1. Whether the Eighth Circuit erred in
holding, in conflict with decisions of this Court and
three other courts of appeals , that the possibility of
filing a separate mandamus action was in and of
itself "sufficient" to provide an "adequate
opportunity" requiring Younger abstention, where
plaintiffs had no opportunity to challenge the
constitutionality of the preliminary hearing
procedure in the course of the state's abuse and
neglect proceedings ?

2. Whether the court of appeals erred in
holding, in conflict with three courts of appe als, that
the "extraor dinary circumstances" exception to
Younger abstention applies only to flagrantly and
patently unconstitutional statutes , but not to
flagrantly and patently unconstitutional policies, and
in concluding that separating children from their
parents for sixty days with no notice or opportunity
to be heard inflicted no irreparable harm?

Whether the procedures used for preliminary hearings in child removal cases violate due process rights of parents