Court Opinion

ID: 9636324
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 14:24:06.463526+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:44.203783
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
By arbitrarily discarding recent precedent and substituting its judgment for the considered judgment of the Legislature, the majority “bring[s] adjudications of this tribunal into the same class as a restricted railroad ticket, good for this day and this train only.” Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649, 669, 64 S.Ct. 757, 766, 88 L.Ed. 987 (1944) (Roberts, J., dissenting). I must dissent.
An enactment of the Legislature may not be declared unconstitutional “unless it clearly, palpably, and plainly violates the Constitution.” Tosto v. Pennsylvania Nursing Home Loan Agency, 460 Pa. 1, 16, 331 A.2d 198, 205 (1975), quoting Daly v. Hemphill, 411 Pa. 263, 271, 191 A.2d 835, 840 (1963). In 1979, this Court upheld the constitutionality of 42 Pa.C.S. § 3133, the statutory provision challenged in this proceeding. Thiemann v. Allen, 485 Pa. 431, 402 A.2d 1348 (1979). In the four years since this Court’s determination of constitutionality there has been no constitutional or statutory change which justifies the majority’s reaching a contrary result. Indeed, only three weeks ago the constitutionality of section 3133 was sustained by the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in a case in which petitioner Mezvinsky was permitted to intervene and presented arguments similar to those advanced here. Orloski v. Davis, 564 F.Supp. 526 (1983).
Although the opinion of Mr. Justice Flaherty perceives that the challenged statute “erodes” “[t]he guarantee of participation in selection of judgeships,” the legislative judg*571ment embodied in section 3133 in fact furthers the legitimate goal of promoting the elector’s exercise of his franchise. The statutory provision not only encourages bipartisan participation but also discourages the practice of “weighted” voting, the casting of only a single vote in order to enhance a single candidate’s chances of success, and thus advances the likelihood that the candidates chosen will have the backing of a substantial portion of the electorate.
As 42 Pa.C.S. § 3133 is as legitimate an exercise of the Legislature’s authority to regulate the electoral process today as it was four years ago, when the constitutionality of the statute was sustained, section 3133 should again be sustained, and the petition for review denied.
McDERMOTT and HUTCHINSON, JJ., join in this dissenting opinion.