Court Opinion

ID: 9450864
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 16:59:49.11364+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:28.939686
License: Public Domain

BIGGS, Chief Judge
(dissenting).
The appellants’ petition on its face states adequate grounds for removal of the State Court prosecutions to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1443(1). I agree with the position expressed by Chief Judge Tuttle in Rachel v. State of Georgia, 342 F.2d 336 (5 Cir. 1965), petition for cert. filed, 33 U.S.L. Week 3376 (5/15/65), that a state prosecution is removable to a United States district court where state statutes have been applied discriminatorily as alleged here. As I read the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in People of State of New York v. Galamison, 342 F.2d 255, cert. denied, 380 U.S. 977, 85 S.Ct. 1342, 14 L.Ed.2d 272 (1965), relied on in the opinion of this court, no issue arising under Section 1443(1) was adjudicated. On the contrary the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, by way of dictum, took a broad view in respect to the reach of Section 1443(1), indicating that it might be applicable under circumstances such as those presented by the instant case. See 342 F.2d at 271-272.
Moreover, the recent decision of the Supreme Court in Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U.S. 479, 85 S.Ct. 1116, 14 L.Ed.2d 22 (1965), seems to have sapped the strength of the reasoning of the Galamison decision. Cf. 342 F.2d at 269. See also Dilworth v. Riner, 343 F.2d 226 (5 Cir, 1965).
The appeals at bar present questions of great public importance and have not been decided heretofore by this court. The decision reached by this court seems erroneous. For the reasons stated I must respectfully dissent from the order denying rehearing before the court en banc.
I am authorized to state that Judge KALODNER and Judge FREEDMAN join in this dissent.