Court Opinion

ID: 9427000
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:19:26.258984+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:04.444021
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Brennan,
with whom Mr. Justice Marshall joins,
dissenting in part.
I agree with my Brother Stevens that there is no basis for granting certiorari in this case. I add only that, for me, the record presents serious problems of mootness that have been addressed by neither party’s counsel and, in addition, I question whether the federal issue argued by the State here was properly presented below. In light of these additional problems, our summary reversal may indeed “create the unfortunate *103impression that the Court is more interested in upholding the power of the State than in vindicating individual rights.” Post, at 105.
Nonetheless, if the federal issue is properly before us, I must agree that the Supreme Court of Idaho committed error. See Ohio Bureau of Employment Services v. Hodory, 431 U. S. 471 (1977). This does not mean, of course, that respondent must lose her unemployment benefits. As my Brother Blackmun notes, the Supreme Court of Idaho on remand may well want to consider whether the purpose of the Idaho Legislature in passing the “night school” provision of Idaho Code § 72-1312 (a) (1973) would not be better served by construing that phrase to include early morning classes, which like night classes are apparently intended by their provider, Boise State University, to allow persons both to work (or seek work) and to go to school. If this construction is not adopted, the court may want to consider whether the Idaho Constitution invalidates § 72-1312 (a). See generally Brennan, State Constitutions and the Protection of Individual Rights, 90 Harv. L. Rev. 489 (1977).