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Syllabus
the first time, in its brief on the merits, that the Court lacks jurisdiction to review the Alabama Supreme Court's interlocutory order.
Held: Because the Alabama Supreme Court has not yet rendered a final judgment, this Court lacks jurisdiction to review that court's decision on petitioners' § 1983 claims. Pp. 80-84.
(a) Congress has long vested in this Court authority to review federal-question decisions made by state courts, see Judiciary Act of 1789, § 25, but has limited that power to cases in which the State's judgment is "final," see 28 U. S. C. § 1257(a). This finality rule is firm, not a technicality to be easily scorned. Radio Station WOW, Inc. v. Johnson, 326 U. S. 120, 124. A state-court decision is not final unless and until it has effectively determined the entire litigation. Market Street R. Co. v. Railroad Comm'n of Cal., 324 U. S. 548, 551. The decision below does not qualify as a "final judgment" within § 1257(a)'s meaning. The Alabama Supreme Court decided the federal-law issue on an interlocu-tory certification from the trial court, then remanded the cause for further proceedings on petitioners' remaining state-law claims. Absent settlement or further dispositive motions, the proceedings on remand will include a trial on the merits of the state-law claims. In a virtually identical case, this Court has dismissed certiorari for want of jurisdiction. O'Dell v. Espinoza, 456 U. S. 430 (per curiam). Pp. 80-82.
(b) This case does not come within the narrow circumstances in which the Court has found finality despite the promise of further state-court proceedings. See Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U. S. 469. It does not involve a federal issue, finally decided by the State's highest court, that will survive and require decision regardless of the outcome of future state-court proceedings. Id., at 480. Resolution of the state-law claims could effectively moot the federal-law question. If the City establishes, as a matter of fact, that its firefighters could have done nothing more to save Ms. Jefferson's life, any § 1983 claim will necessarily fail, however incorrect the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling. Nor is this an instance where the federal claim has been finally decided, with further proceedings on the merits in the state courts to come, but in which later review of the federal issue cannot be had whatever the ultimate outcome of the case. Id., at 481. If the decision under review ultimately makes a difference to petitioners—in particular, if they prevail on their state claims but recover less than they might have under federal law, or if their state claims fail for reasons that do not also dispose of their federal claims—they will be free to seek this Court's review once the state-court litigation comes to an end. Even if the Alabama Supreme Court adheres to its interlocutory ruling as "law of the case," that determination will in no way limit this Court's ability to
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