Court Opinion

ID: 9684416
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:56:07.548667+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:01:01.327623
License: Public Domain

CAMPBELL, Senior District Judge
(dissenting):
I must respectfully and vigorously dissent from the unprecedented and unwarranted action of the majority of this panel in granting the motion of the Illinois Electoral Board and thereby restraining the parties to the litigation presently pending before the Illinois Supreme Court in the case of People ex rel. Germano, et al. v. John W. Lewis, et al., (No. 44728). In my view, this action by my brothers of this panel is legally and factually unfounded and seriously threatens to disrupt the delicate and sensitive balance between our federal and state courts.
As I indicated in my dissent to the majority opinion filed in this cause on September 21st, 1971, this is but one of a series of cases relating to the apportionment of Illinois Congressional Districts. The Districts in use prior to the commencement of this law suit in 1969 were formulated and adopted in December of 1965 by the joint action and decrees of this court and the Supreme Court of Illinois. See Kirby v. Illinois State Electoral Board, D.C., 251 F.Supp. 908 (1965) and People ex rel. Scott v. Kerner, 33 Ill.2d 460, 211 N.E.2d 736 (1965). Following the United States Supreme Court’s decisions in Kirkpatrick v. Preisler, 394 U.S. 526, 89 S.Ct. 1225, 22 L.Ed.2d 519 (1969), and Wells v. Rockefeller, 394 U.S. 542, 89 S.Ct. 1234, 22 L.Ed.2d 535 (1969), plaintiffs herein filed this latest case seeking to set aside the then existing apportionment plan for Illinois Congressional Districts. Because the complaint questioned the validity of our continuing provisional decree entered mutually with the Supreme Court of Illinois, this cause was assigned to my calendar and to this panel as being related to the original Kirby case. We concluded that the provisional plan did not satisfy the constitutional requirements as enunciated in Kirkpatrick and Wells, but because the 1960 census figures could no longer be considered reliable, we determined that the most appropriate relief would be to permit the 1970 Congressional elections to proceed under the provisional plan and to await the compilation of the 1970 census figures before fashioning any additional relief that might be necessary. Since under the Constitution the primary responsibility for reapportionment falls to the State Legislature we indicated in our order that we assumed the General Assembly of Illinois would enact a valid Congressional districting plan based on the 1970 census. In the event that the Legislature failed to act, we retained jurisdiction so that we might “undertake appropriate relief.” (Skolnick v. State Electoral Board, D.C., 307 F.Supp. 698 (1969).
Against this background it was my view, as expressed in my previous dissenting opinion, that our jurisdiction was limited in these cases to “constitutionaliz*864ing” our 1965 provisional plan until the Illinois Legislature exercised its primary constitutional function regarding Congressional reapportionment. At this stage of the seven year old “provisional” proceedings we had in my opinion no authority to draw entirely new districts thereby preempting the legislative function; to alter or tamper with minority representation; or to gerrymander politically for the benefit of either political party. The majority of this panel disagreed, however, and adopted what is called the “Blair Plan”, so designated after its principal proponent, Republican House Speaker W. Robert Blair. As I previously stated, the only noteworthy characteristic of this plan is its partisan political accomplishment.
Notwithstanding our restricted jurisdiction in these remap cases, the majority of this panel ordered that the Blair Plan “govern the nomination and election of members of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress beginning with the 1972 primary and election and continuing thereafter until Illinois Congressional Districts are reapportioned in accordance with law.” [Emphasis supplied]. Thus, even the majority recognized the provisional nature of our decrees in these cases.
Subsequent to the entry of this court’s order in this cause on September 20, 1970, Joseph Germano and several other citizens and electors of the State of Illinois filed in the Supreme Court of Illinois a motion for leave to file an original petition for writ of mandamus. This action was commenced against the individual members of the State Electoral Board of Illinois in their capacity as members of that Board. The petition for writ of mandamus alleges that certain important questions of State law relating to Congressional apportionment were not passed upon by this court’s opinion of September 20, 1971 in Skolnick v. State Electoral Board of Illinois, and requests the Illinois Supreme Court to consider and resolve those questions of state law. On October 14, 1971 the Supreme Court of Illinois granted leave to file the original petition for writ of mandamus, directed the respondents to file their answer to the petition on or before October 26, 1971 and scheduled arguments in the cause for November 9, 1971.
Following the entry of the Illinois Supreme Court’s order the State Electoral Board, by the Attorney General of the State of Illinois, moved this court for a temporary restraining order, temporary injunction and permanent injunction to restrain and enjoin each party to any action pending in the Illinois Supreme Court related to or affecting this court’s order of September 20, 1971, and to restrain and enjoin all said persons from further litigating actions pending before the Illinois Supreme Court.
In seeking to enjoin the proceedings pending in the Illinois Supreme Court the Electoral Board relies on the exceptions contained in the Anti-Injunction Act. The statute (28 U.S.C. § 2283) provides:
“Stay of State Court Proceedings:
“A court of the United States may not grant an injunction to stay proceedings in a State court except as expressly authorized by Act of Congress, or where necessary in aid of its jurisdiction, or to protect or effectuate its judgments.”
The contention made by the Attorney General of Illinois on behalf of the Electoral Board is that the injunction is necessary here to aid this Court’s jurisdiction and to protect and effectuate this court’s judgment order of September 20, 1971.
To better understand the bitter political nature of this controversy and its impact on the delicate fabric of state-federal relations, it is significant to observe that the position advanced here by the Attorney General of Illinois is directly contrary to the stance taken by him before the United States Supreme Court in Scott v. Germano, 381 U.S. 407, 85 S.Ct. 1525, 14 L.Ed.2d 477 (1965), when he was Treasurer of the State of Illinois and a member of the State Electoral Board. There litigation was pending in *865both State and Federal Courts regarding the reapportionment of the Illinois State House and Senate Districts. The Illinois Supreme Court in People ex rel. Engle v. Kerner, 32 Ill.2d 212, 205 N.E.2d 33, had deferred to the General Assembly of Illinois in order that it might perform its constitutional function of apportioning the State’s legislative districts. The State Treasurer then asked this federal court to stay further proceedings in light of the Illinois Supreme Court’s opinion in People ex rel. Engle. We refused to do so, noting that the litigation before us had been commenced previous to any litigation in the State Court. On appeal to the United States Supreme Court, the State Treasurer, who today as Attorney General asks this court to enjoin similar state court proceedings, argued in his brief that the fact that this federal court’s jurisdiction had been invoked prior to the commencement of a related state court proceeding was not in and of itself controlling. It was further argued by the State Treasurer that the clear import of the United States Supreme Court’s prior decisions was that the federal system should not impose its reapportionment remedies upon a state until that state has exhausted all of the reapportionment processes and remedies available to it according to its law. The Supreme Court agreed and ordered our court to stay our hand, noting that “the power of the judiciary of a State to require valid reapportionment or to formulate a valid redistricting plan has not only been recognized by this Court but appropriate action by the States in such cases has been specifically encouraged.” Scott v. Germano, 381 U.S. 407, 409, 85 S.Ct. 1525, 1527 (1965). Unmistakably clear in the Supreme Court’s opinion, too, is that appropriate action by the state includes action by the State Supreme Court. On the authority of Scott v. Germano alone, the temporary restraining order sought in this case should be denied. There are other persuasive reasons for denial of the relief sought here.
The excellent opinion of Mr. Justice Black in Atlantic Coastline Railroad v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 398 U.S. 281, 285-287, 90 S.Ct. 1739, 26 L.Ed.2d 234 (1970), contains a concise yet very thorough history of the Anti-Injunction Act and the exceptions contained therein and relied on here. In that opinion Justice Black relates that when this nation was formed under its Constitution each state retained all of its sovereign powers not expressly delegated to the federal government. Among those powers not surrendered was the maintenance of state judicial systems for the resolution of legal controversies. Indeed there were those amongst the framers of our Constitution who felt that it would be unnecessary to establish a federal judiciary. A compromise resulted in the creation of one Supreme Court and Congress was left with the authority to create other federal courts. Notwithstanding this, only the Supreme Court was authorized to review on direct appeal the decisions of state courts. Each sector of this dual judicial system was to proceed independent of each other with ultimate review in the United States Supreme Court. Necessarily, conflicts and friction developed within this dual system and it was in this context that the first Anti-Injunction Act was enacted in 1789. As to Section 2283 as it presently appears the court stated: “moreover since the statutory prohibition against such injunctions in part rests on the fundamental constitutional independence of the States and their courts, the exception should not be enlarged by loose statutory construction. Proceedings in state courts should normally be allowed to continue unimpaired by intervention of the lower federal courts, with relief from error, if any, through the state appellate courts and ultimately this court.” 398 U.S. 281, 287, 90 S.Ct. 1739, 1743 (1965).
The Atlantic Coastline case was initiated in a federal court where the railroad sought to enjoin the union from picketing a switching yard owned by the *866railroad. The district court denied the request for injunction, holding .that the union was free to engage in self help and that the Norris-LaGuardia Act and Section 20 of the Clayton Act precluded an injunction. The railroad then petitioned a state court and there obtained an injunction. No further action took place in the dispute until two years later, after the U. S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. Jacksonville Terminal Company, 394 U.S. 369, 89 S.Ct. 1109, 22 L.Ed.2d 344 (1969). That case involved the validity of a state court injunction against picketing by the same union and other unions at a terminal located immediately adjacent to the shipping yard involved in the earlier federal district court case. The United States Supreme Court held that the union had a federally protected right to picket under the Railway Labor Act and that this right could not be interfered with by way of state court injunctions. Following the decision in Jacksonville Terminal the union requested the Florida State Court to dissolve its injunction in the shipping yard case, arguing that under Jacksonville Terminal the injunction was improper. The state court refused to dissolve its injunction and no appeal was taken from that decision. Rather the union went back to the federal district court and requested an injunction against the enforcement of the state court injunction. The federal district court entered the injunction and the United States Court of Appeals summarily affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed.
In the Supreme Court the union argued that the 1969 federal injunction was necessary in order to “protect or effectuate” the district court’s denial of an injunction in 1967. It was contended that when the district court declined in 1967 to enjoin the picketing it had determined that the union had a federally protected right to picket the switching yard and that this right could not be interfered with by state courts. Thus, the argument continued, when the Florida state court enjoined the picketing the district court could, in order to protect or effectuate its prior order, enjoin enforcement of the state court injunction.
After careful analysis of the issues involved in the federal district court proceedings, however, the Supreme Court concluded that the district court had then determined only that the general prohibition in the Norris-LaGuardia Act precluded a federal court injunction in labor disputes. [Emphasis supplied]. The question of whether federal law (i. e., the Railway Labor Act) prevented such injunctions by state courts, the Supreme Court ruled, had simply not been passed upon by the district court. Thus the issues in the 1967 federal court proceedings and the state court proceedings had not been the same. Therefore, the later injunction entered by the federal district court was not “necessary” in order to effectuate or protect its earlier order.
In setting aside the injunction granted by the district court, the Supreme Court stated: “First, a federal court does not have inherent power to ignore the limitations of § 2283 and to enjoin state court proceedings merely because those proceedings interfere with a protected federal right or invade an area preempted by federal law, even when the interference is unmistakably clear. This rule applies regardless of whether the federal court itself has jurisdiction over the controversy, or whether it is ousted from jurisdiction for the same reason that the state court is.” The Supreme Court observed that both the state and federal courts had concurrent jurisdiction in the matter, and neither court was authorized to enjoin the parties from simultaneously pursuing claims in both courts.
The thrust of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Atlantic Coastline acknowledged the grave and substantial questions which are presented in these cases arising under Section 2283. The court’s closing admonition in Atlantic Coastline is pertinent here: “Any doubts as to the propriety of a federal injunction against state court proceedings should be resolved in favor of permitting the state *867courts to proceed in an orderly fashion to finally determine the controversy. The explicit wording of § 2283 itself implies as much, and the fundamental principle of a dual system of courts leads inevitably to that conclusion.” 398 U.S. 281, 297, 90 S.Ct. 1739, 1748.
The teachings of Atlantic Coastline clearly bar any injunction or temporary restraining order under the circumstances of this case. The original petition of writ of mandamus pending in the Illinois Supreme Court presents questions of state law not considered or passed upon by this court in its order and opinion of September 20, 1971. Whether the Constitution of the State of Illinois or principles of state law mandate that congressional districts be compact and contiguous as near as mechanically possible, or require that the “Core” or “Nucleus” principle be utilized in instances of judicial reapportionment, or dictate that communities of interest are relevant considerations in remap cases, and, if so, which communities predominate are all matters which properly lie within the jurisdiction of the Illinois Supreme Court. My reading of Atlantic Coastline leads me to conclude that any interference by this court with the consideration of those questions by the Illinois Supreme Court is prohibited by Section 2283. Indeed, Scott v. Germano, 381 U.S. 407, 85 S.Ct. 1525, 14 L.Ed.2d 477 (1965), vests the Illinois Supreme Court with a superior jurisdiction over these questions in the specific context of a reapportionment case. As to unsettled areas or unresolved questions of state law, this principle also received unequivocal recognition during the district court phase of the Germano case. There it was stated that “we reaffirm our intention not to impose ourselves upon Illinois court determinations of issues solely decidable on the basis of Illinois law.” Germano v. Kemer, 241 F.Supp. 715, 722 (N.D.Ill.1965), reversed on other grounds, Scott v. Germano, 381 U.S. 407, 85 S.Ct. 1525, 14 L.Ed.2d 477 (1965).
Other reapportionment cases involving similar requests for federal stays of state court proceedings also convince me that no order or injunction would be proper in this case. In Moss v. Burkhart, 220 F.Supp. 149 (W.D.Okla.1963), the federal district court restrained certain parties from relitigating in the Oklahoma Supreme Court federal constitutional questions presented in the federal case. The district court, however, judiciously deferred to the Oklahoma Supreme Court on an issue of state law which had arisen during the controversy. The Oklahoma Supreme Court then assumed jurisdiction and decided the state law question which was presented to it but reserved its ruling as to the federal issue. Thereafter the district court treated as binding the decision of the Oklahoma Supreme Court on the state law question and restrained the parties only from attempting to litigate in state courts the federal questions which they previously had consented to have tried in the federal court.
Here, unlike Moss v. Burkhart, there is no attempt by Germano or any of the other parties to the proceeding pending in the Illinois Supreme Court to relitigate the federal constitutional questions ruled upon by this court’s opinion of September 20, 1971. That opinion indicates clearly that all four reapportionment plans presented to us satisfy the requirements of the federal constitution. The propriety of this court’s ruling as to that question is not even remotely presented in the mandamus proceeding pending in the Illinois Supreme Court. My examination of the original petition for writ of mandamus filed by the Germano petitioners in the Illinois Supreme Court and the cases cited therein makes this fact amply clear.
Persuasive additional support for my conclusion that the Anti-Injunction Act (§ 2283) precludes any injunction here is provided in the New York remap eases as well. WMCA, Inc. v. Lomenzo, 238 F.Supp. 916 (E.D.N.Y.1965) involved a federal constitutional challenge to the New York scheme of state legislative apportionment. State court proceedings concerning the same scheme of apportionment but raising only questions of state *868constitutional law were also commenced. The three-judge panel sitting in Lomenzo was asked to enjoin the proceedings pending in the New York State Court. The motion noted that the state constitutional issues had also been presented to the district court. After observing that these claims raised difficult problems of state law interpretation, the district court invoked . the abstention doctrine and declined to rule on the questions of state law. With respect to the request for an injunction against the proceedings in the New York courts the district court stated: “Since we are not passing on claims under the State Constitution, and since the proceedings begun in the state courts do not raise claims under the Federal Constitution, there is no possibility here of conflicting adjudications. Neither our jurisdiction nor our judgments are jeopardized, within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. 2283.” That statement in Lomenzo represents a precise description of the situation presented here.
Moreover, the district court in Lomenzo, after adopting a plan which satisfied the requirements of the federal constitution, further acknowledged its respect for the province of state courts. It said: “Of course, the ultimate fitness of the scheme for their need and purposes is for the people of the State of New York, themselves, to decide, and not for this court to mandate.” 238 F.Supp. 927. Justice Harlan, concurring in the United States Supreme Court’s summary affirmance of WMCA, Inc. v. Lomenzo, 382 U.S. 4, 86 S.Ct. 99, 15 L.Ed.2d 15 (1965), asserted without reservation the principle that any final apportionment plan must comport with state as well as federal constitutional requirements. That this principle contemplates state court review is eminently clear for, as Justice Harlan said at a later stage in the New York cases, “This court has repeatedly encouraged the state courts to fashion appropriate relief in reapportionment cases, 'even after a federal court has itself entered an order.” Travia v. Lomenzo, 15 L.Ed.2d 46, 49 (in Chambers Opinion). [Emphasis supplied]. There is still ample time for the Supreme Court of Illinois to act and we cannot interfere with its exercise of that opportunity.
There can be no doubt that the various states are free to apply their own notions of justice and fairness to the subject of apportionment, so long as those notions do not transgress the limitations of the federal constitution. The landmark decision of Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 12 L.Ed.2d 506 (1964), reaffirmed the state’s authority to formulate its own rules of apportionment. Specifically, the Supreme Court stated: “A State may legitimately desire to maintain the integrity of various political subdivisions, insofar as possible, and provide for compact districts of contiguous territory in designing a legislative apportionment scheme . . ., [so long as] the vote of any citizen is approximately equal in weight to that of any other citizen in the State.” 377 U.S. at 578-579, 84 S.Ct. at 1390. The action of the majority in granting the motion for a temporary restraining order effectively prevents the citizens and electors of the State of Illinois from receiving a state court determination, specifically authorized and indeed encouraged by the United States Supreme Court, of whether the plan of apportionment adopted by this court’s order of September 20, 1971 comports with the applicable principles of state constitutional law. It seems to me anomalous, if not outrageous, that this court could promulgate a map which might well be offensive to acknowledged principles of Illinois law and then bar by injunction every citizen of the State of Illinois from ever challenging its validity in the proper judicial forum.
If, as the Supreme Court stated in Atlantic Coastline, all doubts are to be resolved in these eases against interference with state court proceedings, surely this is a case where no injunction should issue. Moreover, even the most basic understanding of the language of Section 2283 and the reasons which prompted its enactment in Congress compel me to state candidly that I know of no clearer case than this against granting an in june*869tion. Therefore, I hasten to add my dissent and I trust that the Illinois Supreme Court will not be intimidated in the performance of its constitutional responsibility by the wholly unjustified action of the majority of this panel.
MEMORANDUM, FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND INJUNCTION ORDER
CASTLE, Senior Circuit Judge, and DECKER, District Judge.
We are asked by the defendant, State Electoral Board of Illinois, under 28 U.S.C. § 1651 and § 2283 and pursuant to Rule 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to restrain and to enjoin the respondents, Joseph Germano, John Alesia, Joseph Cesario, Sam E. Perish and Buddy W. Davis, from proceeding further as petitioners in a recently filed and currently pending original mandamus proceeding in the Supreme Court of Illinois, entitled People ex rel. Germano, et al. v. Lewis, et al., Cause No. 44728. Similar injunctive relief is also sought against Edward V. Hanrahan, State’s Attorney of Cook County, as amicus curiae in that proceeding, John W. Lewis, Secretary of State, Richard B. Ogilvie, Governor, William J. Scott, Attorney General, Alan J. Dixon, Treasurer, Michael J. Howlett, Auditor, James A. Ronan and Victor S. Smith, Chairmen, respectively, of the Democratic and Republican State Central Committees, as respondents in the aforesaid cause in the Supreme Court of Illinois and as members of the State Electoral Board of Illinois.
We entered a restraining order November 5, 1971, maintaining the status quo pending thorough consideration of the issues and to afford full opportunity to the parties and persons above-named to be heard by counsel on the consolidated requests for preliminary and permanent injunction. Having held such further hearing and having heard the arguments of counsel, we conclude that a permanent injunction should now be granted. Mindful of the important and sensitive federal-state relationships necessarily involved in our action, as well as the fundamental questions of judicial comity which must be resolved, we set forth herein the salient facts and legal principles which we deem controlling.
The history of the instant case, Skolnick v. State Electoral Board of Illinois, is fully set forth in our order entered September 21, 1971. It will be sufficient to summarize those developments which bear directly on the jurisdictional conflict which has arisen and which must be considered in determining the need for and the scope of the permanent injunction. Similarly, we consider briefly the remedy sought by the respondents to the pending motion in their role as petitioners in the original mandamus proceeding in the Supreme Court of Illinois, which, for convenience, we shall hereinafter refer to as Germano v. Lewis.
The instant case, Skolnick v. Electoral Board of Illinois, came to this court on April 9, 1969, and was assigned to the calendar of Judge Campbell. Shortly thereafter a three-judge court was convened pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2284. Pursuant to the teachings of Kirkpatrick v. Preisler, 394 U.S. 526, 89 S.Ct. 1225, 22 L.Ed.2d 519 (1969), and Wells v. Rockefeller, 394 U.S. 542, 89 S.Ct. 1234, 22 L.Ed.2d 535 (1969), we entered an order on December 31, 1969, holding that the existing congressional reapportionment approved by this court in 1965 in Kirby v. Illinois State Electoral Board, 251 F.Supp. 908 (N.D.Ill.1965), was no longer constitutional because of population disparities. We determined at that time that the 1970 congressional election might lawfully proceed under the 1965 plan, contemplating reapportionment of the congressional districts by action of the Illinois General Assembly in time for the 1972 election. In our order we provided :
“This court assumes that the General Assembly of Illinois will, during its legislative session in the first half of 1971, enact a complete and constitutionally valid plan of reapportionment *870for election of Members to the United States House of Representatives from Illinois. Defendant is hereby ordered to present to this court on or before July 1, 1971 such duly enacted plan of reapportionment. Upon failure so to do this court shall undertake appropriate relief.” 307 F.Supp. at 700.
In the subsequent regular session, which convened in January 1971 and adjourned on June 30, 1971, no new map was adopted by the General Assembly, and in consequence, following full hearing and the submission by the parties and intervenors of proposed maps, we then proceeded to draft a congressional reapportionment plan meeting applicable federal standards and which was set forth and ordered implemented in our order entered September 21, 1971. In so doing we followed the procedure indicated as appropriate in Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 12 L.Ed.2d 506 (1964). See also, Roberts v. Babcock, 246 F.Supp. 396, 399 (D.Mont.1965), and Klahr v. Goddard, 250 F.Supp. 537 (D.Ariz.1966).
Subsequent thereto, the Illinois General Assembly convened in further session from October 5, 1971, to November 13, 1971, on which latter date, it adjourned until January 1972. Once again the Illinois legislature has failed to perform its duty to enact a constitutional and valid reapportionment plan. There appears no likelihood that it will do so in time for the 1972 congressional elections.
Similarly, no suit in any Illinois state court was filed during the pendency of the instant case prior to the entry of our order of September 21, 1971, which reapportioned the Illinois congressional districts, or which in any manner related to the issues before this court in Skolnick v. State Electoral Board of Illinois.
It is in this context of Illinois legislative and judicial non-action that we briefly review the nature and objectives of the original mandamus proceedings pending in the Supreme Court of Illinois.
On October 5, 1971, a motion was filed in the Supreme Court of Illinois by respondents herein Joseph Germano, et al., captioned a “Motion for Leave to File Petition for Supplementary Relief in the Matter of Apportionment of Illinois Congressional Districts and for Substitution and Addition of Parties, or, in the Alternative, Original Petition for Writ of Mandamus.” The supplemental relief there sought represented an effort to reinstate and use, as a basis of continuing mandamus proceeding, the earlier case of People ex rel. Scott v. Kerner, 32 Ill.2d 539, 208 N.E.2d 561 (1965), in which the Illinois Supreme Court by simultaneous decree approved the redistricting plan adopted and also approved by this court in Kirby v. Illinois State Electoral Board, 251 F.Supp. 908, and reserved jurisdiction to assure the use of said plan in the 1966 congressional elections. The attempted exhumation failed. The supplemental relief was denied by the Illinois Supreme Court on October 14, 1971.
At the same time, however, the Illinois Supreme Court granted leave to Germano, et al., to file their petition for an original mandamus, Cause No. 44728, directing the named respondents therein to answer on or before October 26, 1971, and setting the matter for oral argument on November 9,1971. Our restraining order intervened, and we are advised that no further proceedings have since occurred.
The petitioners in Germano v. Lewis (respondent herein) alleged inter alia that mandamus was “necessary to assure that the 1972 Illinois congressional elections take place only pursuant to a plan of congressional reapportionment reviewed and approved by this court. Only in this way can the citizens of Illinois be assured that such reapportionment will be consistent with applicable principles of Illinois law as well as federal constitutional requirements.” The moving parties in Germano v. Lewis prayed:
“Wherefore, petitioners pray that a writ of mandamus issue forthwith against the respondent Lewis directing him to immediately take the following action: to advise all persons inquiring about Congressional nomi*871nating procedures of this proceeding and inform such persons that no nominating petitions should be circulated, except in Districts yet to be approved by this Court.
“Petitioners further pray that this Court retain jurisdiction of this cause for the purpose of taking such affirmative action as may be necessary to assure that the 1972 Illinois Congressional elections take place only pursuant to a districting plan approved by this Court.”
This open and collateral attack upon our order of September 21, 1971, is claimed by respondents’ counsel to be warranted by a “unique jurisdiction” in such cases as these, said to be conferred by Scott v. Germano, 381 U.S. 407, 85 S.Ct. 1525, 14 L.Ed.2d 477 (1965). It is further asserted that the Illinois Supreme Court should exercise this asserted overriding jurisdiction to assure that effect will be given to “new” Illinois standards said to have been established by the recently adopted Illinois Constitution of 1970. Our review of both Scott v. Germano, supra, and the new Illinois Constitution demonstrates the error of these contentions and confirms the need to protect our order of September 21,1971, by appropriate injunction against the possibility of unfounded collateral attack.
Scott v. Germano, supra, vacated and remanded Germano v. Kerner, D.C., 241 F.Supp. 715 (1965), which had invalidated the Illinois State Senatorial reapportionment, consistent with the ruling of the Illinois Supreme Court in People ex rel. Engle v. Kerner, 32 Ill.2d 212, 205 N.E.2d 33 (1965). Despite the concurrent state ruling, this District Court refused to grant a motion to stay further action and to allow the state court an opportunity to fashion appropriate relief. The United States Supreme Court said that redistrieting by the appropriate state agencies was to be encouraged, and ordered this court to stay its hearing so as to afford Illinois state agencies an opportunity to act. But even under these circumstances, the United States Supreme Court ordered that jurisdiction was to be retained by this court to fashion a “valid reapportionment plan, failing timely state action.”
Unlike the instant case, in Scott v. Germano, supra, no valid reapportionment plan had come into existence by final order of either federal or state court. Unlike that case, here we have made every effort to afford opportunity to the Illinois General Assembly to adopt a constitutionally effective map over a period extending from December 1969 to September 21, 1971. To accept respondents’ contention that there is an overriding and superseding jurisdiction in the Illinois Supreme Court under the facts of this case woud be effectively to nullify federal jurisdiction in reapportionment cases. We do not believe this was the intendment of Scott v. Germano, supra. In that case approximately nine months remained for appropriate redistricting. In the ease at bar, after an interval of over twenty months, during which time state agencies were afforded an opportunity to act, the decision of this court issued on September 21, 1971. Nominating petitions are due December 13 to December 30, 1971, a matter of four to five weeks hence. It is now the eleventh hour.
Equally unconvincing are respondents’ assertions that new Illinois standards, requiring application by the Illinois Supreme Court, have been established in consequence of the recently adopted Illinois Constitution of 1970. We take judicial notice of that Constitution and particularly of Sections 1, 2 and 3 of Article IV thereof; also of the relevant debates and proceedings of the Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention which drafted the Constitution. These clearly show that Illinois has not by its Constitution established any standards governing congressional districting but that the new Constitution confines itself to provisions expressly limited to the method of districting the Senate and House of the Illinois General Assembly. Moreover, the teaching of Davis v. Mann, 377 U.S. 678, 84 S.Ct. 1441, 12 L.Ed.2d 609 (1964), is particularly appropriate here *872and is authoritatively dispositive of respondents’ argument. In Mann the Supreme Court, in addressing itself to the question of the relevance of state standards, said (377 U.S. 678 at 690-691, 84 S.Ct. 1441 at 1447):
“Appellants’ contention that the court below should have abstained so as to permit a state court to decide the questions of state law involved in this litigation is without merit. Where a federal court’s jurisdiction is properly invoked, and the relevant state constitutional and statutory provisions are plain and unambiguous, there is no necessity for the federal court to abstain pending determination of the state law questions in a state court. McNeese v. Board of Education, 373 U.S. 668 [83 S.Ct. 1433, 10 L.Ed.2d 622]. This is especially so where, as here, no state proceeding had been instituted or was pending when the District Court’s jurisdiction was invoked. We conclude that the court below did not err in refusing to dismiss the proceeding or stay its action pending recourse to the state courts.”
Respondents’ appeal to vague and amorphous considerations of “public policy” in seeking to find new state standards for congressional districting in unrelated provisions of the Illinois Constitution is without merit.
Certain respondents assert herein that a three-judge court was not required to be convened in this case under 28 U.S.C. § 2284. A similar contention in a motion for mandamus and prohibition in the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on November 8,1971, was summarily rejected by a panel of that Court. Dixon v. Castle, No. 71-1788. We are satisfied that under proper interpretation of Section 2284 and the nature of the instant case, our three-judge court was properly constituted and had complete jurisdiction.
We are unaware of any reapportionment case brought before a United States District Court which was not in fact heard by a three-judge panel pursuant to that section. The jurisdiction of a three-judge court convened under Section 2284 continues through the grant or denial of the remedy that is sought. Stout v. Hendricks, 235 F.Supp. 556, 558 (S.D.Ind.1964). Jurisdiction to review any judgment of this three-judge court lies in the United States Supreme Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1253.
Our brother Campbell has filed herein a vigorous dissent in connection with the restraining order of November 5, 1971. We believe that his dissent rests upon an incorrect reading of the authorities he has cited and overlooks fundamental considerations of comity which should govern the relations of courts.
First and foremost, we regret his charge that the majority would intimidate the Supreme Court of Illinois, for indeed this is not our intent. To the contrary, we seek to maintain a most cordial and respectful relationship with that distinguished court, and we simply desire to avoid any conflict which could result only to the detriment of each tribunal were respondents to continue their effort to place us both upon a collision course.
The situation here is not as it would have been had the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Illinois been invoked during the course of our proceedings in the instant case and before the entry of our final order of September 21, 1971. In that context, the teachings of Germano v. Scott, supra, would have suggested the possibility of abstention, but that certainly is not the posture in which this case existed when Germano, et al., filed their proceeding in the Illinois court. Respondents Germano, et al., sat upon the sidelines throughout the pendency of this case. They offered no assistance to this court, nor did they take any independent action in any state court intended to provide constitutional and timely solutions to the complex problems which we faced in this matter of congressional redistricting.
By now permanently enjoining said respondents, we seek not alone to protect *873and effectuate our judgment of September 21, 1971, but also to avoid an imposition upon the Illinois Supreme Court which in this eleventh hour of the preparations for the 1972 congressional elections would bring only grave and irreparable damage were respondents to proceed unrestrained.
We believe that whoever would seek needlessly to create an unseemly conflict between the two courts would evidence indeed a total lack of understanding of the meaning and purposes sought to be served by the principle of comity.
Section 2283 in essence is a statutory enactment of the doctrine of comity. Wells Fargo v. Taylor, 254 U.S. 175, 183, 41 S.Ct. 93, 65 L.Ed. 205 (1920); Oklahoma Packing Co. v. Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co., 309 U.S. 4, 8-9, 60 S.Ct. 215, 84 L.Ed. 447 (1940); Landry v. Daley, 288 F.Supp. 200 (N.D.Ill.1968). A Section 2283 injunction in this case* would effectuate the doctrine of comity by prohibiting these respondents from drawing the federal and state judicial systems into needless conflict. It would prevent a confrontation which would threaten the integrity of this court’s judgment; and it would avoid relitigation of a case fully adjudicated. Commerce Oil Refining Corp. v. Miner, 303 F.2d 125, 127 (1st Cir. 1962).
Our brother Campbell has also mistakenly read Atlantic Coastline Railroad Co. v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 398 U.S. 281, 90 S.Ct. 1739, 26 L.Ed.2d 234 (1970), in which he places much reliance. There are a number of distinguishing aspects of that case; but the marked difference is that the district court there involved had not entered any prior judgment or order which was sought to be protected and effectuated under the express exception of 28 U.S.C. § 2283.. In fact that case lends support to our view.
In critically analyzing that decision, it becomes quite clear that it is distinguishable from the case at bar in several respects. First, the district court injunction in that case was designed to nullify an existing state court injunction, while in the case at bar there is no such existing injunction, and there is, as yet, not even any state court action. Further, in Atlantic, the initial district court action only implied that the state court should not act, while the opinion in this case made it quite clear that this court had fully disposed of all of the pending issues. Finally, the Court there points out that “both exceptions to the general prohibition of § 2283 imply that some federal injunctive relief may be necessary to prevent a state court from so interfering with a federal court’s consideration or disposition of a case as to seriously impair the federal court’s flexibility and authority to decide that case.” (Emphasis ours.)
Likewise, our brother Campbell ignores the major thrust of Moss v. Burkhart, 220 F.Supp. 149 (W.D.Okla.1968), which we submit is a clear authority for our permanent injunction under Section 2283. While it is true that the district court in Moss v. Burkhart did defer to the Oklahoma Supreme Court on the simple question of the size of a vote required to adopt an initiative referendum, a public proposal calling for a legislative redistricting commission, that court certainly did not abstain in the matter of protecting its judgment against a collateral and superseding attack sought to be carried forward in the Oklahoma Supreme Court. It is significant that the district court’s injunction, preventing all persons from proceeding further in the Oklahoma Supreme Court, was left undisturbed by the United States Supreme Court. See also, Reynolds v. State Election Board, 233 F.Supp. 323 (W.D.Okla. 1964).
It is in this context of equitable and jurisdictional considerations that we feel that we are clearly authorized by 28 U.S.C. § 2283 to enter the permanent injunction sought. Furthermore, we believe that in the circumstances of this case, the protection of the rights of the plaintiffs and of all the citizens of Illinois similarly situated, as well as the due and effective administration of justice, require the avoidance of the unseemly *874conflict which the respondents seek to create to the damage of the due and effective administration of justice. This conflict will be avoided by the. protection and effectuation of our order of September 21, 1971.
Therefore, in view of these equitable and jurisdictional considerations, we enter the following order:
INJUNCTION ORDER
This matter having come on for further hearing upon this court’s order of November 5, 1971, granting defendant, State Electoral Board’s motion for a temporary restraining order, and giving leave for the filing of responsive pleadings to defendant’s motion on or before November 9, 1971, and setting the consolidated issues of preliminary and permanent injunctive relief requested by said defendant for hearing on November 11, 1971;
This Court finds, that on September 21, 1971, the three-judge panel of Judges Castle, Campbell and Decker entered its final order in the matter of Skolnick v. State Electoral Board of Illinois, 69 C. 755, adopting a congressional redistricting plan and ordering the defendant, State Electoral Board of Illinois, to comply with the apportionment plan so adopted, said order having been entered after a full hearing during which evidence was heard and all interested persons or 'parties were given the opportunity to be heard or testify, and from which order no appeal has been taken; that the said proceedings in this court were well publicized, but neither Edward V. Hanrahan nor any of the petitioners in the Germano, et al., mandamus action sought leave to intervene or appeared before this court in connection therewith.
On or about October 5, 1971, a “Motion for Leave to File Petition for Supplementary Relief in the Matter of Apportionment of Illinois Congressional Districts and for the Substitution and Addition of Parties or, in the Alternative, Original Petition for Writ of Mandamus” was filed with the Clerk of the Illinois Supreme Court by petitioners Joseph Germano, John Alesia, Joseph Cesario, Sam E. Perish and Buddy W. Davis against respondent members of the State Electoral Board of Illinois: Richard B. Ogilvie, Governor; William J. Scott, Attorney General; Alan J. Dixon, Treasurer; Michael J. Howlett, Auditor; James A. Ronan, Chairman, Democratic State Central Committee; and Victor L. Smith, Chairman, Republican State Central Committee, which petition or motions seek to modify, supersede, set aside or nullify the September 21, 1971, order of this court; the relief prayed for being:
“ . . . that a writ of mandamus issue forthwith against the respondent Lewis directing him to immediately take the following action: to advise all persons inquiring about Congressional nominating procedures of this proceeding and inform such persons that no nominating petitions should be circulated, except in Districts yet to be approved by this Court.
“Petitioners further pray that this Court retain jurisdiction of this cause for the purpose of taking such affirmative action as may be necessary to assure that the 1972 Illinois Congressional elections take place only pursuant to a districting plan approved by this Court.”
On or about October 14, 1971, the Supreme Court of Illinois allowed the above-named petitioners leave to file an original petition for mandamus under No. 44728, but did not grant petitioners leave to file a petition for supplementary relief in case No. 39201 (reported as Scott v. Kerner, 32 Ill.2d 539, 208 N.E.2d 561 (1965)). Said order of the Illinois Supreme Court directed the respondents to file their answer to the petition on or before October 26, 1971, whereupon petitioners could file their reply on or before November 5, 1971, with oral argument to be heard in Springfield on November 9, 1971.
On or about October 14, 1971, Edward V. Hanrahan, State’s Attorney of Cook *875County, on behalf of himself and Edward J. Barrett, County Clerk, filed a “Motion for Leave to File an Original Petition for Writ of Mandamus and Supporting Suggestions” with the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Illinois, which petition asked that the Illinois Supreme Court direct the defendant Electoral Board not to conduct an election pursuant to this court’s order entered September 21, 1971, and that the Secretary of State be directed to advise any interested persons that, among other things, the districts established by this court are unconstitutional.
On October 26, 1971, pursuant to the order of the Illinois Supreme Court, the members of the State Electoral Board filed their “Answer and Suggestions” with the Illinois Supreme Court, setting out, among other things, that a petition for original mandamus was without authority in that the petition sought a declaratory judgment as to this court’s order and that declaratory judgment was not a method of relief subject to the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Illinois. The “Answer” further pointed out that the petition was filed after the entry of our order and would be determined only one month from when candidates’ nominating petitions were to be filed. Said “Answer” also makes the observation that the new Constitution of Illinois is totally silent as to congressional districts or redistricting, contrary to the allegations of petitioners that new Illinois standards governing congressional districting had been established by said Constitution of 1970.
On October 27, 1971, the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Illinois issued a letter to the Honorable Edward V. Hanrahan informing him that the Supreme Court of Illinois had denied his petition, filed on behalf of himself and Edward J. Barrett, for an original writ of mandamus; however, leave was given to Mr. Hanrahan to appear as amicus curiae in case No. 44728 filed by petitioners Joseph Germano, et al.
In addition to the parties and movants herein or their attorneys, Edward V. Hanrahan and Joseph Germano, et al., were represented by their counsel and heard by this court, and John E. Cassidy, though not a party or intervenor to this matter, was given leave to argue to this court as a private attorney on behalf of Alan J. Dixon, Michael J. Howlett, James A. Ronan, as individuals, which he declined to do, with regard to the motion for a preliminary or permanent injunction.
This court finds that the matter of congressional redistricting is one of general public importance and that the issues raised herein are of vital importance to the people of Illinois and to the many persons who may desire to seek election to the House of Representatives of the United States Congress from Illinois and the supporters of such candidates. We also take judicial notice of the fact that all candidates and their supporters must make their campaign plans well in advance of filing dates for nominating petitions and that the minority group or independent candidates are faced with a more difficult burden of advance preparation than that of the two established political parties.
This court finds that the case of Scott v. Germano, 381 U.S. 407, 85 S.Ct. 1525, 14 L.Ed.2d 477 (1965), is not applicable to Skolnick v. State Electoral Board, 69 C. 755, for the many reasons set out in our memorandum. We also find that the principle of concurrent jurisdiction does not affect our judgment under the facts and circumstances of this case and that having deferred remedial action to the state agencies for a considerable length of time and until we could wait no longer, that there is no requirement that our judgment be reviewed by the Illinois Supreme Court.
We find that 28 U.S.C. §§ 2283 and 1651 provide ample authority for the entry of a temporary restraining order and, upon further hearing, a permanent injunction under the circumstances of this case. We recognize that caution and discretion are the watchwords of § 2283, but on balance, we find the necessity and duty to provide Illinois with an *876orderly electoral process far outweigh any objections to invoking this section.
We take judicial notice of the ten year history of inaction by the Illinois legislature with regard to congressional redistricting; the in-court admission before this panel by a member of the Illinois House of Representatives that redistricting by the legislature in the near future is unlikely; the fact that the legislature adjourned its fall term on November 13, 1971; that the Illinois Constitution (1970) does not require the legislature to reconvene until the second Wednesday of January, 1972; and that no congressional redistricting plan formulated by the Illinois General Assembly is likely to be enacted and become law in time for compliance with the filing dates for nominating petitions for the March 1972 primary election.
We conclude that this court was properly convened, and upon a finding of unconstitutionality as to the 1965 congressional district plan and absent timely remedial action by an agency of the State of Illinois, it was our duty to effect a plan to replace what had been found invalid, and that once adopted said plan must govern the election of United States Representatives from Illinois until the Illinois General Assembly does in fact timely adopt its own constitutional plan. We further conclude that irreparable injury to the people, electors, candidates and their supporters would result if we did not permanently enjoin the subject of this order and see that our order of September 21, 1971, is carried out.
It is hereby ordered, therefore, that all parties and the amicus curiae in the matter entitled People ex rel. Joseph Germano v. John W. Lewis, No. 44728, in the Supreme Court of Illinois, specifically Joseph Germano, John Alesia, Joseph Cesario, Sam E. Perish and Buddy W. Davis, petitioners, Edward V. Hanrahan, amicus curiae, John W. Lewis, Secretary of State, Richard B. Ogilvie, Governor, William J. Scott, Attorney General, Alan J. Dixon, Treasurer, Michael J. Howlett, Auditor, James A. Ronan, Chairman, Democratic State Central Committee, and Victor L. Smith, Chairman, Republican State Central Committee, respondents and members of the State Electoral Board of Illinois, their officers, agents, employees and attorneys and all other persons having knowledge of this court’s order herein, be, and are hereby, permanently restrained and enjoined from further proceeding in the above-entitled action now before the Illinois Supreme Court or from filing any new actions affecting the matters herein in issue or in any way interfering with the electoral process applicable to congressional elections or the terms of our order of September 21, 1971, above referred to, and all persons are restrained and enjoined from taking any actions designed to or which will have the effect of interfering with the carrying out of said order, except as may be provided by law for the appeal of the order of September 21, 1971, or this order to the Supreme Court of the United States.
It is further ordered that the defendant, State Electoral Board of Illinois, its successor or successors, and all those acting by and under its authority, are hereby ordered and directed to accept filings and conduct elections, only in accordance with the provisions of the September 21, 1971, order of this court adopting a congressional redistricting plan, and in conformity with the election statutes of the State of Illinois which are not inconsistent therewith. The said Board and those acting by and under its authority are enjoined from accepting filings otherwise than in conformity with said order, from declaring the results of any such election held otherwise than in conformity with the said order of this court.
Jurisdiction is retained for the purpose of making any further orders deemed necessary to insure the effectuation of our order adopting a congressional redistricting plan, and this order permanently enjoining interference with said redistricting plan.
*877CAMPBELL, Senior District Judge, objects to the entry of this order and dissents therefrom.