246
Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment
had appeared in a Michigan court to litigate the privileged character of the testimony it sought to elicit. Assume further the law on privilege were the same in both jurisdictions. If Elwell, General Motors (GM), and the Bakers were before the Michigan court and Michigan law gave its own injunction preclusive effect, the Bakers could not relitigate the point, if general principles of issue preclusion control. Perhaps the argument can be made, as the majority appears to say, that the integrity of Missouri's judicial processes demands a rule allowing relitigation of the issue; but, for the reasons given below, we need not confront this interesting question.
In any event, the rule would be an exception. Full faith and credit requires courts to do more than provide for direct enforcement of the judgments issued by other States. It also "requires federal courts to give the same preclusive effect to state court judgments that those judgments would be given in the courts of the State from which the judgments emerged." Kremer v. Chemical Constr. Corp., 456 U. S. 461, 466 (1982); accord, Parsons Steel, Inc. v. First Alabama Bank, 474 U. S. 518, 525 (1986); Marrese v. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 470 U. S. 373, 380-381, 384 (1985); Migra v. Warren City School Dist. Bd. of Ed., 465 U. S. 75, 81 (1984); Haring v. Prosise, 462 U. S. 306, 313 (1983); Allen v. McCurry, 449 U. S. 90, 96 (1980). Through full faith and credit, "the local doctrines of res judicata, speaking generally, become a part of national jurisprudence . . . ." Riley v. New York Trust Co., 315 U. S. 343, 349 (1942). And whether or not an injunction is enforceable in another State on its own terms, the courts of a second State are required to honor its issue preclusive effects. See Parsons Steel, supra; 18 C. Wright, A. Miller, & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 4467, p. 635 (1981).
II
In the case before us, of course, the Bakers were neither parties to the earlier litigation nor subject to the jurisdiction
Page: Index Previous 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007