Bianchi

Opinion by Judge McKEOWN; Concurrence by Judge BETTY B. FLETCHER.

OPINION

At the heart of this case is a disappointed litigant’s attempt to obtain in federal court the very relief denied to him in state court, namely an injunction vacating a decision by the California Court of Appeal and reassigning his case to a different division or district because of the alleged bias of one of the justices. Maurice L. Bianchi unsuccessfully presented his bias claim to the California state courts, citing both a California procedural statute and the state and federal constitutions. After losing on two separate occasions, he filed a federal civil rights suit, which, in this case, is the functional equivalent of an appeal of the state court decision. For us to entertain his challenge and grant relief would necessarily require us to review and invalidate the state court decision, a result that is inconsistent with the Rooker-Feldman doctrine. Under Rooker-Feldman, a federal district court is without subject matter jurisdiction to hear an appeal from the judgment of a state court. Thus, we affirm the district court’s order dismissing Bianchi’s complaint against the California Court of Appeal…

concurring in the judgment:

I write separately because the majority’s expansive reasoning is irreconcilable with the Supreme Court’s decision in Rooker and unnecessarily enunciates a doctrine of “appellate jurisdiction” for Rooker-Feldman purposes that, as I explain below, is unwarranted on the facts of this case. I concur in the judgment, however, because the record presents no affirmative evidence that the California Supreme Court’s summary decision denying Bianchi’s petition for a writ of mandate was not a decision on his federal due process claim. See, e.g., Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413, 415 , 44 S.Ct. 149 , 68 L.Ed. 362 (1923) (“If the constitutional questions stated in the bill actually arose in the cause, it was the province and duty of. the state courts to decide them; and their decision, whether right or wrong, was an exercise of jurisdiction.”); General Atomic Co. v. United Nuclear Corp., 655 F.2d 968, 968 (9th Cir.1981) (federal courts are presumed to lack jurisdiction unless federal jurisdiction is shown affirmatively).

*903 I analyze this case differently than the majority. Bianchi’s federal court case alleges that the California Court of Appeal…