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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Courts - More on: Astonishing stories of collusion between Pennsylvania's legislature and its Supreme Court

The ILB had lost track of this federal lawsuit involving Common Cause and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, first mentioned in a Feb. 7, 2006 ILB entry. There have been other suits before Pennsylvania state courts re the now notorious "midnight pay raise" in 2005 - see for example this ILB entry from Dec. 28, 2005.

Today Shannon P. Duffy of The Legal Intelligencer has an interesting story including some of the procedural aspects of the federal lawsuit. For instance:

Litigation over the controversial July 2005 pay raise for Pennsylvania judges and lawmakers returns to court next week as a special three-judge federal appeals panel hears oral arguments on the issue of whether the process used to pass the law violated the constitutional rights of citizens.

The case, Common Cause of Pennsylvania v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, has already been argued before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in January. But the three-judge panel later announced that the entire 3rd Circuit was recused from hearing the case because Gov. Edward G. Rendell was named as an individual defendant and his wife, Marjorie Rendell, is a 3rd Circuit judge.

As a result, the case will be reargued Oct. 22 before three visiting judges -- Joel M. Flaum of the 7th Circuit; David M. Ebel of the 10th Circuit; and Pierre N. Leval of the 2nd Circuit.

Another quote from the fascinating story:
The suit alleges that the leadership of Pennsylvania's General Assembly, together with Gov. Rendell and the former Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, Ralph J. Cappy, conspired to violate the plaintiffs' constitutional rights by passing the pay raise legislation in a manner that foreclosed public comment, full participation of all elected representatives and honest judicial review.

At the heart of the suit is an allegation that Cappy conspired with legislative leaders to pass the pay raise in the wee hours of the morning in order to avoid public scrutiny, and that Cappy secured the cooperation of the Legislature by promising to rule in its favor in two pending appeals.

U.S. District Judge Yvette Kane of the Middle District of Pennsylvania dismissed the suit in June 2006, ruling that none of the plaintiffs had standing to bring such claims and that, even if they did, the federal courts would not entertain them.

"Federal courts will not interfere with a state's distribution of power among its various branches of government," Kane wrote.

"Tempting though it may be, the court has no authority to dictate to the Pennsylvania General Assembly how that body must conduct itself when considering and enacting future state legislation, even to enter orders that would restrain Pennsylvania's elected officials from hypothetically engaging in future conduct that might violate the United States Constitution.

" Kane found that "longstanding constitutional principles absolutely forbid this court from dictating to Pennsylvania's current and future elected officials how to distribute power and responsibility for proposing or developing legislation going forward, much less to enjoin such officials from even discussing potential legislation or other matters of political business with one another in the course of fulfilling their official responsibilities."

On appeal, Rossi argues that Kane erred by failing to recognize the unique nature of the claim -- a conspiracy among all three branches of Pennsylvania's government -- and the futility of attempting to seek redress in the Pennsylvania courts.

Rossi argues in his brief that he will be able to prove the existence of the conspiracy if he is allowed discovery.

In its most explosive allegation, the suit charges that, in secret with legislative leaders, Cappy and other unnamed justices threatened that the high court would decide two pending cases against the legislature unless a bill was passed providing long-demanded funding for the state's unified judicial system.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 16, 2008 08:36 AM
Posted to Courts in general