Court Opinion

ID: 9457747
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 20:32:19.44546+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:29.945584
License: Public Domain

McCREE, Circuit Judge
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I agree with the majority that the dissolution order of the three-judge court is properly appealable to this court and that it is appealable at this stage of the proceedings. However, I would reverse that order and remand for the reconvening of the three-judge court to hear appellants' constitutional claims. The test for determining whether a constitutional question is sufficiently substantial to warrant the convening of three judges was stated by the Supreme Court in Ex parte Poresky, 290 U.S. 30, 32, 54 S.Ct. 3, 4, 78 L.Ed. 152 (1933):
The question may be plainly unsubstantial, either because it is “obviously without merit” or because “its unsoundness so clearly results from the previous decisions of this court as to foreclose the subject and leave no room for the inference that the question sought to be raised can be the subject of controversy.”
Since the majority cites no Supreme Court decision concerning the constitutionality of state conflict-of-interest statutes, the basis for its conclusion must be that the question presented here is “obviously without merit.” Yet, the majority finds it necessary to reason at some length by analogy to Hatch Act cases — including recent cases that, despite the controlling decision in United Public Workers of America v. Mitchell, 330 U.S. 75, 67 A.Ct. 556, 91 L.Ed. 754 (1947), were considered by three-judge courts — in order to conclude that “no purpose would be served” by remanding this case for reconsideration by a three-judge court. It appears to me that the majority actually has rendered a decision on the merits of appellants’ constitutional claims instead of considering merely the threshold question of sub-stantiality, which is the only question presented to us in this appeal. The three-judge court gave no reasons for its determination that appellants' constitutional claims were insubstantial and cited only Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State v. United States, 435 F.2d 627 (6th Cir. 1970), cert, denied, sub nom. Donahey v. Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State, 403 U.S. 955, 91 S.Ct. 2277, 29 L.Ed.2d 865 (1971), and Jones v. Branigin, 433 F.2d 576 (6th Cir. 1970), cert, denied, sub nom. Jones v. Sullivan, 401 U.S. 977, 91 S.Ct. 1205, 28 L.Ed.2d 327 (1971), which are authority for only the proposition that a three-judge court is not properly convened if the constitutional question presented is insubstantial under the Poresky test. These cases did not discuss the considerations relevant to a determination that the constitutional claim is obviously without merit, nor did the court below state its reasons for so holding. Accordingly, I would remand with directions to reconvene the three-judge court either to consider the merits of appellants’ constitutional claims or to explicate the reasons for its dissolution on the ground of insubstan-tiality.