Blake v. Papadakos
| Citation | 953 F.2d 68 |
| Decision Date | 08 January 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 91-1537,91-1537 |
| Parties | Edward J. BLAKE, Hon., President Judge of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas v. Nicholas P. PAPADAKOS, Hon., Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; Ralph J. Cappy, Hon., Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; Robert N.C. Nix, Jr., Hon., Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; Rolf Larsen, Hon., Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; John P. Flaherty, Hon., Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; James T. McDermott, Hon., Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; Stephen A. Zappala, Hon., Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; Honorable Nicholas P. Papadakos, Honorable Ralph J. Cappy, Honorable Robert N.C. Nix, Jr., Honorable Rolf Larsen, Honorable John P. Flaherty, Honorable James T. McDermott and Honorable Stephen A. Zappala, Appellants. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit) |
David M. Donaldson (argued), A. Taylor Williams, Administrative Office of PA Courts, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellants.
Perry S. Bechtle (argued), Conrad O. Kattner, Sally J. Garber, LaBrum & Doak, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellee.
Before BECKER, GREENBERG and GARTH, Circuit Judges.
This appeal brings before us for review an order of the District Court which enjoined the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from taking any acts diminishing the power of the President Judge of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas.
The Honorable Edward J. Blake, President Judge of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, brought an action in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court claiming that the Justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had violated Pennsylvania law and the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution by depriving him of essential administrative powers and by usurping for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court powers that traditionally had been functions of the office of President Judge. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an opinion and order which upheld the challenged order of December 19, 1990 and which declared that the Court's challenged exercise of supervisory power violated neither federal nor state law. See In re Petition of Hon. Edward J. Blake, et al., 527 Pa. 456, 593 A.2d 1267 (1991) (per curiam). Judge Blake thereupon filed an action in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to enjoin the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from exercising the powers of his office.
Because we conclude that the district court's exercise of subject matter jurisdiction in this case constituted an impermissible review by a federal court of a final adjudicative determination of a state's highest court, we will vacate the preliminary injunction entered by the District Court and remand this case with an instruction to dismiss Judge Blake's complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
On December 18, 1990, the Board of Judges of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas elected Judge Edward Blake to the office of President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for a five-year term in accordance with the Pennsylvania Constitution, Art. V §§ 5 & 10(d). The next day, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an order designating two Supreme Court Justices, appellants Papadakos and Cappy, to act with "full authority to approve, implement and monitor all changes deemed necessary and proper until further Order of this Court" as to all "administrative" and "budgetary" matters within the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. The order stated:
AND NOW, to-wit, this 19th day of December, 1990, MR. JUSTICE RALPH J. CAPPY is assigned to the task of overseeing the reformation of the Administrative Structure of the Courts of the First judicial district with the full authority to approve, implement and monitor all changes and reforms deemed necessary and proper until further order of this Court.
MR. JUSTICE NICHOLAS P. PAPADAKOS is assigned to the task of overseeing the Budgetary Structure of the Courts of the First Judicial District with the full authority to approve, implement and monitor all changes deemed necessary and proper to their budgets and to insure that such changes bring about fiscal responsibility for the Judicial District until further order of this court.
The Board of Judges of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, displeased with the Justices' apparent incursion on Judge Blake's authority, adopted a Resolution in March, 1991 affirming their selection of Judge Blake as President Judge and requesting that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court restore to Judge Blake the powers inherent in his position. Justice Papadakos, apparently on behalf of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, rejected that request by letter on March 18, 1991.
Pursuant to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's December 19, 1990 order, Justice Papadakos directed Judge Blake to transfer 59 of Judge Blake's 65 staff employees to the supervision of the Administrative Judge of the Trial Division. Justice Papadakos apparently also directed the termination of approximately 200 court employees.
On April 22, 1991, Judge Blake and the Board of Judges filed a Petition with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court urging the Court to set aside its December 19, 1990 order. Judge Blake and the Board maintained that the Justices' exercise of supervisory authority over the Court of Common Pleas violated the Pennsylvania Constitution () and the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution.
On May 8, 1991, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an order denying the Petition. The order stated that written opinions would follow. On June 27, 1991, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court filed an opinion explaining and supporting its May 8, 1991 order. See In re Petition of Hon. Edward J. Blake, et al., 527 Pa. 456, 593 A.2d 1267 (1991) (per curiam). 1 On the same day, Judge Blake sought relief in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, again raising his arguments under the Pennsylvania and United States Constitutions.
The opinion of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in rejecting Judge Blake's Petition, called attention to Article V § 10(a) of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which provides:
The Supreme Court shall exercise general supervisory and administrative authority over all the courts ...
The Court explained that pursuant to this Constitutional mandate, the Justices had observed, and become increasingly uneasy with, the administration of the Philadelphia courts. In particular, the Court had come to believe that "the sixty-five member staff under President Judge Blake duplicates the functions performed by the administrative judges and their staffs, and is thus in large part expendable." The Court explained that "after lengthy respite to allow the [Court of Common Pleas] to reform itself, with no appreciable improvement," the Court saw fit to appoint Justices Papadakos and Cappy to exercise a direct administrative role.
The Court next addressed Judge Blake's argument that appointment of Justices Papadakos and Cappy had usurped the powers that Pennsylvania's Judicial Code had conferred upon Judge Blake. The Code provides that:
[e]xcept as otherwise provided or proscribed by this title, by general rule, or by order of the governing authority, the president judge of a court shall:
(1) Be the executive and administrative head of the court, supervise the judicial business of the court, promulgate all administrative rules and regulations, make all judicial assignments, and assign and reassign among the personnel of the court available chambers and other physical facilities.
(2) Exercise the powers of the court under section 2301(a)(2) ().
42 Pa.C.S.A. § 325(e)(1). Section 2301(a)(2) provides that the President Judge:
may appoint and fix the compensation and duties of necessary administrative staff and fix the compensation of personal staff.
42 Pa.C.S.A. § 325(e)(2); 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 2301(a)(2).
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court responded to Judge Blake's Petition by pointing out that 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 325(e)(1), which defines the powers of the President Judge, provides in its preamble "[e]xcept as otherwise provided ... by general rule or by order of the governing authority...." The Judicial Code defines "governing authority" as "[t]he [Pennsylvania] Supreme Court" or its delegates. 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 102. Thus, the Court held, the Pennsylvania Judicial Code preserves for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court the power to alter the duties of President Judges whenever the Pennsylvania Supreme Court sees fit. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court explained that the order of December 19, 1990 and the subsequent directives of Justice Papadakos concorded with this statutory authority as well as with the Court's general supervisory and administrative authority over the unified judicial system under Pa. Const. Art. V § 10(a).
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court went on to reject Judge Blake's argument that the December 19, 1990 order had deprived him of Due Process under the United States Constitution. Judge Blake claimed that he had been denied due process because he had not been given benefit of notice and a hearing prior to the order of December 19, 1990. Because constitutionally protected property interests stem from state law, and in this case state law provided Judge Blake with no inherent constitutional or statutory powers that are not subject to the supervisory authority of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that Judge Blake had "been deprived of no right or interest" that might trigger the Due Process Clause. In re Petition of Hon. Edward J. Blake, et al., 527 Pa. at 461, n. 2, 593 A.2d 1267.
After receiving the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's written opinion, Judge Blake filed an action...
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