Opinion ID: 286226
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: role of the federal courts

Text: 13 The due process claim which petitioners seek to raise is a novel one. It has long been settled that habeas corpus relief is available to a defendant convicted by a court without jurisdiction. E.g., Ex parte Watkins, 28 U.S. (3 Pet.) 193, 7 L.Ed. 650 (1830); In re Coy, 127 U.S. 731, 758, 8 S.Ct. 1263, 1272, 32 L.Ed. 274 (1887) (when the question of jurisdiction is raised [on habeas corpus], the point to be decided is, whether the court has jurisdiction of that class of offenses); Bowen v. Johnston, 306 U.S. 19, 23-24, 59 S.Ct. 442, 83 L.Ed. 455 (1939). But no federal court to our knowledge has ever granted a writ where a state court's asserted lack of jurisdiction resulted solely from the provisions of state law, which is the situation alleged in both petitions before us. Concededly, the New York courts have jurisdiction to prosecute murder, attempted murder, sodomy and incest, the only matter in dispute being which state court had jurisdiction in these instances. Thus we are asked to hold that the New York Supreme Court deprived petitioners of due process of law in exercising criminal jurisdiction over them in violation of § 812 of the Family Court Act. Of course, even were we to hold that the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction under state law, petitioners would not be entitled to relief under the due process clause unless we also found that this lack of jurisdiction constituted such a fundamental unfairness in petitioners' trials that their convictions could not stand. 14 But we do not reach this constitutional issue as we find that petitioners have failed to establish that § 812 deprived the Supreme Court of jurisdiction. In addressing this question of state law it hardly need be said that the role of a federal court is a modest one. Section 812 reflects a state policy concerning the appropriate allocation of jurisdiction between the New York Family Court and the criminal courts, and with this policy, and its elaboration and effectuation in the course of case by case adjudication, the federal courts have no direct concern. An occasion for possible federal intervention arises only if it is determined that § 812 has vested jurisdiction over a given case in the Family Court, and yet a conviction has been secured in a criminal court. Proper respect for the primary role of the New York courts in interpreting that state's Family Court Act policy, as well as the desirability of avoiding the premature confrontation of a sensitive constitutional issue, counsel that the federal courts refrain from deciding unresolved issues concerning the construction of § 812. Cf. Martin v. Creasy, 360 U.S. 219, 224, 79 S.Ct. 1034, 3 L.Ed.2d 1186 (1959); Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. City of Thibodaux, 360 U.S. 25, 27-28, 79 S.Ct. 1070, 3 L.Ed.2d 1058 (1959). The resolution of these issues should be left to the state courts upon further post-conviction proceedings, since there is no indication that requiring such proceedings would be unnecessarily time-consuming or unduly burdensome. Roberts v. LaVallee, 389 U.S. 40, 43, 88 S.Ct. 194, 19 L.Ed.2d 41 (1967) ( per curiam ). 15 Thus, because the task of construing § 812 should be left to the New York courts, we regard our responsibility in these proceedings as limited to a determination of whether existing state law clearly demonstrates that the New York Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction over these petitioners. Only if the lack of jurisdiction were established would we proceed to a decision on the merits of petitioners' due process claims. 16 We turn, then, to an analysis of the application of § 812, as interpreted to date by the New York courts, to the facts of these two petitions.