Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act is a powerful vehicle for checking abuses of state-government power. It provides plaintiffs a cause of action against every person who under the color of state law, deprives them of any rights, privileges or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States. After the Civil War, Congress created the statute to allow many African-Americans to vindicate their civil rights in the hostile, racist Southern courts of the time.

Viewed in that historical context, the case of Williams v. Washington seems to admit of an easy answer. But easy cases don't make it to the U.S. Supreme Court. In Williams, the Supreme Court will decide whether the state of Alabama properly imposed an "exhaustion requirement" on Section 1983 claims within the state—in other words, whether a state can deprive courts of jurisdiction over Section 1983 claims unless and until the plaintiff exhausts administrative remedies offered by the state.