Opinion ID: 187427
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Legal Principles Controlling This Case

Text: The principles enunciated by Baker and its progeny are really quite simple to comprehend and apply in this case. The controlling principles governing this case are these:  The federal courts decide matters of statutory construction and constitutional interpretation. Japan Whaling Ass'n v. Am. Cetacean Soc'y, 478 U.S. 221, 230, 106 S.Ct. 2860, 92 L.Ed.2d 166 (1986) ([U]nder the Constitution, one of the Judiciary's characteristic roles is to interpret statutes, and we cannot shirk this responsibility merely because our decision may have significant political overtones.); Chadha, 462 U.S. at 943, 103 S.Ct. 2764 (Resolution of litigation challenging the constitutional authority of one of the three branches cannot be evaded by courts because the issues have political implications ....); see also Goldwater v. Carter, 444 U.S. 996, 1002, 100 S.Ct. 533, 62 L.Ed.2d 428 (1979) (Powell, J., concurring in the judgment) ([The Supreme Court has] the responsibility to decide whether both the Executive and Legislative branches have constitutional roles to play in termination of a treaty. If the Congress, by appropriate formal action, had challenged the President's authority to terminate the treaty ... it would be the duty of this Court to resolve the issue.).  When the federal courts review the constitutionality of a challenged statute, they do not infringe the authority of the legislative branch. In Munoz-Flores, 495 U.S. at 390, 110 S.Ct. 1964, the Supreme Court tellingly stated: The Government may be right that a judicial finding that Congress has passed an unconstitutional law might in some sense be said to entail a lack of respect for Congress' judgment. But disrespect, in the sense the Government uses the term, cannot be sufficient to create a political question. If it were, every judicial resolution of a constitutional challenge to a congressional enactment would be impermissible.  The federal courts may not decide an issue whose resolution is committed by the Constitution to the exclusive authority of a political branch of government. See Baker, 369 U.S. at 217, 82 S.Ct. 691; Gilligan, 413 U.S. at 6-7, 93 S.Ct. 2440; Nixon, 506 U.S. at 229-36, 113 S.Ct. 732. This does not mean that a court may not decide a case that merely implicates a matter within the authority of a political branch. Congress, alone, has the authority to pass legislation, but it does not follow from this that the courts are without authority to assess the constitutionality of a statute that has been properly challenged. Rather, the political question doctrine bars judicial review only when the precise matter to be decided has been constitutionally committed to the exclusive authority of a political branch of government. Compare Nixon, 506 U.S. at 229-36, 113 S.Ct. 732, with Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486, 519-22, 89 S.Ct. 1944, 23 L.Ed.2d 491 (1969).  The courts may, however, decide whether and to what extent a matter is reserved to the exclusive authority of a political branch. Baker, 369 U.S. at 211, 82 S.Ct. 691 (Deciding whether a matter has in any measure been committed by the Constitution to another branch of government, or whether the action of that branch exceeds whatever authority has been committed, is itself a delicate exercise in constitutional interpretation, and is a responsibility of this Court as ultimate interpreter of the Constitution.); Powell, 395 U.S. at 521, 89 S.Ct. 1944 ([W]hether there is a `textually demonstrable constitutional commitment of the issue to a coordinate political department' of government and what is the scope of such commitment are questions we must resolve.); Nixon, 506 U.S. at 238, 113 S.Ct. 732 ([C]ourts possess power to review either legislative or executive action that transgresses identifiable textual limits).  The courts routinely adjudicate separation-of-powers claims. As the Court noted in Munoz-Flores, 495 U.S. at 393, 110 S.Ct. 1964: In many cases involving claimed separation-of-powers violations, the branch whose power has allegedly been appropriated has both the incentive to protect its prerogatives and institutional mechanisms to help it do so. Nevertheless, the Court adjudicates those separation-of-powers claims, often without suggesting that they might raise political questions. See, e.g., Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361, 371-379, 109 S.Ct. 647, 102 L.Ed.2d 714 (1989) (holding that Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, 18 U.S.C. § 3551 et seq., and 28 U.S.C. § 991 et seq., did not result in Executive's wielding legislative powers, despite either House's power to block Act's passage); Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654, 685-696, 108 S.Ct. 2597, 101 L.Ed.2d 569 (1988) (holding that independent counsel provision of Ethics in Government Act of 1978, 28 U.S.C. § 591 et seq., is not a congressional or judicial usurpation of executive functions, despite President's veto power); INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919, 103 S.Ct. 2764, 77 L.Ed.2d 317 (1983) (explicitly finding that separation-of-powers challenge to legislative veto presented no political question). In short, the fact that one institution of Government has mechanisms available to guard against incursions into its power by other governmental institutions does not require that the Judiciary remove itself from the controversy by labeling the issue a political question.  If a federal court finds that a political branch has overreached in its claim of constitutionally committed authority, the court will decide the matter that is properly before it for resolution on the merits. Baker, 369 U.S. at 211, 82 S.Ct. 691 (Deciding whether a matter has in any measure been committed by the Constitution to another branch of government, or whether the action of that branch exceeds whatever authority has been committed, is itself a delicate exercise in constitutional interpretation, and is a responsibility of this Court as ultimate interpreter of the Constitution); accord Powell, 395 U.S. at 521, 89 S.Ct. 1944.  If a federal court determines that a political branch has acted within the compass of exclusive authority granted to it by the Constitution, the court may determine whether the other branch has acted to infringe that authority. The court does not review the substantive decision reached by the branch with exclusive authority; it merely determines whether the exercise of that authority has been infringed by the other branch. Baker, 369 U.S. at 212, 82 S.Ct. 691 ([O]nce sovereignty over an area is politically determined and declared, courts may examine the resulting status and decide independently whether a statute applies to that area.); Vermilya-Brown Co. v. Connell, 335 U.S. 377, 380-81, 69 S.Ct. 140, 93 L.Ed. 76 (1948) (holding question whether Fair Labor Standards Act covered employees allegedly engaged in the production of goods for commerce on a leasehold of the United States was not a political question; in reaching this conclusion, the Court made clear it was not second-guessing the Executive's determination regarding the sovereignty of Great Britain over the foreign territory).