UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the district court’s judgment of dismissal, dated December 20, 2004, and entered on December 21, 2004, is hereby AFFIRMED.
Plaintiff-appellant Harold L. Rosenberger, whose wages are presently being garnished to satisfy a New York state court judgment ordering him to pay child support, see Rosenberger v. Cashman,
We review de novo a district court’s dismissal of a complaint on jurisdictional grounds. See Celestine v. Mount Vernon Neighborhood Health Ctr.,
1. The Institutional Defendants
The New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance and the Ulster County Family Court assert that, without regard to Rooker-Feldman, a jurisdictional dismissal in their favor was required by the Eleventh Amendment. See U.S. Const., amend. XI. That Amendment “render[s] states and their agencies immune from suits brought by private parties in federal court,” In re Charter Oak Assocs.,
2. Robert Doar
The Eleventh Amendment does not bar Rosenberger’s declaratory judgment action against Robert Doar, who is sued in his official capacity as Commissioner of the State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. See Ex parte Young,
It is beyond question that “[a] federal court cannot pronounce any statute, either of a state or of the United States, void, because irreconcilable with the Constitution, except as it is called upon to adjudge the legal rights of litigants in actual controversies.” Baker v. Carr,
In this case, the injury Rosenberger asserts is the garnishment of his wages to satisfy a child support judgment entered pursuant to purportedly unconstitutional New York laws. Rosenberger asserts that a declaratory judgment in his favor “will prevent the enforcement of the statute against [him].” Appellant’s Br. at 8. But, in challenging the Rooker-Feldman dismissal, he clarifies that he seeks only prospective relief “aimed at creating new laws and procedures which would subsequently be used by the New York State family courts to determine child support.” Id. at 12 (emphasis added). He emphasizes that, if he were to secure the relief he seeks in this action, “the impact on the Appellant’s current state court judgment would be nil.” Id. Taking Rosenberger at his word, we conclude that the relief he seeks cannot redress his alleged present injury because, as long as the state court judgment stands, it may be enforced, whether by garnishment or such other means as state law provides. Rosenberger has not shown that he will likely find himself in future child support litigation under the challenged statutes that could expose him to a different judgment and further enforcement measures by Doar. See Lee v. Board of Governors,
The district court’s judgment of dismissal, entered December 21, 2004, is hereby AFFIRMED.
Notes
. We note this court’s recent affirmance, inter alia on standing grounds, of the dismissal of another of Rosenberger’s declaratory judgment challenges to the New York laws supporting a state court judgment with respect to the custody of his children. See Rosenberger v. Pataki,
