Court Opinion

ID: 9471374
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:30:50.205123+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:22.903235
License: Public Domain

MacKINNON, Senior Circuit Judge
(concurring specially).
The foregoing en bane opinion, which I join, dismisses the appeal, vacates the judgment of the district court, 505 F.Supp. 144, and remands the case with instructions to dismiss the complaint for want of a substantial federal question. Reliance is placed on the Supreme Court opinion by Chief Justice Burger in Marsh v. Chambers, — U.S. —, 103 S.Ct. 3330, 77 L.Ed.2d 1019 (1983), which involved the Chaplain of the Nebraska Legislature and was decided after the panel decision in this case. The en banc opinion is somewhat at variance with the panel decision, which remanded this case to the district court. In doing so, the panel had held that it was not necessary to consider the extent to which the political question issue involved some consideration of the Establishment Clause and that “[t]his case occasions no need for a [lengthy historical analysis of the political question issue].” Slip op. at 17 n. 23. My views were in disagreement with the majority’s refusal to reach the full merits of the political question issue insofar as it necessarily involved some consideration of. the Establishment Clause, and as to the need for substantial historical analysis in determining the presence of a political question. Cf. Marsh v. Chambers, supra. Accordingly, I dissented from the decision of the panel and filed an opinion. Since it is the practice of this court to vacate panel opinions when the case is placed en banc, and since this case involved the Chaplains of Congress and some different constitutional considerations than were present in the Nebraska case, I set forth below extracts from my earlier dissent that provide additional support for *691the court’s present decision in this case. These reflect in greater detail the constitutional and unique historical base which supports our decision. Also addressed are additional issues, including the federal separation of powers issue that is present in this case, involving Congress, and which was not an issue in Marsh v. Chambers. Other matters in my dissent to the original panel decision also point to the recognition of God and religion in the Constitution (slip op. at 5-8), which is a further “tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the people of this country.” at —, 103 S.Ct. at 3336.