Court Opinion

ID: 9865096
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 16:23:28.923883+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:37:17.605342
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Stone
specially concurring.
Without expressing any opinion on the question of whether the ordinance set out in the complaint is in conflict with the city charter, I think a cause of action is stated in the complaint, regardless of the validity of the ordinance, and regardless of whether, under the cause pleaded, plaintiff is entitled to the relief which he seeks.
While the discretion of municipal officers is not subject to judicial control, gross abuse of such discretion and deliberate waste of city funds, as here charged, are not immune to inquiry and, if established, appropriate relief should be granted. Where such charges are made, it is a right of the people and to the advantage of faithful officials that the doors of the courts be open for investigation and any resulting necessary accounting by public servants as to their stewardship; nevertheless, upon a hearing of such charges judicial tribunals will be slow to interfere with the action of legally established municipal bodies unless fraud or abuse of discretion clearly appear.
I am authorized to state that Mr. Justice Jackson .joins in this concurring opinion.