Reno v. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Comm., 525 U.S. 471, 23 (1999)

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Cite as: 525 U. S. 471 (1999)

Opinion of Ginsburg, J.

that stop state proceedings, in order to secure constitutional rights. They feature in this regard Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U. S. 479 (1965), as interpreted in Younger v. Harris, 401 U. S. 37, 47-53 (1971). Respondents also refer to Oestereich v. Selective Serv. System Local Bd. No. 11, 393 U. S. 233 (1968). Those cases provide a helpful framework.

In Younger, this Court declared that federal restraint of state prosecutions is permissible only if the state defendant establishes "great and immediate" irreparable injury, beyond "that incidental to every criminal proceeding brought lawfully and in good faith." 401 U. S., at 46, 47 (internal quotation marks omitted). A chilling effect, the Court cautioned, does not "by itself justify federal intervention." Id., at 50. Younger recognized, however, the prospect of extraordinary circumstances in which immediate federal injunctive relief might be obtained. The Court referred, initially, to bad faith, harassing police and prosecutorial actions pursued without "any expectation of securing valid convictions." Id., at 48 (internal quotation marks omitted).1 Further, the Court observed that there may be other "extraordinary circumstances in which the necessary irreparable injury can be shown even in the absence of the usual prerequisites of bad faith and harassment," for example, where a statute is "flagrantly and patently violative of express constitutional prohibitions in every clause, sentence and paragraph, and in whatever manner and against whomever an effort might be made to apply it." Id., at 53-54 (internal quotation marks omitted).

1 Specifically, the Younger Court noted that Dombrowski's complaint made substantial allegations that " 'threats to enforce the statutes . . . [were] not made with any expectation of securing valid convictions, but rather [were] part of a plan to employ arrests, seizures, and threats of prosecution under color of the statutes to harass appellants and discourage them and their supporters from asserting and attempting to vindicate the constitutional rights of Negro citizens of Louisiana.' " 401 U. S., at 48 (quoting Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U. S. 479, 482 (1965)).

493

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