Court Opinion

ID: 9475639
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:33:51.978279+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:50.328702
License: Public Domain

TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge
(Concurring).
Although I agree with the result reached by my brethren, and with much of their reasoning, I respectfully disassociate myself from those parts of this opinion which constitute obiter dicta and are advisory in nature. Paschall v. Christee-Stewart, Inc., 414 U.S. 100, 94 S.Ct. 313, 38 L.Ed.2d 298 (1973), reh’g denied, 414 U.S. 1138, 94 S.Ct. 884, 38 L.Ed.2d 763 (1974); Stephens, Inc. v. United States, 464 F.2d 53 (8th Cir.1972), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1118, 93 S.Ct. 911, 34 L.Ed.2d 702 (1973). Particularly when dealing with what the majority, in quoting Churchill, has aptly described as something “quite as dangerous” as war, I am of the opinion that Article III courts should be especially fastidious in not supplying ammunition for future use by any side. It would appear that parties as ably represented as were those in this litigation should be able to navigate the well-charted waters of § 1983 litigation without unnecessary prompting on our part.
Memorandum on Petition for Rehearing
PER CURIAM.
In accordance with a growing, and all too frequent, practice, disappointed appellants seek rehearing with allegations founded more on the fact that they lost than on the content of our opinion. Basically, we have “conflict[ed] with precedents already established,” and have not given adequate “consideration to the District Court’s application of an improper legal standard.”1 Stopping here, we held that the district court had applied a proper standard. Nor should it be difficult to see that the cases we failed to cite were pre-Branti v. Finkel, 445 U.S. 507,100 S.Ct. 1287, 63 L.Ed.2d 574 (1980), and to note that we referred, in so many words, to “Branti’s reformulation of the Elrod standard.” (Emphasis supplied.)
Next, defendants protest that they “did not rely on the classifications of the Personnel Law.” Seemingly they forget that a whole section of their Memorandum of Law has an early sentence setting the tone of the several pages following. “Here, appellants’ actions must be understood in the context of the Puerto Rico Public Service Personnel Act of 1975____” Defendants next assert that under both Branti and Elrod there is no First Amendment protection for positions — employees—having “meaningful input into government policy-making or ... access to confidential information.” This is a substantial over-simplification of Branti, which qualified those terms by adding a requirement of the appropriateness, viz., an affirmative need, of party affiliation for proper performance of the job. In respect to such need the petition, like the initial brief, is totally silent. We list all given duties of plaintiff Jimenez-Fuentes’ position in an appendix, the political nature of which a court might well feel to be superficial (by stipulation of the parties, these duties are identical to the duties performed by plaintiff Vicente Vazquez).
Finally, the petition quite misstates what we said in regard to Mt. Healthy City School District v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 97 S.Ct. 568, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977).

The petition is denied.

*235APPENDIX
COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO CENTRAL OFFICE FOR PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION BOX 8476, FERNANDEZ JUNCOS STATION, SANTURCE, P R. 00910 JOB DESCRIPTION
1. Department or Agency: Housing Department
2. Bureau, division and section: Public Housing Adm.
Caguas Region
4. First Surname: JIMENEZ
Second Surname: FUENTES
Name: ARNALDO
6. Title of Classification of Position: Regional Director
7. Detail the work you perform in the order of importance of the different tasks, starting with the most important . . . Use your own words and make a description of your duties so clearly that persons not famfliriazed [sic] with your job would understand exactly what [it] is that you do. . . .
1. Directs, plans and supervises the operational and administrative activities of the Region, such as: Accounting, Personnel and Occupation, Maintenance, Modernization, Community Labor, Management and Section 8.
2. Reviews and signs the reports submitted to the Central Office, HUD and other related agencies.
S. See to it that the norms and regulations are complied with in accordance to the ' philosophy of the Public Housing Administration and the HUD Federal Agency, j
4. Arranges periodic meetings with supervisory personnel to counsel and inform as to changes in norms and regulations and/or new work guidelin[e]s and other matters.
5. Reviews, approves and signs the reports on rent changes, which are sent to the Federal Agency, Central Office of the Housing Department and other agencies; reports on Accounting, purchase orders, disbursements, functional budgets of the Region and preliminary budget of maintenance works and others.
6. Attends, representing the Agency, to meetings with other government officers or ^ civic leaders from the community in order to discuss and coordinate the implementation of Social Services, economics, health and other type[s] of services offered to I public housing residents and programs of the Housing Department
7. Drafts reports related to the work performed.
8. Drafts correspondence for the signature of the Associate Director and/or CRUV Executive Director.
9. Supervises and evaluates the Supervisors of the different sections attached to the Region.
10. Makes recommendations on personnel recruitment dismissals, promotions, salary increases and other relations with the Region’s employees.
*236APPENDIX — Continued
11. Recruits necessary irregular personnel at the Region.
12. Receives and hears residents or general public in problematic cases which have not been solved at a lower level.
13. Performs periodic visits to the housing projects at the Region.
14. Attends periodic meetings with the Associate Director, to discuss problems related to the operations of the Region.
15. Offers recommendations to the Executive Director to improve the services rendered by the Program.
16. Arranges meetings with residents and/or organized groups in the community for the coordination of social activities.
17. Plans and organizes training for the Region’s employees in coordination with the Training Committee.
18. Receives telephone calls to give or receive information related to the Region’s operations.
19. Is responsible for the preparation and control of the functional budget of the Region.
20. Performs any task as assigned.

. We have also, incidentally, treated this as "another run of the mill preliminary injunction case;" evidenced, apparently, by the fact that we cited only one case to supply the ground rules.