Title: Henderson v. State

State: florida

Issuer: Florida Supreme Court

Document:

65 So. 2d 22 (1953)
HENDERSON, Sheriff,
v.
STATE ex rel. Lee.
HENDERSON, Sheriff,
v.
STATE ex rel. FRAZIER.

Supreme Court of Florida, en Banc.
May 5, 1953.
Lucille Snowden, Richard H.M. Swann, Miami, and Wendell C. Heaton, Tallahassee, for appellant.
Richard W. Ervin, Atty. Gen., John A. Madigan, Jr., and William A. O'Bryan, Asst. Attys. Gen., for appellees.
MATHEWS, Justice.
These two cases involve a labor dispute between the Amalgamated Association of Street Electric Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America, Division 1267, of Dade County, Florida, and the Miami Transit Company. Frazier was President of the union and Lee was a member of the union and an employee of the Miami Transit Company. The appellees were arrested and held in custody under warrants charging and accusing them with a violation of F.S. Chapter 453, F.S.A., being Chapter 23911, Laws of Florida 1947, which is commonly known as the Florida Public Utility Arbitration Law.
Petition for writs of habeas corpus were brought by the appellees in the Circuit Court of Dade County, Florida, attacking the constitutionality of the Florida Public Utility Arbitration Law. After a hearing before the Circuit Judge, an order was entered denying motions to quash the writs of habeas corpus and discharging the appellees. This appeal is from that order.
There is no dispute about the facts. Elections were held by the union in 1941 and 1943 under the United States Department of Labor Conciliation and Mediation Service to determine the representative *23 status of the union for employees of the bus company involved in this cause. Since the enactment by Congress in 1947 of the so-called Taft-Hartley Act as an amendment of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 141 et seq., the union in question has complied with all of the provisions of that law and has negotiated under its terms. A collective bargaining agreement between the union and the bus company was entered into with reference to wages and working conditions of the employees, which expired on October 1, 1951. More than sixty days prior to that date and in compliance with the Labor Management Relations Act, the union submitted written proposals to the bus company for specified changes they wished to negotiate for in a new contract and offered to meet, and requested a conference with the company officials for the purpose of bargaining on such proposals. Proper notice was given to the Federal Conciliation and Mediation Service of the United States Department of Labor of the failure of the parties to reach an agreement, and at the time of the habeas corpus proceedings, negotiations were continuing under the direction of a representative of the Federal Conciliation and Mediation Service.
The Public Utility Arbitration Law contains the following provisions:
It appears from the record that after the dispute arose the bus company, acting under F.S. Chapter 453, F.S.A., petitioned the Governor of Florida to call into effect the arbitration and conciliation provisions of the Florida law. The appellees refused to recognize this procedure and eventually called a strike.
Only one question is presented by this appeal, and that is: "Has Congress, by the enactment of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, as amended by the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, so completely preempted the regulation of peaceful strikes for higher wages in industries affecting interstate commerce, including public utilities, as to render invalid Chapter 453, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., as being in direct conflict with federal legislation?"
The Circuit Judge answered the above question in the affirmative by its order denying the motion to quash and discharging the appellees.
This case is controlled entirely by the majority opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Amalgamated Association of Street Electric Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America, Division 998 v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Board, 340 U.S. 383, 71 S. Ct. 359, 362, 95 L. Ed. 364. This case will hereafter be referred to as the "Wisconsin case".
The above case, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, involved the *24 validity of the Wisconsin statutes of 1947, Section 111.50 et seq. The net result of the majority opinion in that case was that the Wisconsin statute, which prohibits strikes against public utilities and provides for compulsory arbitration of labor disputes after an impassee in collective bargaining has been reached, is invalid, because it is in conflict with the National Labor Relations Act, as amended by the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947.
For the purposes of this opinion, the Wisconsin Act is the same as the Florida Act. Any deviation in details between the two acts are of no importance in this case.
Among other things the majority opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Wisconsin case specifically held:
The Federal Act has pre-empted the field and under that act, labor unions have the right within the limits prescribed thereby of peaceful strikes for higher wages, or for better working conditions. Where state legislation denies a right guaranteed by Congress, such state legislation is in conflict with Federal law. The state law in question substitutes compulsory arbitration for the right to strike.
In his brief the Attorney General correctly states: "The provisions of these two laws [Wisconsin and Florida] * * * are so similar in substantial intent and purpose as to render unimportant any deviation between them."
After discussing the minority and majority opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Wisconsin case, the Attorney General made the following statement, or suggestion:
The effect of this suggestion is to ask us to dissent from the majority opinion instead of following the same and being bound thereby. The suggestion is repugnant to the duty imposed upon us by Article 6 of the Constitution of the United States, and our oath of office.
If the Supreme Court of the United States has "grievously erred" in its interpretation and construction of the Federal Statute, it is not within the jurisdiction or province of this Court to dissent from that opinion or pit our judgment against their judgment. Those who practice before that Court may in a proper case reargue the matter, but the Justices of this Court are not authorized to do so.
Disputes between labor unions, capital and management are not new. There was a time in the history of their relationships when the right of peaceful striking for the purpose of increasing wages or improving labor conditions was questioned. Capital alone can make very little, if any, contribution to the welfare of the Nation without the employment of labor. Each is essential to the other. The necessity of labor in the progress, development, economy and greatness of the Nation is now fully recognized and from this recognition, legislation has been enacted by State Legislatures and by the Congress, primarily in furtherance of the public interest, but also for the protection of those whose labor is so vital to the Nation. Management, capital and labor are subject to valid regulatory legislation.
Anyone whose rights are established by such legislation may rely upon the law. In this case a labor union or members thereof seek the aid of the courts to protect rights guaranteed to them by law.
The question of the agreement of this Court with the majority opinion in the Wisconsin case is not involved in this opinion. Article 6 of the Constitution of the United States, among other things, provides as follows:
When a law, enacted by Congress, is construed and interpreted by the Supreme Court of the United States, that interpretation and construction becomes a part of the supreme law of the land, and an opinion by that tribunal upon the questions at issue is absolutely binding upon this Court, whatever may be the personal predilections of the Justices.
It is not the duty of the Federal Courts alone, but of all State Courts, to respect and be bound by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. No good purpose can be served by inferior Federal Courts or Supreme Courts of the various states, or of any other courts, dissenting from the opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States in respect to Federal questions.
Unbridled, unauthorized, or irresponsible criticism of the highest Court of the Nation, and the opinions of such Court by State Supreme Courts, or other inferior courts, has a tendency to destroy the confidence of the people in the Court. Courts exist primarily for the protection of the people, our institutions and form of government. The Court may restrain other departments from President to Constable (the case of Executive Seizure of the steel mills being an outstanding example) from usurpation of power. Neither men, nor organizations, under our form of government, are immune from the restraining power of the courts.
Orderly government requires respect for and confidence in constituted authority. Unauthorized criticism of, disrespect for and dissents from the opinions of the highest court in the land by inferior courts will eventually destroy all confidence in that Court, resulting in contempt for the Nation's highest tribunal by whose opinions "the Judges in every State shall be bound."
Our form of government requires finality. There must be some tribunal from whose decisions there is no appeal. The Supreme Court of the United States is that tribunal. Should confidence in that tribunal be so undermined, or destroyed, that its opinions were not respected or binding upon anyone, government itself, as we know it today, would cease to exist and in its place we would have turmoil, confusion, anarchy or a dictatorship.
Every officer, whether in the executive, the legislative, or the judicial branch of our government, is required to take an oath that he will "support, protect, and defend the Constitution and Government of the United States * * *" F.S.A. Const. art. 16, § 2; and in accordance with Article 6 of the Constitution of the United States, "the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." So it is, that until the law is modified or changed by Congress, or the opinion with reference thereto is modified, changed or receded from by the Supreme Court of the United States, this Court and every other court, is bound to give full effect to the law as construed in the opinion, for it is the supreme law of the Land.
Affirmed.
ROBERTS, C.J., and TERRELL, THOMAS, SEBRING, HOBSON, and DREW, JJ., concur.