Court Opinion

ID: 9630355
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:09:10.447984+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:37.409658
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Mr. Justice Mandebino:
I agree with Mr. Justice Roberts’ majority opinion. The legislative branch cannot constitutionally *488allow private organizations to appoint persons to government positions. A citizen who is not a member of the private organization has no control over that organization. Indeed, ai particular citizen may not be eligible for membership or may not be able to pay the initiation fee or dues. Yet, the legislative action here would give such a private organization authority to choose people who will decide how to spend that citizen’s tax money.
Private interest groups indirectly play an important role in our system of government. Any member of these groups may be appointed to any committee, as a knowledgeable citizen with particular expertise in a given area. It may be that specific private organizations or their leaders can be designated as members of advisory governmental committees which have completely nonbinding powers. Such is not the case before us however. Under the guise of creating a committee of the executive branch, the legislative branch in this case delegated, to a private organization, governmental authority to expend public funds and to appoint persons to governmental positions. This the legislature may not do.
Moreover, this legislative enactment usurps authority which belongs to the executive branch. “The supreme executive power shall be vested in the Governor, who shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Pa. Const, art. IV, §2. The legislature’s membership choice might be completely inimicable to a Governor’s intentions, convictions, philosophies or campaign promises. If, in this case, the legislature could establish the committee and designate its members, why could it not establish a committee to run any cabinet department, tell a Governor who is to serve on the committee, and thereby render the Executive totally ineffective as a separate branch of government. The potential for thus rendering the executive branch in*489effective in any given area is great, and involves an unconstitutional encroachment by the legislature upon the executive branch of government.