Amalgamated Ass of Street, Electric Railway Motor Coach Employees of America, Division 998 v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Board

CourtUnited States Supreme Court
Citation340 U.S. 416,71 S.Ct. 373,95 L.Ed. 389
Docket NumberNo. 330,330
PartiesAMALGAMATED ASS'N OF STREET, ELECTRIC RAILWAY & MOTOR COACH EMPLOYEES OF AMERICA, DIVISION 998, et al. v. WISCONSIN EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD
Decision Date26 February 1951

Mr. David Previant, Milwaukee, Wis., for petitioner.

Mr. J. Gilbert Hardgrove, Milwaukee, Wis., for appellee Milwaukee Gas Light Co.

Mr. Martin R. Paulsen, Milwaukee, for respondent Milwaukee Elec. Ry. Transport Co.

Mr. Malcolm Riley, Eau Claire, Wis., and Beatrice Lampert, Madison, Wis., for Wisconsin Employment Relations Board.

Mr. Chief Justice VINSON delivered the opinion of the Court.

The parties to this case are the same transit workers, the same transit company, and the Wisconsin Employment Relations Board before the Court in No. 329, 340 U.S. 383, 71 S.Ct. 359. This action arises out of the same threatened strike discussed in that case. After a restraining order had led to postponement of the strike, the Wisconsin Board appointed arbitrators to 'hear and determine' the dispute in accordance with the terms of the Wisconsin Public Utility Anti-Strike Law. Wis.Stat.1947, § 111.55. Upon the filing of the arbitrators' award, petitioners filed an action in a state circuit court to review that award. Id., § 111.60. That court affirmed the award and the Wisconsin Supreme Court affirmed, 1950, 257 Wis. 53, 42 N.W.2d 477. We granted certiorari in this case together with No. 329, 1950, 340 U.S. 874, 71 S.Ct. 124.

In the courts below and in this Court, petitioners attack the arbitration award on the same grounds urged against the Wisconsin Act as a whole in No. 329, and, in addition, raise issues peculiar to the arbitration phase of that act. But we do not reach these issues since it is clear that this case has become moot.1

The arbitration award became effective on April 11, 1949. Under the Wisconsin Act, that award 'shall continue effective for one year from that date,' unless sooner terminated by agreement of the parties. Wis.Stat.1949, § 111.59. We are informed that this award was superseded by agreement, and, in any event, the one-year period has elapsed. There being no subject matter upon which the judgment of this Court can operate, the cause is moot.

It is argued that the Wisconsin courts have adopted a practice of deciding questions of importance even though the case has become moot, and we are urged to follow that same practice. But whatever the practice in Wisconsin courts, 'A federal court is without power to decide moot questions or to give advisory opinions which cannot affect the rights of the litigants in the case before it. United States v. Alaska S.S. Co., 253 U.S. 113, 115, 116, 40 S.Ct. 448 (449), 64 L.Ed. 808, and cases cited; United States v. Hamburg-Amerikanische Packet-Fahrt-Actien Gesellschaft, 239 U.S. 466, 475—477, 36 S.Ct. 212, 216, 60 L.Ed. 387.' St. Pierre v. United States, 1943, 319 U.S. 41, 42, 63 S.Ct. 910, 911, 87 L.Ed. 1199.

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    ...cannot grant relief or affect the rights of the litigants before it. Amalgamated Ass'n of St. Elec. Ry. & Motor Coach Employees Div. 998 v. Employment Relations Board, 340 U.S. 416, 418, 71 S. Ct. 373, 95 L.Ed. 389 (1951), quoting, St. Pierre v. United States, 319 U.S. 41, 42, 63 S.Ct. 910,......
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    ...before it. Amalgamated Association of St. Elec. Ry. and Motor Coach Employees of America, Division 998 v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Board, 340 U.S. 416, 71 S.Ct. 373, 95 L.Ed. 389 (1951). Furthermore, the controversy must be one for which the court can fashion specific and conclusive r......
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