Divided court bars federal district court review of non-final state-court judgments (opens in new tab)

A divided Supreme Court on Thursday clarified the scope of a doctrine limiting lower federal courts’ authority to review state-court judgments\. In an opinion from Justice Sonia Sotomayor in T\.M\. v\. University of Maryland Medical System Corp\. , the court, by a vote of 5-4, held that the status of a challenged state-court judgment – specifically, whether it is a final decision from the highest court of a state or, instead, “is subject to further review in state appellate proceedings” – is ...