Court Opinion

ID: 9697702
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:27:11.570791+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:34.673263
License: Public Domain

*341Dissenting Opinion by
Mr. Justice Jones:
The question involved on this appeal is not whether there should be a grand jury investigation into the alleged criminal conduct of certain officials and employees of the City of Pittsburgh. As to that, there is no difference of opinion with respect either to the propriety or need for such a proceeding. The fundamental question presented by the record is whether the learned court below erred in concluding from the pleadings and the evidence that the inquisition to that end (already begun by the District Attorney of the County) should continue to be conducted by him and that the Attorney General’s attempted supersedure of the District Attorney constituted an abuse of his discretion.
It is my opinion that there is no longer any legal warrant for voluntary action by the Attorney General in such regard even if the power ever existed which I firmly dispute. However, the majority of the court, relying upon what I take to be non-decisional expressions of opinion in several relatively recent cases, accord to the Attorney General common law power so to act: see Commonwealth ex rel. Minerd v. Margiotti, 325 Pa. 17, 188 A. 524, (1936), Dauphin County Grand Jury Investigation Proceedings (No. 1), 332 Pa. 289, 2 A. 2d 783, (1938), and Dauphin County Grand Jury Investigation Proceedings (No. 3), 332 Pa. 358, 2 A. 2d 809, (1938). Even a cursory reading of the opinions in those cases will readily disclose that no question as to common law power in the Attorney General to supersede a District Attorney of his own motion was present for decision. Indeed, the matter had never been passed upon at common law for the all-sufficient reason that elected prosecuting officers were unknown to its political institutions. Ever since the creation of the offices of Attorney General and Solicitor General in England several centuries ago, prosecuting attorneys *342(beyond the two officers just mentioned) have been and still are the Attorney General’s own appointees and, of course, subject to removal or super-session by him at his pleasure. Manifestly, no analogy can rightly be drawn between that system and the system which has obtained in Pennsylvania since the creation of the office of elective District Attorney by the Act of May 3, 1850, P.L. 654, Sec. 1, — an office later, and still, ordained by the Constitution of 1874 (Art. NIY, Secs. 1 and 2). The idea that a mere political appointee, beholden to his appointer and not to the people for his tenure, can, of his own volition, set aside and supersede a duly elected constitutional officer runs counter to even the most limited conception of the republican form of democratic government which this Commonwealth was established to secure and maintain and which the National Government is charged by the Federal Constitution (Art. IY, Sec. 4) to guarantee to every State.
Inasmuch as this is the first time that the question of the Attorney General’s asserted power to supersede a District Attorney has been squarely before this court for decision, I had thought that it would be examined and considered for what it truly is, viz., a matter of first impression as well as of first importance. But, a majority of the court see fit to enter an order of reversal which automatically will constitute a decision that the Attorney General does possess such power by virtue of the common law when in his judgment such action is necessary. I shall not, therefore, prolong this opinion by further discussion of the basic legal fallacy in the majority’s action. However, it is not untimely to observe in passing, as did the learned court below, that “. . . the supersedure of a District Attorney by an Attorney General, in the exercise of his common law powers, is without precedent in the history of this Commonwealth.” And, to that, it may be added that *343the threat thereby to the orderly processes of popular government is serious indeed.
But, even if Commonwealth ex rel. Minerd and the Dauphin County Grand Jury (No. 1) and (No. 8) cases settled the law in this State that the Attorney General possessed common law power to supersede, of his own motion, an elected District Attorney, I submit that such power was completely extinguished by the Act of March 20, 1939, P.L. 8, in its repeal of the Act of July 30, 1938, P.L. 17, the latter being Act No. 3 of the Special Session of that year and entitled “An Act Defining the relative powers of the Attorney General and of district attorneys in investigations or proceedings in the criminal courts . . . .” The Act of 1938 conferred upon the Attorney General power to supersede and set aside, in his absolute discretion, the District Attorney of a County at any stage of an investigation or proceeding pending in the criminal courts of such County. It came before this court for construction in Dauphin County Grand Jury Investigation Proceedings (No. 3), supra, where it was flatly held that the discretion statutorily so conferred was, at most, a legal discretion and, as such, reviewable for an abuse. In other words, the power reposed by the Act was construed to be the same as the power possessed by the Attorney General by virtue of the common law as recognized in Commonwealth ex rel. Minerd, supra. In that connection, Mr. Justice Steen, speaking for this court, said with respect to the Act of 1938, — “It is obvious, then, that Act No. 3 merely confirms in statutory form the possession by the Attorney General of a power which had theretofore been enjoyed by him under the usage and traditions of the common law.” Thus, what had been deemed in the Minerd and Dauphin County Grand Jury cases, supra, as being a common law power of the Attorney General became by legislative adoption a part of the statute law of the State. *344But, at the very next session of the General Assembly, Act No. 3 of 1938 was “repealed absolutely” by the Act of March 20, 1939, P.L. 8, so that what of the common law had been incorporated in our statute law by the Act of 1938, relating to the public officers named therein, was by positive and unmistakable terms eliminated therefrom by the Act of 1939.
The common law rule of statutory construction that the repeal of an Act declaratory of the common law does not operate to extinguish private rights otherwise vested by the common law has never been extended in a single instance, so far as my research discloses, to revive in a public official a repealed statutorily-conferred power of office formerly derived from the common law. Indeed, the attitude of the law toward revival of prior law by a repeal of another law has been to restrict the rule of revival. For example, the common law rule that the repeal of a repealer revived the prior law was abrogated in England by statute a hundred years ago and many of the States of the Union have similar enactments: Endlich on Interpretation of Statutes, §476, p. 679. With us, such legislative declaration is now embodied in Section 97 of the Statutory Construction Act of May 28, 1937, P.L. 1019, which provides that “The repeal of a repealing law shall not be construed to revive the law originally repealed.” In any event, the scope of the repeal Act of 1939 is simply a question of legislative intent. If the legislature intended thereby to do less than completely obliterate any semblance of power in the Attorney General to supersede at his own discretion a District Attorney, why did it define the extent of the repeal by the most comprehensive term it could have used, namely, “absolutely” and not prescribe a substitute? Or, why did it bother at all to enact the repeal if concomitantly therewith the very same power from the common law would be revived? There is a legal pre*345sumption that the legislature did not intend a result so vain and absurd: see Section 52(1) of the Statutory Construction Act of 1937. The plain intent of the legislature by the repeal of 1939 was to make an end, once for all, of the idea that an appointed Attorney General could, of his own motion, supersede and set aside a duly elected constitutional officer. No other construction of that Act is reasonably deducible, especially, in view of the fact that it affects officers of government and their powers which, in this country since the change wrought by the Revolution, have been peculiarly matters of written law beginning with the Constitutions.
On the basis of the foregoing, it is my opinion that there is not now any extant lawful authority in an Attorney General of Pennsylvania to supersede at his discretion a District Attorney of the Commonwealth. And, beyond that, I fail to see the slightest legal justification for this court’s reversal of the learned court below on the merits assuming that the Attorney General still possesses power to supersede a District Attorney at his discretion.
In Dauphin County Grand Jury Investigation Proceedings (No. 8), supra, where the then Attorney General sought to supersede the District Attorney of Dauphin County in a grand jury investigation then pending in the criminal courts of that County, this court held it to be incumbent upon the Attorney General “to present to the [local] court his reasons for supérseding the district attorney . . ., the court thereupon to determine the question whether the district attorney has been superseded by a valid exercise of the legal discretion vested in the Attorney General . . . .” The requirement, of course, contemplated that the reasons given be valid and substantial. And, the burden of proving their validity and substance necessarily rests upon the Attorney General from the very nature *346of the situation. The duty of establishing by proof a fact material to an inquiry ordinarily lies upon him who asserts it. Nor can the rule be otherwise where the Attorney General seeks to supersede of his own motion, by virtue of some common law power,' a constitutional officer charged by law primarily with the duty of signing “all bills of indictment, and conducting] in court all criminal or other prosecutions in the name of the commonwealth, or when the state is a party, which arise in the county for which he is elected . . .”: see Act of 1850, supra.
In the present instance, except for the single reason first assigned by the Attorney General in support of his order of supersedure, to wit, that the District Attorney’s petition for the reconvening of the June grand jury was defective, the principal matter urged by him, among the additional grounds which he later advanced as supporting his action, is his charge and innuendo that the District Attorney meant deliberately and wilfully to fail in the faithful discharge of his SAvorn duty. Plainly enough, the first reason was unsubstantial and the learned court below justifiably found it so to be. The petition was amendable (see Dauphin County Grand Jury Investigation Proceedings (No. 1), 332 Pa. 289, 2 A. 2d 783) and was actually amended upon leave of the court below. The Attorney General is in no position to complain of that. He had no vested private right in the continued maintenance of what he had asserted to be a defective petition. The other reason was wholly unsupported by any evidence and was left to rest entirely on the contention that because the District Attorney was a member of the same political party as some of the persons to be investigated, he would be recreant to the trust reposed in him by the electorate of the County. The learned court below found that reason to be invalid as does also the majority of this court because the “contention runs counter to the whole the*347ory and spirit of our governmental institutions . . . .” The delay charged against the District Attorney because he did not move for the institution of a grand jury proceeding until after the “Councilmanie probe” had been concluded was expressly found by the court below not to have been an improper exercise of judgment.
The findings of the court below are ignored by the majority in plain disregard of a well-settled and time-honored rule of law that the findings of fact of a trial court, approved by a court en banc, have the weight of a jury’s verdict and are conclusive on appeal if there is any evidence to support them. The only evidence this record lacks is what the Attorney General failed to produce as support for his charge of political bias and bad faith on the part of the District Attorney. Thus, by ignoring the lower court’s competent findings, which are implicit, where not verbally detailed, in its comprehensive treatment of each of the reasons assigned by the Attorney General, the majority of this court usurp the province of the trial court and draw their own ultimate conclusion of fact that the Attorney General’s supersedure of the District Attorney was a valid exercise of his discretion.
Naturally, there is no definitely fixed standard by which the exercise of a legal discretion can be measured for validity. Any determination of such a nature must necessarily depend upon a judicious review and consideration of all attendant relevant circumstances. The court below, which heard this matter at great length and painstakingly prepared and filed a thorough and well-considered adjudication, was fully qualified to make a just factual conclusion and, having done that, its work should not now be set aside except for some identifiable and reversible error which, so far as I can see, the majority opinion fails to point out. All the majority opinion does is to relate facts and circum*348stances including “clamor by citizens and by the public press” which the Attorney General could have taken and presumably did take into consideration in coming to his conclusion to supersede the District Attorney. The majority then states that “Whether or not the Attorney General’s discretion was wisely exercised is not for us to determine . . . .” But, that is precisely what the court below had for determination under all the circumstances including the record evidences concerning the Attorney General’s motivations which the majority opinion expressly excludes from consideration. A discretion that is not exercised wisely is abused. “The very term [discretion] itself, standing alone and unsupported by circumstances, imports the exercise of judgment, wisdom, and skill ...” (Emphasis supplied) : Paschall v. Passmore, 15 Pa. 295, 304.
In Dauphin County Grand Jury Investigation Proceedings (No. 8), supra, Mr. Justice Steen said for this court that “To him [i.e., the Attorney General], therefore, is peculiarly applicable the familiar doctrine that courts and all judicial and quasi-judicial officers must exercise discretionary powers upon the foundation of reason, as opposed to prejudice, personal motivations, caprice or arbitrary action” (Emphasis supplied). In the light of that pronouncement, is it not strange that “motivations” now become immaterial in the opinion of the majority? The Attorney General’s charges impugning the honor and integrity of the District Attorney were found by the court below, and now by this court, not to have been sustained. What, then, is there left to support the majority’s opinion that the Attorney General’s order of supersedure was a proper exercise of his discretion? Only that official’s bald assertion that the District Attorney had lost public confidence and would, therefore, be unable to conduct a thorough and effective investigation, — an allegation which the court below rejected as not having been sus*349tained by evidence. Loss of public confidence, where it exists, is a fact; and who is in better position to determine whether such was the fact in the present instance than the three local judges of the court below who, with becoming judicial firmness, were able to stand steadfast against the “clamor by citizens and by the public press” to which the majority opinion makes reference as support for the Attorney General’s action.
By the charge that the District Attorney, because of his political affiliations, will not perform his official duties faithfully (the Attorney General even avers in his replication that it would be “contrary to all normal experience to expect” him to indict City officials and employees), the Attorney General thereby gives utterance to a strange conception of official morality. He apparently does not understand that the innermost feeling of any decent elected public officer is that he but enjoys for the time a power reposed in him by the people to be exercised by him with an eye single to the public interest. In view of the Attorney General’s flagrant charges, based on the imputation of bias and partiality in elected public officials because of their political affiliations, it is not amiss to interpolate at this point that two of the three judges of the unanimous court below are not members of the political party to which the District Attorney belongs.
Under the evidence in the case, the only party to this record, whose motives are under any stigma from possible partiality and bias for political purposes is the Attorney General himself by virtue of the very office he now occupies and the character of the proceeding here involved. Such was expressly recognized in Dauphin County Grand Jury Investigation Proceedings (No. 3), supra, where it was said that,— “The Attorney General is an appointee of the Governor and subject to dismissal by him. Under such circumstances ordinary sentiments and impulses would necessarily tend *350to interfere with the Attorney General’s freedom of action, even though he might not in fact succumb to the temptations which would confront him. To permit him to conduct the investigation in such a case would be contrary to all standards of professional ethics, as the Attorney General himself commendably recognizes, for, in the brief presented by him to this court, he disclaims any intention of handling the proceedings personally” (Emphasis supplied).
The result of this court’s decision in Dauphin County Grand Jury Investigation Proceedings (No. 3), supra, was ultimately to bar the Attorney General from exercising a right to supersede the local District Attorney (even though a statute then empowered him to do so) because of his supposed political interest and bias due to the position he then occupied. Here, the motives of the Attorney General are excluded by this court from any consideration although I have no doubt that the learned court below, faithful in its obedience to the reported pronouncements of this court, took such matters into account along with all the other facts and circumstances in concluding that the Attorney General’s supersedure of the District Attorney constituted an abuse of discretion.
On the basis of the record in this case, there is no justifiable ground for inferring that the District Attorney of Allegheny County would not conduct the grand jury investigation in a thorough, efficient and impartial manner without fear of or favor to anyone. Such is the faith shown in him by the adjudication of the learned court below.
I would affirm on that adjudication.