Street preacher caught neither betwixt nor between

In Moore v. City of Asheville, the Fourth Circuit in an opinion by Niemeyer, joined by Judges Luttig and King, held that the plaintiff street preacher nabbed in Asheville could not sue under section 1983 to overturn the state administrative proceedings, which he had failed to appeal, affirming the district court's determination to abstain from interfering with the state proceedings.

The Court did allow that the abstention doctrine would not apply to a suit for wholly prospective relief from the application of the city ordinances challenged by the plaintiff.