May 19, 1995
[NOT FOR PUBLICATION]
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIRST CIRCUTI
____________________
No. 94-2240
ROBERT D. SPICKLER,
Plaintiff, Appellant,
v.
STATE OF MAINE,
Defendant, Appellee.
____________________
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MAINE
[Hon. Gene Carter, U.S. District Judge] ___________________
____________________
Before
Torruella, Chief Judge, ___________
Selya and Boudin, Circuit Judges. ______________
____________________
Robert D. Spickler on brief pro se. __________________
Andrew Ketterer, Attorney General, and Francis E. Ackerman, ________________ _____________________
Assistant Attorney General, on brief for appellee.
____________________
____________________
Per Curiam. Plaintiff Robert Spickler has filed a 42 __________
U.S.C. 1983 action against the State of Maine, complaining
that the state courts have deprived him of an impartial forum
in violation of his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
As plaintiff's complaint is irreparably flawed in various
respects, we affirm the amended judgment of dismissal.
First, it is now settled that a state is not a "person"
subject to suit under 1983. See, e.g., Hafer v. Melo, 502 ___ ____ _____ ____
U.S. 21, 25-26 (1991); Will v. Michigan Dep't of State ____ _________________________
Police, 491 U.S. 58, 62-70 (1989). Second, the action is ______
barred by the Eleventh Amendment. Contrary to plaintiff's
suggestion, the enactment of 1983 did not serve to abrogate
the states' Eleventh Amendment immunity. See, e.g., Quern v. ___ ____ _____
Jordan, 440 U.S. 332, 342 (1979). And contrary to his ______
further contention, such immunity extends to actions seeking
injunctive relief against a state as well as to those simply
seeking damages. See, e.g., Puerto Rico Aqueduct & Sewer ___ ____ ______________________________
Auth. v. Metcalf & Eddy, Inc., 113 S. Ct. 684, 688-89 (1993); _____ ____________________
Pennhurst State School & Hosp. v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89, _______________________________ _________
100-01 (1984); Cory v. White, 457 U.S. 85, 90-91 (1982).1 ____ _____
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1. Plaintiff does not argue that Maine has effected a
general waiver of its Eleventh Amendment immunity in cases of
this nature. We thus need not address the issue, other than
to note that such a contention has been elsewhere rejected.
See, e.g., Grenier v. Kennebec County, Maine, 733 F. Supp. ___ ____ _______ _______________________
455 (D. Me. 1990).
Third, plaintiff fails to appreciate that lower federal
courts lack jurisdiction "over challenges to state-court
decisions in particular cases arising out of judicial
proceedings even if those challenges allege that the state
court's action was unconstitutional." District of Columbia _____________________
Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 486 (1983); _________________ _______
accord, e.g., Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413 ______ ____ ______ ___________________
(1923). Finally, most if not all of the instant complaint
falls within the scope of the 1987 injunction barring
plaintiff from filing further federal court actions without
leave of court. For the reasons recited above, as well as
those enumerated by the district court, we agree with the
court's conclusion that plaintiff has not made a prima facie
showing as required by that injunction.
Affirmed. _________
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