Marissa Girard v. Kenton Girard, et al.

In the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Congress codified an exception under 28 U.S.C. §1447(d) allowing appellate review for cases “removed pursuant to” 28 U.S.C. §1448, which codification guarantees the availability of a federal forum for certain civil rights claims. See §901, 78 Stat. 266. Some courts of appeals have interpreted Section 1443(1) to require exercise of the civil right at issue to avail of protection under a federal statute with an anti-prosecution provision; other courts of appeals have required that the federal statute merely proscribe coercion or intimidation of any person in the exercise of the civil right. Others yet have required that the state law at issue be facially unconstitutional. Even this Court has conveyed mixed messages about the sufficiency of the state law violating constitutionality as applied. The question presented is the following: Whether a defendant may remove a state court proceeding to federal court under 28 U.S.C. § 144801) when the state action itself violates constitutional rights or federal law.