| Litigants: | Zwickler v. Koota |
| Decidedate: | December 5 |
| Decideyear: | 1967 |
| Fullname: | Zwickler v. Koota |
| Usvol: | 389 |
| Uspage: | 241 |
| Holding: | A federal court cannot use the abstention doctrine to avoid a constitutional issue merely because it determines that the plaintiff is unlikely to receive the relief they requested. |
| Majority: | Brennan |
| Concurrence: | Harlan |
Zwickler v. Koota, 389 U.S. 241 (1967), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a federal court cannot use the abstention doctrine to avoid a constitutional issue merely because it determines that the plaintiff is unlikely to receive the relief they requested. The underlying case was about an anonymous handbill law that the Court believed was overbroad.[1]