Freedman wrote:
>Is there an abstention issue with the Bush lawsuit?  I believe the
>Democratic party filed a suit with a state judge ealier this week seeking a
>hand count in Broward County (as per an article I read in the the
>Sun-Sentinel; I will look for the cite).  The party filed a simultaneous
>request with the Broward County Canvassing Board, which was ultimately
>granted in part, but the action still remains with the state judge
>(presumably).  Would this preclude a federal adjudication over the
>constitutionality of the hand counts at this time?
>


Pamela S. Karlan
Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law
Stanford Law School
559 Nathan Abbott Way
Stanford, CA 94305-8610
karlan at stanford.edu
650.725.4851/725.0253 (fax)