ROOKER–FELDMAN DOCTRINE
Rooker–Feldman doctrine.The rule that a federal court cannot consider claims actually
decided by a state court or claims inextricably intertwined with an earlier state-court judgment.
Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413, 415–16, 44 S.Ct. 149, 150 (1923); District of
Columbia Ct. of App. v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 476, 103 S.Ct. 1303, 1311 (1983). • This doctrine
precludes “a party losing in state court … from seeking what in substance would be appellate
review of [a] state judgment in a United States district court, based on the losing party’s claim that
the state judgment itself violates the loser’s federal rights.” Johnson v. De Grandy, 512 U.S. 997,
1005–06, 114 S.Ct. 2647, 2654 (1994). [Blacks Law 8th]