Court Opinion

ID: 9624105
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:51:08.519917+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:38.914014
License: Public Domain

DENMAN, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
The question here is whether Congress in enacting Judicial Code, Section 266, as amended, 28 U.S.C. 380, 28 U.S.C.A. § 380, conferred on the territorial district courts created by it in Hawaii and Alaska the jurisdiction to act as three-judge tribunals in suits to enjoin territorial officers from enforcing territorial laws alleged to violate the Federal Constitution.
I dissent from the court’s holding that Congress gave jurisdiction in such cases under Section 266 to its territorial courts. The Supreme Court in a scries of decisions, culminating in Phillips v. United States, 312 U.S. 246, 248 et seq., 61 S.Ct. 480, 483, 85 L.Ed. 800, holds that Section 266 is not “a measure of broad social policy to be construed with great liberality, but as an enactment technical in the strict sense of the term and to be applied as such.” It is there stated that that section is to be construed to avoid “a serious drain upon the federal judicial system particularly in regions where, despite modern facilities, distance still plays an important part ■In the effective administration of justice. (Emphasis supplied.) Unless it be strictly construed “§ 266 would defeat the purposes of Congress, as expressed by the Jurisdictional Act of February 13, 1925, to keep within narrow confines our appellate docket. Moore v. Fidelity & D. Co., 272 U.S. 317, 321, 47 S.Ct. 105, 106, 71 L.Ed. 273. * * * »1
Briefly summarized, my dissent is to the court’s failure to give a strict interpretation of Section 266 to the end that it will minimize the drain on the service to litigants of federal judges in drawing them to distant places and away from their resident courts and “keep within narrow confines * * * [the Supreme Court’s] appellate docket.”
No case could better than this illustrate the drain on federal judicial power in taking judges to distant regions. District Judge McCORMICK and myself in travel to and from Hawaii in the trial and subsequent conferences have been taken for several weeks from our needed services to our litigants in our respective courts. Also Judge METZGER spent several weeks in travel from Hawaii to and from Sail Francisco and in necessary conferences with us on the mainland. One of Hawaii’s two district judges, Judge McLaughlin, was disqualified, thus requiring the calling from the mainland of Judge McCORMICK to complete a three-judge tribunal. Judge McCORMICK’S court in the Southern District of California is so overcrowded with litigation that the Ninth Circuit Conference at its meeting in July 1947 requested of Congress that another judgeship be created for that district.
The court’s opinion in so failing to apply the rule of the Phillips case has caused it (a) to insert in Section 266 the words “or territory” after its eleven words “state” *862and - (b) to construe the words “district court of the United States” not in their strict historical meaning as a constitutional court but to expand the phrase broadly to include territorial courts.
Particularly I disagree with this court’s interpretation of the phrase “such suit” of the terminal clause of Section 266, cited in the fifth paragraph of its opinion. When the pertinent omitted portions of the section are included, the only questions here for consideration are made clear. That section provides “(Judicial Code, section 266, amended.) Same; alleged unconstitutionality of State statutes; appeal to Supreme Court. No interlocutory injunction suspending or restraining the enforcement, operation, or execution of any statute of a State by restraining the action of any officer of such State in the enforcement or execution of such statute, or in the enforcement or execution of an order made by an administrative board or commission acting under and pursuant to the statutes of such State, shall be issued or granted by any justice of the Supreme Court, or by any district court of the United States, or by any judge thereof, or by any circuit judge acting as district judge, upon the ground of the unconstitutionality of such statute, unless the application for the same shall be presented to a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, or to a circuit or district judge, and shall be heard and determined by three judges, of whom at least one shall be a justice of the Supreme Court or a circuit judge, and the other two may be either circuit or district judges, and unless a majority of said three judges shall concur in granting such ■ application. Whenever such application as aforesaid is presented to a justice of the Supreme Court, or to a judge, he shall immediately call to his assistance to hear and determine the application two other judges: Provided, however, That one of such three judges shall be a justice of the Supreme Court, or a circuit judge. Said application shall not be heard or determined before at least five days’ notice of the hearing has been given to the governor and to the attorney general of the State, and to such other persons as may be defendants in the suit: * * * It is further provided that if before the final hearing of such application a suit shall have been brought in a court of the State having jurisdiction thereof under the laws of such State, to enforce such statute or order, accompanied by a stay in such State court of proceedings under such statute or order pending the determination of such suit by such State court, all proceedings in any court of the United States to restrain the execution of such statute or order shall be stayed pending the final determination of such suit in the courts of the State. Such stay may be vacated upon proof made after hearing, and notice of ten days served upon the attorney general of the State, that the suit in the State courts is not being prosecuted with diligence and good faith. The requirement respecting the presence of three judges shall also apply to the final hearing in such suit in the district court; and a direct appeal to the Supreme Court may be taken from a final decree granting or denying a permanent injunction in such suit.”
A. The word "state” as used in Section 266 should be given a strict interpretation as applying to states in their sovereign capacity and hence not including such Territories as Hawaii and Alaska.
The phrases “such suit” of the terminal clause of Section 266 refer to suits concerning action of a “state” as that word is used in its preceding eleven phrases: 1. “Statute of a State” 2. “officer of such State” 3. “pursuant to the statutes of such State” 4. “to the governor and to the attorney general of the State” 5. court of the State having jurisdiction thereof” 6. “under the laws of such State” 7. “a stay in such State courts” 8. “such State court” 9. “the courts of the State” 10. “the attorney general of the State” 11. “the suit in the State courts”. Nothing could be further from a strict construction of these phrases than this court’s decision which requires the addition of the words “or territory” to each of them.
Entirely apart from this violation of the rule of strict construction of the Phillips and other cases, supra, the Mann Elkins Act of 1910, 36 Stat. 539 et seq., in which, in Section 17, Congress created the first functioning of the three-judge court of later Section 266, shows the contrary intent *863in its phraseology. In Section 17 the word “territory” does not appear. Elsewhere in that Act, in Sections 7, 11 and 12, 49 U.S.C.A. §§ 1 (1-9), 13, 15, the word “territory” is used in connection with the word “state” whenever that Act includes a territory within its provisions.
This court’s opinion explains its disregard of the rule of strict construction of the Phillips case by stating that “the ‘mischief which Congress sought to remedy by enacting and amending Section 266 of the Judicial Code impends in Hawaii similarly as it does in the States.” The Supreme Court disposed to the contrary a similar contention with respect to Section 266 in Ex parte Collins, 277 U.S. 565, 567, 48 S.Ct. 585, 72 L.Ed. 990. There was the same claimed unconstitutional “mischief” in the enforcement by municipal officers of a state statute. It was claimed, as here, that the words officers of a state should be given a broad meaning to include officers of a municipality of a state. The contention was rejected by the Supreme Court stating “The suit is not one to restrain ‘the enforcement, operation, or execution’ of a statute of a state within the meaning of section 266. That section was intended to embrace a limited class of cases of special importance and requiring special treatment in the interest of the public.” It is the action of a state in its sovereign capacity and not the action of lesser political subdivisions, such as counties, municipalities, and, here, territories, which lack such sovereign capacity, with which Section 266 is concerned. The Court, at page 567, of 277 U.S., at page 586 of 48 St., 72 L.Ed. 990, quotes and relies upon what Senator Burton said of the amendment to the Commerce Court Act which later became Section 266: “It evidently recognizes the superior degree of consideration and sanction which should be given to a state statute, and prevents hasty interference with the action of a sovereign state.” 45 Cong.Rec. 7253.
It is obvious that many municipalities created by state legislatures have a larger population and greater property than the Territory of Hawaii. The mischief of unconstitutional action well could be greater when caused by such municipal officers than that by the territorial officers. Yet, the Supreme Court says (page 568, of 277 U.S., page 586 of 48 S.Ct, 72 L.Ed. 990), “Despite the generality of the language, we think the section must be so construed” that it does not apply to the acts of officers of a state’s municipality.
In view of the Phillips case it is unnecessary to review the many cases in which statutes containing the word “state” have been broadly or narrowly construed. A broad construction of the word “state” was given in the early decision of Talbott v. Board of Com’rs of Silver Bow County, 1891, 139 U.S. 438, 11 S.Ct. 594, 35 L.Ed. 210, the sole case relied upon in this respect in this court’s opinion. There it was held to include the Territory of Montana in a statute giving states the power to assess a tax upon national bank stock.-
In contrast, in a strict interpretation of the word “state,” is the subsequent decision of Wynne v. United States, 217 U.S. 234, 242, 30 S.Ct. 447, 54 L.Ed. 748. There the Supreme Court held that the Territory of Hawaii was not included in- the word “state” in a statute (R.S. § 5339, 18 U.S. C.A. § 1452) providing for jurisdiction iii federal courts in cases of murder committed within the “admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States, ‘and out of the jurisdiction of any particular state.’ ” The defendant in that case was tried in this court and found guilty of murder committed on a vessel while at anchor in Honolulu Harbor. The Supreme Court held that under this statute the word “state” did not include the Territory of Hawaii and that the harbor of Honolulu was outside the jurisdiction of any state.
The holding in the Wynne case is of greater significance because it distinguishes the liberal interpretation of the word “state” in the Silver Bow County case, stating that that decision “was based upon the obvious intent of Congress, looking to the scope and purpose of the act,” whereas the Congressional intent of R.S. § 5339, providing for the jurisdiction of this particular territorial court, is given a strict interpretation of the word “state” as excluding the Territory of Hawaii.
In accord with the decision of Ex parte Collins that Section 266 is confined to un*864constitutional actions by states in their sovereign capacities and does not include the action of lesser political subdivision, such as distant island territories, is the decision of the First Circuit in Benedicto v. West India & Panama Telegraph Co., 256 F. 417. There the court held that Section 266 has no application to the issuance of an interlocutory injunction restraining the. enforcement upon constitutional grounds of an order of the Public Service Commission of Puerto Rico. The reasoning of the court is that the maintenance of the relationship of the states, as “independent sovereignities,” to the United States is the purpose of this legislation. As stated by the court at page 419 of 256 F., “We think the leading idea of Congress was in deference to the supposed independent jurisdiction of states, as such, and to safeguard their laws against hasty and inconsiderate federal ■ interference.” Again quoting the court at page 419 of 256 'F., * * * we think that the provision in respect to three judges [Section 266] has reference to state statutes and Constitutions, because of the independence and peculiar relationship of the states to the federal government, and not to Porto Rico, and because the administration there of the three-judge provision would be locally inconvenient and practically inapplicable, and because it is not clear that Congress intended that interlocutory injunction questions should require the presence of three judges in primary equity proceedings in that Island.”
B. The strict construction of the Phillips case requires the words of Section 266 "district court of the United States” to be confined to constitutional district courts in the states and not to be liberally extended to include territorial district courts.
This court’s opinion contends that because Congress in 48 U.S.C. 642, 48 U.S. C.A. § 642, has given the district court of the Territory of Hawaii the same jurisdiction and powers as the constitutional courts in the states, the two classes of courts are in all respects identical. It ignores the contention, and cases supporting it, vigorously presented to us by the brief of the Bar Association of Hawaii,2 that such identity of jurisdiction and powers does not malee a territorial court a constitutional court.
Even in the absence of the established strict construction for Section 266 and considering the question de novo, the phrase “district court of the United States” without an addition expressing a wider connotation does not include territorial courts.
Mookini v. United States, 303 U.S. 201, 205, 58 S.Ct. 543, 545, 82 L.Ed. 748, was decided thirteen years after Congress enacted the present terminal clause of Section 266 upon which this court bases its opinion. There the question was whether the territorial court of Hawaii is included in the term “District Courts of the United States.” The Supreme Court held it was not, stating “The term ‘District Courts of the United States,’ as used in the rules, without an addition expressing a wider connotation, has its historic significance. It describes the constitutional courts created under article III of the Constitution. Courts of the Territories are legislative courts, properly speaking, and are not District Courts of the United States. .We have often held that vesting a territorial court with jurisdiction similar to that vested in the District Courts of the United States does not make it a ‘District Court of the United States.’ Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, 154, 25 L.Ed. 244; The City of Panama, 101 U.S. 453, 460, 25 L.Ed. 1061; In re Mills, 135 U.S. 263, 268, 10 S.Ct. 762, 34 L.Ed. 107; McAllister v. United States, 141 U.S. 174, 182, 183, 11 S.Ct. 949, 35 L.Ed. 693; Stephens v. Cherokee Nation, 174 U.S. 445, 476, 477, 19 S.Ct. 722, 43 L.Ed. 1041; Summers v. United States, 231 U.S. 92, 101, 102, 34 S.Ct. 38, .58 L.Ed. 137; United States v. Burroughs, *865289 U.S. 159, 163, 53 S.Ct. 574, 77 L.Ed. 1096. * * * ”
So also of the Territory of Alaska. In its Enabling Act of 1884, 23 Stat. 24, the Alaska district court was given “the civil and criminal jurisdiction of district courts of the United States.” One McAllister, appointed to the Alaska district court by and with the consent of the Senate was removed by President Cleveland under a statute (R.S. § 1768) giving him the power to suspend any civil officer so appointed “except judges of the courts of the United States.” McAllister sued for his salary claiming that he remained in office because the district court of the Alaska territory is one of “the courts of the United States,” from which he could not be so suspended by the President. In McAllister v. United States, 141 U.S. 174, 11 S.Ct. 949, 951, 35 L.Ed. 693, the Supreme Court denied him his salary. It held that, although the Alaska court'was “invested with the powers of a district court and a circuit court of the United States as well as with general jiirisdiction to enforce in Alaska the laws of Oregon” (page 179 of 141 U.S., page 952 of 11 S.Ct, 35 L.Ed. 693), it was not one of the “courts of the United States” since that phrase was used in Section 1768 “with reference to the recognized distinction between courts of the United States and merely territorial or legislative courts.” Page 185 of 141 U.S., page 953 of 11 S.Ct., 35 L.Ed. 693.
This court of three judges should have held that Section 266 gave it no power to proceed with the instant litigation. The case should have been tried by a single judge as in the case of Farrington v. T. Tokushige, 273 U.S. 284, 47 S.Ct. 406, 71 L.Ed. 646, where a similar Hawaiian school law was held unconstitutional. While the question of jurisdiction of the single judge was not raised in that case, I am of the opinion that no error of the Supreme Court in that regard lurked in its record.
Since the court’s decision, at least for the time being, is the law of the case, I am required by the Ayrshire case, supra, to participate in the adjudication of the merits of the challenge of the constitutionality of the territorial statute.

 So also in the recent case of Ayrshire Collieries Corporation v. United States, 331 U.S. 132, 67 S.Ct. 1168, 91 L.Ed. -, where, under an analogous three-judge statute, three judges heard and had submitted to them the merits of the case. Because of illness, but two participated in the subsequent decision. Applying the rule of strict technical construction of the Phillips case the Supreme Court reversed, holding that the statute required that the cause not only should be heard but that it should be determined by three judges.
Oilier cases of strict construction of such a three-judge statute are Gully v. Interstate Nat. Gas Co., 292 U.S. 16, 18, 54 S.Ct. 565, 78 L.Ed. 1088; Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. v. Oklahoma Packing Co., 292 U.S. 386, 54 S.Ct. 732, 78 L. Ed. 1318; Moore v. Fidelity & Deposit Co., 272 U.S. 317, 47 S.Ct. 105, 71 L.Ed. 273; Smith v. Wilson, 273 U.S. 388, 47 S.Ct. 385, 71 L.Ed. 699; Ex parte Collins, 277 U.S. 565, 48 S.Ct. 585, 72 L. Ed. 990; Ex parte Williams, 277 U.S. 267, 48 S.Ct. 523, 72 L.Ed. 877; Ex parte Public National Bank, 278 U.S. 101, 49 S.Ct. 43, 73 L.Ed. 202; Rorick v. Board of Com’rs of Everglades Drainage Dist., 307 U.S. 208, 50 S.Ct. 808, 83 L.Ed. 1242; Ex parte Bransford, 310 U.S. 354, 60 S.Ct. 947, 84 L.Ed. 1249.

 The court requested the Bar Association to act as amicus curiae and brief for us the law with respect to the applicability of Section 266 to the territorial district courts. In response a very able brief was prepared and presented to us by the Association’s president, Mr. J. Russell Cades, and Mr. Edward Z. Buck. The brief, which covered much more of the historical development of Section 266 than does this dissent, has been of great assistance to its writer, who agrees with the argument and conclusions of these friends of the court.