Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen Enginemen v. Chicago, Rock Island Pacific Railroad Co Hardin v. Chicago, Rock Island Pacific Railroad Co, s. 16

• Decision Date: 18 November 1968
• Docket Number: 18,Nos. 16,s. 16
• Parties: BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN & ENGINEMEN et al., Appellants, v. CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILROAD CO. et al. Robert N. HARDIN, Prosecuting Atty., 7th Circ., Ark., et al., Appellants, v. CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILROAD CO. et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

393 U.S. 129

89 S.Ct. 323

21 L.Ed.2d 289

BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN & ENGINEMEN et al., Appellants,

v CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILROAD CO. et al.

Robert N. HARDIN, Prosecuting Atty., 7th Circ., Ark.,

et al., Appellants,

v.

CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILROAD CO. et al.

Nos. 16, 18.

Argued Oct. 22, 1968.

Decided Nov. 18, 1968.

Rehearings Denied Jan. 13, 1969.

See 393 U.S. 1045, 89 S.Ct. 610.

James E. Youngdahl and Leslie Evitts, Little Rock, Ark., for appellants.

Robert V. Light, Little Rock, Ark., and Martin M. Lucente, Chicago, Ill., for appellees.

Mr. Justice BLACK delivered the opinion of the Court.

These cases raise the question whether the Arkansas 'full-crew' laws, specifying a minimum number of employees who must serve as part of a train crew under certain circumstances, violate the Commerce Clause or the Fourteenth Amendment. The constitutionality of these Arkansas laws has been specifically upheld against challenges under the same constitutional rpovisions in three decisions of this Court, in 1911, in 1916, and again in 1931.¹ In the present cases, however, the District Court found that as a result of economic and technical developments since our last decision on this subject, the statutes were no longer justified as safety measures, the ground on which they had formerly been sustained, and struck them down as contrary to the Commerce Clause of the Constitution and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 274 F.Supp. 294 (D.C.W.D.Ark.1967). We noted probable jurisdiction, 390 U.S. 941, 88 S.Ct. 1035, 19 L.Ed.2d 1128 (1968). We disagree with the District Court's holding that the railroads have shown a change in circumstances sufficient to justify departure from our three previous decisions. We therefore reaffirm those cases and reverse the judgment of the District Court.

The first of the two statutes challenged here was enacted in 1907, and this law makes it an offense for a railroad operating a line of more than 50 miles to haul a freight train consisting of more than 25 cars, unless the train has a crew of not 'less than an engineer, a fireman, a conductor and three (3) brakemen * * *.'² The second statute, enacted in 1913, makes it an offense for any railroad with a line of 100 miles or more to engage in switching operations in cities of designated populations, with 'less than one (1) engineer, a fireman, a foreman and three (3) helpers * * *.'³ These two statutes, the constitutionality of which this Court previously upheld, are precisely the statutes here challenged and struck down.

This latest attack on these Arkansas laws was commenced by a group of interstate railroads operating in Arkansas which asked the United States District Court to declare the statutes unconstitutional and enjoin two Arkansas prosecuting attorneys, appellants here, from enforcing them. The railroad brotherhoods, also appel- lants here, were allowed to intervene in the District Court in order to defend the validity of the state statutes. In their complaint appellees charged that both statutes (1) operate in an 'arbitrary, capricious, discriminatory and unreasonable' manner in violation of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment; (2) unduly interfere with, burden, and needlessly increase the cost of interstate transportation in violation of the Commerce Clause, Art. I, § 8, cl. 3, of the Constitution, and contrary to the National Transportation Policy expressed in the Interstate Commerce Act; (3) discriminate against interstate commerce in favor of local or intrastate commerce; and (4) invade a field of federal legislation pre-empted by the Federal Government primarily through Pub.L. 88—108, passed by Congress in 1963⁴ to avert a nationwide railroad strike.

In its first opinion in these cases, the District Court granted the railroads' motion for summary judgment, holding that the field of full-crew legislation was pre-empted by Pub.L. 88 108, 239 F.Supp. 1 (D.C.W.D.Ark.1965), but we reversed on the pre-emption question, sub nom. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers et al. v. Chicago, R.I. & P.R. Co., 382 U.S. 423, 86 S.Ct. 594, 15 L.Ed.2d 501 (1966). We also held that the railroads were not entitled to summary judgment on their alternative theory that because the effect of the mileage exemption in the two Acts is to free all of the State's intrastate railroads from the full-crew requirements while ensuring coverage of most of the interstate railroads, the two Acts 'constitute discriminatory legislation against interstate commerce in favor of intrastate commerce.' Id., at 437—438, 86 S.Ct., at 601. On remand the District Court held an evidentiary hearing and, after compiling a voluminous record, found that the full-crew requirements had 'no substantial effect on safety of operations,' placed 'substantial financial burdens' upon the carriers, and caused 'some delays' and interference with the continuity of railroad operations. On the basis of these findings the District Court held the Arkansas laws unconstitutional as impermissible burdens on interstate commerce and also ruled that because the laws were 'unreasonable and oppressive' they violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The court did not reach the railroads' further argument that the Arkansas laws discriminate against interstate commerce in favor of intrastate commerce in violation of the Commerce and Equal Protection Clauses. Appellants challenge both the accuracy of the District Court's findings and holdings and their relevance to adjudication of the constitutional issues presented. They ask us to hold that the Arkansas laws do not impermissibly burden interstate commerce or otherwise violate any provision of the Constitution.

I.

The question of crew size has been a subject of dispute between the railroads and their employees for more than half a century. Much of the controversy has of course been fought out by collective bargaining between the railroads and the unions.⁵ In many States attempts have been made to settle the controversy by legislation. The Arkansas statutes before us were passed in 1907 and 1913, along with a number of other laws designed to further railroad safety, such as headlight standards, regulations concerning the obstruction of train crossings, and so on.⁶ Many other States have also passed full-crew laws as parts of detailed codes regulating railroad safety.⁷ These safety codes, and the full-crew provisions in particular, have been subject to continual re-evaluation throughout the country. In New York, for example, the Public Service Commission in 1960 recommended total repeal of the State's full-crew legislation, and in 1966 two of the three New York laws in the field were repealed, but the legislature explicitly rejected a proposal to repeal the third law, which requires both a fireman and an engineer to be on duty in the engine cab, in addition to the brakeman who serves in the cab on freight hauls. ⁸ In Arkansas the railroad safety laws have similarly been subject to close scrutiny. Additional safety requirements have been added from time to time, ⁹ and some safety requirements considered out of date have been repealed. ¹⁰ With respect to the full-crew statutes specifically, a proposal to repeal these statutes was placed on the ballot for popular referendum in 1958 and was decisively defeated by the voters. Congress too has been concerned with the problem of the rules governing crew size and in 1963 passed a statute referring the dispute between the railroads and the unions to arbitration, but as we held in our prior decision, Congress was aware of state full-crew laws and did not intend to override them. 382 U.S., at 429—437, 86 S.Ct., at 597—601.

In spite of this background of frequent and recent legislative re-evaluation of the full-crew problem, both at the state and national levels, the railroads now ask us to determine as a judicial matter that these laws no longer make a significant contribution to safety and so seriously burden the railroads in their operations that they should no longer stand under the Commerce Clause. The essence of the railroads' position is that the requirement of additional crewmen amounts to nothing more than featherbedding. They claim that the firemen once needed to tend the furnaces on steam locomotives are not necessary on the diesel engines now generally in use. Although the railroads recognize that the fireman performs a valuable lookout function on passenger trains, where he and the engineer are the only crewmen in the engine cab, they assert that in both freight hauling operations and yard switching operations other railroad employees are available to provide an adequate lookout and assist the engineer in correcting mechanical problems and performing other miscellaneous duties. The railroads thus maintain that the firemen, and some of the other required crewmen, perform no useful function and make no significant contribution to safety. At the same time, the railroads contend, the full-crew requirements substantially increase their cost of operation, hampering their ability to improve railroad service and to compete with other modes of transportation, and also burden commerce by requiring interstate trains passing through Arkansas to slow down or stop at the border to pick up and let off the extra crewmen.

The State of Arkansas and the railroad brotherhoods, all appellants here, take a different view of the functions performed by the firemen and other additional crewmen required under the statutes. They claim that the work performed by these employees serving as lookout, passing signals, relieving the engineer in emergencies, inspecting the engine and other cars, and helping to make needed adjustments and repairs while the train is moving—is still necessary and cannot be performed by other employees without unduly burdening them and interfering with the proper performance of their other tasks. Ap- ...