Court Opinion

ID: 9427486
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:20:56.398104+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:07.481873
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Blackmun,
with whom Mr. Justice Brennan joins as to Part I, dissenting in part.
I
I cannot conclude so easily, as the Court does, ante, at 405-406, that the members of TRPA are absolutely immune from liability from federal claims for what ultimately may be determined to be legislative acts. Nor do I know what the Court means by a “regional legislator” — other than its conclusion that members of TRPA are such — or where the line is now to be drawn between a “regional legislator” and a member of a public body somewhat farther down the scale of entities in our varied political structures.
It is difficult for me to associate the members of TRPA with federal or state legislators. Their duties are not solely legislative; they possess some executive powers. They are not in equipoise with other branches of government, and the concept *409of separation of powers has no relevance to them. They are not subject to the responsibility and the brake of the electoral process. And there is no provision for discipline within the body, as the Houses of Congress and the state legislatures possess.
I therefore am not now prepared to agree that the members of TRPA enjoy absolute immunity, against federal claims, for their “legislative” acts. I think they are entitled to qualified immunity within the limitations outlined in Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U. S. 232 (1974), and Butz v. Economou, 438 U. S. 478 (1978). Those cases, it seems to me, set forth the guidelines appropriate for this one, and I would follow them in the present context.
II
I also do not join the Court in its flat ruling, ante, at 404, that the Speech or Debate Clause of our Federal Constitution, Art. I, § 6, has no application to state legislatures. That may well be, but some federal courts have ruled otherwise, Eslinger v. Thomas, 476 F. 2d 225, 228 (CA4 1973) (holding the Clause to be applicable); In re Grand Jury Proceedings, 563 F. 2d 577, 582-583 (CA3 1977), and United States v. Gillock, 587 F. 2d 284, 286 (CA6 1978) (both recognizing a federal common-law speech or debate privilege for state legislators based in part on the federal Speech or Debate Clause), and the controversy on this point remains a live one. See United States v. Craig, 528 F. 2d 773, 776 (CA7), opinion on rehearing en banc, 537 F. 2d 957, cert. denied sub nom. Markert v. United States, 429 U. S. 999 (1976). Because the issue of application of the Clause to state legislatures (as distinguished from TRPA) is not presented here, I would not decide it with a passing fiat.