Court Opinion

ID: 9722440
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:31:57.788328+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:35.357444
License: Public Domain

TEHAN, Senior District Judge
(dissenting) .
I dissent for the reason that I see no substantial constitutional issue raised by the pleadings which would confer jurisdiction on this three-judge court. I therefore believe we are without pendent jurisdiction to consider plaintiffs’ statutory claim.
The majority finds one jurisdiction-conferring claim to be the possibility of interference in an undefined way with a right of privacy in marriage. First, the statute challenged does not require action to affect plaintiffs’ marital status directly. Second, the parties affected by the statute find it necessary to seek AFDC because their marriage relationships have, in fact, become dormant. Their spouses are absent from the home. I find it difficult to agree that there is a constitutional right of privacy in a presently inactive relationship.
Neither do I perceive a due process violation existing by reason of establishment of a conclusive presumption. The statute does not purport to set up a presumption. Rather, it establishes an eligibility requirement the validity of which, in my opinion, is a question of federal statutory, not constitutional, law.
Since I do not believe that a three-judge court should act in this case I indicate no opinion on the merits of the plaintiffs’ statutory claim.