Buckwalter

Kevin Ray Buckwalter, M.D., appeals the district court’s dismissal of claims he brought against the members of the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners (“Board Members”), in their individual capacities, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 . Buck-waiter alleged that the Board Members deprived him of his constitutional rights when, in an ex parte emergency proceeding, they summarily suspended his authority to prescribe medication. The issues presented for review are (1) whether the Board Members are entitled to absolute immunity from liability for the exercise of their summary authority, and (2) whether Younger abstention proscribes the federal courts from hearing Buckwalter’s case while the state proceedings are pending.

We hold that the Board Members are absolutely immune from Buckwalter’s claims for money damages, and that Younger abstention bars Buckwalter’s claims for equitable relief. We therefore affirm.

I. Background

Dr. Buckwalter has been a licensed physician in Nevada since 1997. In 2006, the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners (“the Board”) began to investigate citizen complaints that Dr. Buckwalter was over-prescribing narcotic analgesics. The Board’s…