Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys: 2.8.18 The Rooker-Feldman Doctrine
Because lower federal courts do not have appellate jurisdiction over state courts, the Supreme Court refuses to permit losing state court litigants to invoke federal jurisdiction to attack state court judgments on the ground that the state court acted unconstitutionally.581 This doctrine, often referred to as the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, originated in Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co.582 The Supreme Court reaffirmed the doctrine in District of Columbia Court of Appeals v.