Exxon Mobil v. Saudi Basic Industries, Supreme Court of the United States, March 30, 2005 [ruling that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, which prevents lower federal courts from sitting in direct review of state court decisions, is confined to cases brought by state court losers complaining of injuries caused by state court judgments rendered before federal district court proceedings commenced and inviting district court review and rejection of those judgments]. Excerpt from the opinion by Justicde Ginsburg:

ExxonMobil plainly has not repaired to federal court to undo the Delaware judgment in its favor. Rather, it appears ExxonMobil filed suit in Federal District Court (only two weeks after SABIC filed in Delaware and well before any judgment in state court) to protect itself in the event it lost in state court on grounds (such as the state statute of limitations) that might not preclude relief in the federal venue. Rooker-Feldman did not prevent the District Court from exercising jurisdiction when ExxonMobil filed the federal action, and it did not emerge to vanquish jurisdiction after ExxonMobil prevailed in the Delaware courts.

Read the full text of the opinion here[PDF]. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.