Court Opinion

ID: 9450814
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 16:58:13.524939+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:26.750135
License: Public Domain

JONES, Circuit Judge
(concurring specially):
The question of jurisdiction is a threshold inquiry which should be made by the Court, sua sponte, and jurisdiction of the subject matter cannot be conferred by waiver or consent. Brown Shoe Co. v. United States, 370 U.S. 294, 82 S.Ct. 1502, 8 L.Ed.2d 510; Clark v. Paul Gray, Inc., 306 U.S. 583, 59 S.Ct. 744, 83 L.Ed. 1001.
There are two judges of the District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, Judge Cox and Judge Mize, the former being Chief Judge. The case of Hudson v. Leake County School Board, referred to in the majority opinion, had been assigned to and was pending before Judge Mize. The motion to dismiss was before Judge Mize for a ruling and disposition. The motion of Ruthie Nell McBeth was submitted to Judge Mize and the order dismissing her was entered by Judge Mize. It was Judge Mize’ case. Judge Cox was not asked to inject himself into the case, investigate or take *911over any part of it. As said by the majority, the McBeth affidavit “had come to his attention.” I think it was well said that “when a cause is pending before a particular Judge of such a [District] Court, said Judge for the time being has exclusive jurisdiction there-over * * * ”, Buhler v. Pescor, D.C.W.D.Mo.1945, 63 F.Supp. 632, 639. See also U. S. v. Heath, D.C.Hawaii 1952, 103 F.Supp. 1. The question as to whether the motion of a named plaintiff should be permitted to be withdrawn is a part of the cause. The question as to whether a named plaintiff authorized counsel to bring an action on her behalf is a part of the cause, and I think this is so whether the question is raised by a motion of the named plaintiff to withdraw or by a contempt citation against the attorney for misconduct in the unauthorized use of the name of a person as a plaintiff. In either case, the exclusive jurisdiction was, I think, in Judge Mize. I would vacate the order on the ground that the Judge who entered it was without jurisdiction.
I have given careful consideration to the comments of the majority with respect to this special concurrence. Of course, as the majority says, jurisdiction is lodged in a court and not in a judge. The word “court” like many another word has shades and grades of meaning. It is technically incorrect to fail to make a distinction between the judge and the court over which he presides, although “court” and “judge” are often used synonymously. But the majority will hardly deny that Judge Mize was acting as a court, with jurisdiction over the parties and subject matter in holding a hearing on a motion in a case regularly assigned to him. Judge Cox, although Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, was no part of the court over which Judge Mize was presiding. It seems to me that the more the majority writes the more it demonstrates the fallibility of its position.