Court Opinion

ID: 9767335
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 05:16:58.656818+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:30.636330
License: Public Domain

BOND, Chief Justice
(dissenting).
On original submission I voiced my dissent; on motion for rehearing, careful and thoughtful consideration has been given to the ultimate question involved, that is, whether or not a “temporary” injunction may be granted to1 restrain appellants from the exercise of a constitutional right of ambulatory picketing in a bona fide labor dispute. The question is one of law; there exists no right vested in the trial court to exercise discretion. There is no “balancing of equities” for determination as to whether appellants have the right to exercise their constitutional rights; and there is not before this Court “a question of whether justice to all parties will be best served by granting temporary relief against changing the last settled status of the parties.” (246 S.W.2d 680.) Rather the question is whether the appellants have a constitutional right as guaranteed to them in advertisement of their dispute by peaceful picketing. In my opinion no court has the power to deprive one of his constitutional .right of “free speech”; and no element qf discretion is present to be exercised in the termination of this question. The order of temporary restraint appealed from is constitutionally void. Thomas v. Collins, 323 U.S. 516, 65 S.Ct. 315, 89 L.Ed. 430. *682My conception of the function of courts is to protect by all means at their command the lawful pursuits of every citizen. Courts have no right .to interfere; but it is of paramount importance that courts predicate their action on the fundamental premise, which has served as a cornerstone of the edifice on which the strength of this government has been tested since its inception, to exhaust the resources of the State in defense of the constitutional rights of its humblest citizen. In the case at bar there is not any evidence in dispute, as would deprive the appellants of their constitutional right to engage in advertisement of their grievances with their employers with whom they were engaged. Peaceful ambulatory picketing may not be limited to the “place of business” of their employer, and likewise at the site where the concrete-mix trucks are stored over night, — -manifestly not proper places for the object of their picketing, to dissemminate information and opinion.
In the case of Ex parte Henry et al., 147 Tex. 315, 215 S.W.2d 588, 596, Mr. Justice Smedley, speaking for‘the Supreme Court, said that the injunction, as here, is void in so far as it attempts to limit picketing to take place at the scene of -labor dispute, that is, the premises of the employer. “Since the right to picket existed under the facts of this case and under the decisions of our highest court, we hold that the right extended to all portions of Pickett Street adjacent to-, and in the vicinity of, the plant of the Cotton Oil Mill Company with which relators and their union were in dispute.” Citing with approval two cases, which the court said “squarely in point”. Carlson v. People of State of California, 310 U.S. 106, 60 S.Ct. 746, 84 L.Ed. 1104; Thornhill v. State of Alabama, 310 U.S. 88, 60 S.Ct. 736, 84 L.Ed. 1093.
In the above Carlson case the right of picketing was upheld on facts similar as here, where the picketing was peaceful on a public street. The U. S. Supreme -Court said [3-10 U.S. 106, 60 S.Ct. 749]: “For the reasons set forth in our opinion in Thornhill v. Alabama, supra, publicizing the facts of a labor dispute in a peaceful way through appropriate means, whether by pamphlet, by word of mouth or by banner, must now be regarded as within that liberty of communication which is secured to every person by the Fourteenth Amendment against abridgment by a state.”
In the Thornhill case a similar situation as in the Carlson case and the Henry case, supra, relates that Thornhill violated a statute in the State of Alabama by picketing on a public street. After noting that Thorn-hill’s picketing was peaceful and free of harsh words or menacing manner, and such picketing sought to be prohibited was merely because it had for its purpose to advise customers of the dispute between employees and employers, and thereby induce them not to patronize the employers, the Supreme Court said [310 U.S. 88, 60 S.Ct. 746]: “[The] streets are natural and proper places for the dissemination of information and opinion; and one is not to have the exercise of his liberty of expression in appropriate places abridged on the plea that it may be exercised in some other place.” This pronouncement is followed by our Texas Supreme Court in the Henry -case, supra.
Again, in both the Thornhill and Henry cases, the “exercise of discretion” and “balancing of equities” by a court of equity were specifically rejected. The Court said: “It may be that effective exercise of the means of advancing public knowledge may persuade some of those reached to refrain from entering into advantageous relations with the business establishment which is the scene of the dispute. Every expression of opinion on matters that are important has the potentiality of inducing action in the interests of one rather than another group in society. But the group in power at any moment may not impose penal sanctions on peaceful and truthful discussion of matters of public interest merely on a showing that others may thereby be persuaded to take action inconsistent with its interests.”
In the case of International Union of Operating Engineers v. Cox, 219 S.W.2d 787, 794, the Texas Supreme Court again holds, where picketing is lawful and “the damages, if any, resulted from the exercise of lawful and constitutionally guaranteed rights, they are damnum absque injuria, ⅜? ⅜ ⅜ » *683In line with the holding of the aforesaid cases, the U. S. Supreme Court has set at rest that ambulatory picketing is protected by the Constitution — the picketing is lawful and should not be enjoined. In Bakery and Pastry Drivers Helpers Local 802 v. Wohl, 315 U.S. 769, 62 S.Ct. 816, 818, 86 L. Ed. 1178, where pickets “followed Platz-man as he was distributing his products and called on two or three of his customers, advising them (of the dispute)”, the U. S. Supreme Court said: “ * * * respondents’ mobility and their insulation from the public as middlemen (as the case at bar) made it practically impossible for petitioners to make known their legitimate grievances to the public whose patronage was sustaining the peddler system except by the means here employed and contemplated”. Such picketing was constitutionally protected and could not be enjoined.
Ambulatory picketing is further upheld by the Ohio Court of Appeals in W. E. Anderson Sons Co. v. Local Union No. 311, Teamsters Union, etc., 94 N.E.2d 633, and in N.L.R.B. v. Service Trade Chauffeurs, etc., 2 Cir., 1951, 191 F.2d 65. See also. Ex parte Henry, 147 Tex. 315, 215 S.W.2d 588; International Brotherhood, etc., v. Missouri Pacific Freight Transport, 220 S.W.2d 219, writ refused N.R.E.; Mason & Dixon Lines v. Odom, 193 Ga. 471, 18 S.E.2d 841; Sutter v. Amalgamated, etc. Street Ry. Employees, 252 Ala. 364, 41 So.2d 190; Missouri Pacific Railway Co. v. United Brick & Clay Workers Union, 218 Ark. 707, 238 S.W.2d 945.
The material question here presented being whether ambulatory picketing is a proper exercise of the constitutional guarantee of free speech, and, if so, whether the manner in which appellants conducted such ambulatory picketing came within a proper exercise of such right. The appellants are entitled to clear and positive determination of the question by this Court. It will be seen from the record that the appellants have made proper points of error challenging the judgment of.the trial court. Certainly they are entitled to a final decision now and their rights in the premises not passed undecided until a trial on the merits; leaving the question open, per the majority opinion for further consideration by the trial court, thereby abridging appellants’ constitutional right and subjecting them to contempt of court in exercising their lawful pursuit of picketing.
In this appeal the facts being undisputed and the law; applicable thereto settled, presenting concrete question which this Court is duty bound to render final judgment. The matter should not be left in an abortive state. A litigant should not be restrained or deprived of his appellate right of appeal by an ineffectual, fruitless opinion which might deprive him of an appeal, or cause mandatory injunction directed to this Court on motion to the Supreme Court to effect a decision on the question involved. Appellants’ motion for rehearing should be granted; cause reyersed and rendered, dissolving the temporary injunction.