Opinion ID: 290961
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Separation of Powers and Procedural Due Process

Text: 7 Quite naturally, appellant does not accept the 1967 amendments as gracefully as does the Secretary. In her view, the judicial power of the United States had extended to protect the rights she had under existing legislation at the time she originally filed her suit. The Court originally interpreted the language of that legislation in such a manner that it decided the case favorably to appellant. Thereupon, as appellant sees the case, the Congress changed the law in midstream because it did not approve of the manner in which the judiciary was functioning, and the result is an unconstitutional interference with the judicial power. Section 1 of Article III of the Constitution states that The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. Section 2 states that The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties   . This language is part of the basis for the frequently stated proposition that ours is a government of checks and balances. 8 It should be expected that a government of checks and balances will create some conflicts. Exasperation with the conduct of one branch that frustrates the designs of another has been a frequent state of mind in our national history, and it will probably continue to recur in the future. Some of the most fundamental decisions of the federal courts have concerned conflicts, and particularly the scope of the judicial power. E.g. Marbury v. Madison, 1803, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 2 L.Ed. 60; Martin v. Hunter's Lessee, 1816, 14 U.S. (1 Wheat) 304, 4 L.Ed. 97. 4 As Mr. Chief Justice Marshall stated in Marbury v. Madison, It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. Those who apply the rule to particular cases, must of necessity expound and interpret that rule. If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each. It follows, as Marbury v. Madison shows, that any attempt to expand or contract the judicial power, except within constitutional bounds, should be held ineffective by the courts. 9 At the same time, it is equally emphatically the province of the Congress to make and change the law, within constitutional limits. One of these limits is met at the interface with the judicial power, but in the overwhelming number of cases the legislative power is properly exercised and should be respected. In this case, the Congress has exercised its power to change the substantive rights of the appellant. It is clear that strong considerations of public policy militate in favor of the change, both as to cases not yet filed and as to pending cases, because expansion of the class of persons entitled to benefits under the earlier interpretation of the law placed in jeopardy the ability of the government to administer the entire Social Security program. The number of cases both pending and anticipated that depend upon the language at issue here is substantial. The interpretation of the law that we have now followed seems to have been necessary to permit increases in benefits to persons Congress thought needed them badly. See 113 Cong.Rec. 16855 (1967) (remarks of Congressman Mills); see generally King v. Gardner, 5th Cir. 1967, 391 F.2d 401, 405-410 (dissenting opinion of Judge Wisdom). 10 Thus the Congress has changed the law, but we cannot agree with appellant that it has interfered with the judicial power. The legislation at issue affects appellant's rights (and coincidentally the rights of numerous other recipients of benefits) but not the power of the federal courts to adjudicate those rights. The Court has been able to hear and decide appellant's arguments based upon substantial evidence, separation of powers, and due process; we need not decide what the result would have been had the ability of the federal courts to decide such questions been impaired. We must reject the argument that a law that does not affect the composition, nature, jurisdiction or even procedure of the courts, but only affects the substantive rights of a litigant, violates the separation of powers under the facts of this case. 11 We do not dispense with the possibility that there might be a case in which the application of new standards or procedures to pending cases might interfere with the judicial power as it was created by the Constitution. It is clear, for example, that a sudden change in procedure may constitute a denial of due process. See National Ass'n for Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama, 1958, 357 U.S. 449, 78 S.Ct. 1163, 2 L.Ed.2d 1488. It is also possible for a court to be so constituted that its ability to render justice is impaired to the extent that it violates due process by merely functioning under its procedures. See Hulett v. Julian, M.D.Ala. 1966, 250 F.Supp. 208, 209; In re Reis, R.I.Fam.Ct.1970, 7 Crim.L.Rep. 2151 (Juvenile court, required under Rhode Island law to investigate as well as decide cases, holds own procedures unconstitutional). Suffice it to say, this is not such a case. Neither separation of powers nor procedural due process has been violated under these facts. We now pass on to consider appellant's second constitutional point.