School Dist. of City of Saginaw v. US DEPT. OF HEW, Civ. A. No. 76-10121.

• Decision Date: 09 March 1977
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 76-10121.
• Parties: SCHOOL DISTRICT OF the CITY OF SAGINAW, MICHIGAN, a Public body corporate, Burneice Surles, Chester Surles, Kishna Brown, Eddie Brown, and Molly Rivera, for themselves, and on behalf of those similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE, an Agency of the United States of America and National Science Foundation, an Agency of the United States of America, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

431 F. Supp. 147

SCHOOL DISTRICT OF the CITY OF SAGINAW, MICHIGAN, a Public body corporate, Burneice Surles, Chester Surles, Kishna Brown, Eddie Brown, and Molly Rivera, for themselves, and on behalf of those similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE, an Agency of the United States of America and National Science Foundation, an Agency of the United States of America, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 76-10121.

United States District Court, E. D. Michigan, N. D.

March 9, 1977.

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Burton R. Shifman, Philip J. Goodman, Southfield, Mich., Bruce H. Mellinger, Saginaw, Mich., for plaintiffs.

Irving Jaffe, Dennis G. Linder, Elisa B. Vela, Dept. of Justice, Civ. Div., Washington, D.C., Haskell H. Shelton Jr., Asst. U.S. Atty., Bay City, Mich., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JAMES HARVEY, District Judge.

This suit is brought by plaintiffs seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to prohibit defendants from seeking to enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d, et seq., on the grounds that defendants have not complied with the procedural requirements of 42 U.S.C. § 2000d-1. Plaintiffs also raise various constitutional issues.

Defendants have moved the Court for dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and, in the alternative, have moved for summary judgment in their favor. Defendants have moved also for dismissal of the named parents of school children on the grounds that such lack standing to bring this suit. Plaintiffs, in turn, have moved for preliminary injunctive relief and for summary judgment in their favor.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a statutory scheme displaying a Congressional intent to eliminate discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in any program which receives federal financial assistance. Under Section 602 of the Act, federal agencies are authorized to promulgate regulations which effectuate the non-discrimination purpose set forth in Section 601. The agencies are also authorized to initiate administrative proceedings after the agency has initially determined that a federally funded program is being administered discriminatorily and that compliance with the Act cannot be achieved through voluntary efforts. These administrative proceedings consist of an evidentiary hearing before an administrative law judge, who makes a finding of compliance or non-compliance, and administrative appeals. A final determination of non-compliance authorizes the agency to terminate federal funding, for the respective program involved, thirty days after the agency files a full written report with the appropriate Congressional committees.

Administrative proceedings have been initiated by the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) in which it is alleged that the School District of the City of Saginaw, Michigan, is receiving federal financial assistance for programs in which there is discrimination in violation of Section 601 and implementing regulations 45 CFR 80 and 611. Plaintiffs do not challenge the merits of these allegations, as they properly recognize that the issue of compliance or non-compliance with Title VI can be determined initially only by the administrative agency. 42 U.S.C. § 2000d-1. Instead, plaintiffs urge the Court to enjoin the administrative procedures on the grounds that the agencies are proceeding in a manner which is unconstitutional and contrary to the provisions of Title VI.

Plaintiffs' first claim is that the initiation of the administrative enforcement proceedings is premature because defendants did not use good faith efforts to obtain voluntary compliance prior to initiating the administrative enforcement proceedings.

Title VI, at 42 U.S.C. § 2000d-1, prohibits the agency from initiating administrative enforcement proceedings until it has first determined that compliance cannot be obtained by voluntary means. Plaintiffs concede that HEW met and corresponded with the School District on many occasions in a period over a year and a half prior to beginning the administrative enforcement proceedings. It is plaintiffs' contention, though, that the quality of the efforts by HEW are not sufficient to fulfill its duties under the statute.

Plaintiffs assert that regardless of the sufficiency of HEW's efforts at obtaining voluntary compliance, NSF has clearly failed to meet this duty as it never met or corresponded with the School District prior to the initiation of the administrative proceedings. In response, NSF and HEW assert that NSF has validly delegated to HEW its authority to enforce Title VI, so that the actions of HEW must be considered also as the actions of NSF.

Plaintiffs raise three objections which are aimed directly at the procedures to be employed in the hearing before the Administrative Law Judge:

Plaintiffs assert that the regulations at 45 CFR 81, which set forth the practices for the hearings, decisions, and administrative review conducted by HEW, have not been approved by the President. Plaintiffs maintain that for this reason, HEW is proceeding illegally, because Section 602 of Title VI, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d-1, requires all rules and regulations to be approved by the President before they may become effective. In response to this claim, HEW asserts that these procedural rules were promulgated pursuant to the authority of the Secretary of HEW set forth at 5 U.S.C. § 301. HEW asserts that Title VI does not require Presidential approval of these regulations, as they are procedural only and do not define what constitutes discriminatory practices prohibited by Title VI.

Plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality of the procedures to be employed before the Administrative Law Judge.

Plaintiffs allege that the procedures before the Administrative Law Judge do not provide them with an adequate opportunity to be heard, in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and that as the Administrative Law Judge has broad discretion, the possibility of idiosyncratic approaches to the conduct of the hearings deprive them of the right of Equal Protection of the laws.

In regards to plaintiffs' due process claim, plaintiffs assert that the regulations promulgated pursuant to Title VI, 45 CFR 80, 81, and 611, do not provide plaintiffs with an adequate opportunity to defend on the merits because there is no adequate discovery mechanism and no subpoena power to compel the attendance of witnesses. Plaintiffs also maintain that the selection procedures for the Administrative Law Judge are inherently biased, and that the great probability of bias in conjunction with the Administrative Law Judge's discretion, is very likely to result in injustice to plaintiffs. Plaintiffs assert that the possibility of harm to themselves is made more immediate because the Administrative Law Judge has ruled that interlocutory administrative appeals will not be permitted.

The third challenge to the procedures to be employed is that the implementing regulations and evidentiary procedures are not uniform throughout the United States as required by 42 U.S.C. § 2000d-6(a) and 20 U.S.C. § 1753. Plaintiffs do not assert in this regard that there have been enacted different regulations and procedures for various parts of the country. Rather, it is plaintiffs' claim that the regulations and procedures are so general and broad that they are susceptible of different application.

The final claim by plaintiffs is that the regulations enacted to implement the nondiscrimination mandate of Title VI are unconstitutionally vague, as a person of ordinary intelligence could not determine from them precisely what is required to obtain compliance.

The threshold question in this as in every case is whether this Court has jurisdiction. F.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1). If it does not, then plaintiffs' complaint must be dismissed, without regard to the merits of their claims.

In enacting Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Congress did not provide for any jurisdiction in the United States District Courts. Instead, the statute provides for administrative procedures, with review of those administrative procedures to be conducted in the Court of Appeals under Section 603 of the Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d-2.

Plaintiffs seek to avoid the jurisdictional scheme of Title VI by asserting that this Court should assume jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331(a), which sets forth the general grant of jurisdiction in the District Court over suits involving a federal question. This statute, as recently amended to remove the amount in controversy requirement in suits against an agency of the United States, Pub.L. 94-574, 90 Stat. 2721 (October 21, 1976), provides for original subject matter jurisdiction for actions involving constitutional questions or the construction of a federal statute.

28 U.S.C. § 1331(a) does not in general authorize the District Court to intervene in administrative proceedings whenever an issue is raised which bears on the Constitution or a statute of the United States. Instead, a party to an administrative proceeding is generally precluded from seeking either judicial review or judicial intervention until such party has first exhausted his administrative remedies. In the context of Title VI, the exhaustion requirement means that plaintiffs must participate in the administrative process and present their claims eventually to the Court of Appeals.

The reasons behind the exhaustion requirement are not difficult to understand. First, where Congress has determined that an agency is to possess certain powers exclusively, the Court is obliged to respect the autonomy of the agency and its discretion within the bounds established by Congress. Secondly, the Courts are obliged to refrain from premature interference in the administrative process. As this Court stated in a similar case, ...