Court Opinion

ID: 9625059
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:26:21.602139+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:00.138529
License: Public Domain

DECKER, District Judge (dissenting in part):
While I completely agree with that part of the foregoing opinion which holds Article 6, § 18 of the Illinois Constitution and Supreme Court Rule 51 to be constitutional on their face, I respectfully dissent from that part of the opinion regarding a remand of this action to a single judge. The reasons for my dissent follow.
The central issues raised in this complaint are whether the “for cause” removal standard for judges in the Illinois Constitution violates the due process clause and whether plaintiff’s exercise of his privilege against self-incrimination, and his subsequent testimony given under a grant of immunity, may constitute such “cause” for removal without offending the Fifth Amendment. While the first question deals with the constitutionality of the Illinois constitutional provision on its face, the latter two questions deal with its application to this particular plaintiff. Yet I believe that all of these questions are required to be heard by a three judge court. See Query v. United States, 316 U.S. 486, 490, 62 S.Ct. 1122, 86 L.Ed. 1616 (1941); Dept. of Employment v. United States, 385 U.S. 355, 357, 87 S.Ct. 464, 17 L.Ed.2d 414 (1966).
But even assuming that a three judge court is not required to determine all these issues, there is nothing in 28 U.S. C. § 2281 which prohibits three judges from deciding all issues raised. Mann v. Powell, 314 F.Supp. 677 (N.D.Ill.1969), aff’d. 398 U.S. 955, 90 S.Ct. 2169, 26 L. Ed.2d 539. In a case such as this, when two hearings have already been held before the three judges and when exhaustive briefs have been reviewed by them, remand to a single judge tends to waste, rather than conserve, judicial time and effort.
Moreover, whether appeal from a final judgment on the merits in this case lies in the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court depends not on whether the decision was made by a single judge or by three judges, but on whether it was “required” to be decided by a three judge court. 28 U.S.C. §§ 1253, 1291. When there is a substantial question as to whether three judges are required to hear the action, the possibility of remand to the District Court for consideration by a three judge court can be eliminated by having all three judges render a decision initially. The action taken by the majority leaves open the possibility of remand on this technical ground, with its attendant expenditure of time and effort on the part of litigants and judges alike, while serving no substantial purpose.