Common Cause of Pennsylvania v. Pennsylvania, Civil Action No. 1:05-CV-2036.

Decision Date12 June 2006
Docket NumberCivil Action No. 1:05-CV-2036.
Citation447 F.Supp.2d 415
PartiesCOMMON CAUSE OF PENNSYLVANIA, et al., Plaintiffs v. Commonwealth of PENNSYLVANIA, et al., Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Middle District of Pennsylvania

Paul Anthony Rossi, Philadelphia, PA, for Plaintiffs.

Amanda L. Smith, Daniel J. Doyle, Office of the Attorney General, Gregory E. Dunlap, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Office of General Counsel Sally A. Ulrich, Treasury Department, Commonwealth of PA, Linda J. Shorey, Amy L. Groff, John P. Krill, Jr., Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP, Harrisburg, PA, Mark A. Aronchick, Nina L. Russakoff, Wendy Beetlestone, Hangley, Aronchick, Segal & Pudlin, C. Clark Hodgson, Jr., Johnathan F. Bloom, Stuart D. Lurie, Thomas W. Dymek, Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & Young, Arlin M. Adams, Bruce P. Merenstein, Schnader, Harrison, Segal and Lewis, LLP, Howard M. Holmes, Supreme Court of PA Administrative Office of PA Courts, Philadelphia, PA, Eugene F. Hickey, II, James F. Tierney, IV, Patrick Heffron, Cipriani & Werner, Scranton, PA, Paul H. Titus, Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP, Pittsburgh, PA, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM

KANE, District Judge.

I. Introduction

Plaintiffs Common Cause of Pennsylvania, the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, Representative Greg Vitali, and four individual citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, seek to invoke the jurisdiction of the federal courts to address alleged legislative misconduct by state officials that they claim resulted in constitutional violations. The Complaint, as amended on October 31, 2005, and again on February 8, 2006, alleges that the leadership of Pennsylvania's General Assembly, together with the Governor and the Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, conspired to violate Plaintiffs' constitutional rights by adopting and approving—in a manner that foreclosed public comment, full participation of all elected representatives, and honest judicial review—legislation providing substantial pay increases for the members of the General Assembly, the judiciary, and senior members of the executive branch of state government.

Plaintiffs ask that this Court declare that the Act of July 7, 2005, P.L. 201, No. 44 ("Act 44"), which was repealed on November 16, 2005, is unconstitutional and unenforceable, and declare that the process by which the Act was passed violated the United States Constitution. Additionally, Plaintiffs seek extraordinary and unprecedented declaratory and injunctive relief in the form of orders enjoining the Pennsylvania General Assembly from enacting hypothetically unconstitutional future legislation and enjoining the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from citing or relying on certain legal precedents established by that Court since 1999.

Defendants have separately moved to dismiss this action in its entirety, arguing, inter alia, that the matter as framed is not properly before this Court, and, in essence, that the relief sought cannot be granted without running afoul of fundamental principles of our republican form of government and the most basic legal tenets regarding justiciability of claims. Plaintiffs submitted a timely brief in opposition to Defendants' motions, and the Court heard oral argument from the parties on May 19, 2006. For the reasons explained fully below, Defendants' Motions to Dismiss must be granted.

II. Background

For purposes of adjudicating the pending motions to dismiss, the Court is legally bound to accept as true all well-pleaded factual allegations set forth in the Second Amended Complaint.1 The Court notes that none of Plaintiffs' factual allegations have been tested in Court, and are accepted at this time only for purposes of evaluating the pending motions to dismiss. At this stage of the proceedings, the Court must determine whether, if the facts as alleged are proved, Plaintiffs are entitled to the relief sought. Nevertheless, because allegations that public officials abrogated their oaths of office and engaged in base self-dealing undermine public confidence in our system of laws and subject officials to serious repercussions, the Court underscores that Plaintiffs' allegations are simply that—allegations. Accordingly, the following factual background is as alleged by Plaintiffs.

As noted, Plaintiffs' initial complaint was in the nature of a challenge to the constitutionality of a state statute, a matter routinely entrusted to our federal courts. Within weeks of Plaintiffs' challenge, the offending statute was repealed as a result of political processes, inviting the obvious question of whether there is anything left for this Court to decide. Following repeal of Act 44, Plaintiffs sought and were granted leave of court to amend, without objection from Defendants. Plaintiffs did so, broadening their claims to encompass the events that immediately preceded the legislative enactment. Now the keystone of Plaintiffs' complaint is the representation that in passing the pay raise for its members and for executive and judicial officials, the leaders of the Pennsylvania General Assembly acted in a manner that was so "unsavory" as to rise to the level of a constitutional violation that cannot go unaddressed, irrespective of the ultimate fate of Act 44. (Second Am. Compl. at 2-4.) Plaintiffs claim violation of due process, free speech and equal protection.

The Complaint, as twice amended, is an aggressive indictment of state government in Pennsylvania, containing shocking accusations that the House and Senate leadership, the Governor,2 and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania acted in concert to pass, sign, and validate, ill-conceived legislation, in a manner that foreclosed public debate and independent judicial review, all in violation of Plaintiffs' rights to free speech, due process, and equal protection. As factual support, Plaintiffs allege that unnamed justices3 of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania have in the past traded judicial votes for legislative votes, with members of Pennsylvania's high court agreeing to cast favorable votes on important cases pending before the court in exchange for the legislature agreeing to fund the Commonwealth's Unified Judicial System. Specifically, Plaintiffs allege that in or around 1999 an unnamed justice or justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court negotiated with unnamed members of Pennsylvania's General Assembly to secure "legislation desired by the Court in exchange for rulings favorable to the legislative leadership on cases then pending before the Court challenging the constitutionality of the process by which important legislation was consistently enacted in secret." (Second Am. Compl. at 5.) Plaintiffs further offer their belief that unnamed justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court "bartered their votes on cases important to the interpretation and jurisprudence of key state constitutional provisions ... in exchange for state funding desired by the Justices"— specifically, regarding the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's mandate that the General Assembly fund the Commonwealth's Unified Judicial System. (Id.) In sum, Plaintiffs represent that in Pennsylvania, the "fix is in."4

Plaintiffs allege that at some point in the middle of 2004, the Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Defendant Ralph C. Cappy, entered into secret negotiations with leaders of the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the executive branch to increase the salary of every justice and judge of the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System. (Second Am. Compl. ¶ 45.) Plaintiffs further allege that Chief Justice Cappy advocated "pegging certain judicial, legislative and executive branch salaries to the salary, or some fraction thereof, of certain designated federal officials." (Id. ¶ 46.)

Contemporaneous with these secret negotiations, on May 3, 2005, House Representatives Raymond Bunt, Jr. and Michael R. Veon introduced House Bill 1521, Printer's Number ("PN") 1865, a 24-line bill entitled "Relating to Compensation for Executive Branch Officials." House Bill 1521 proposed to limit the compensation of any member of the Commonwealth's executive branch or board from receiving compensation greater than that paid to the Governor. (Second Am. Compl. ¶¶ 156, 57.)

House Bill 1521 was passed by the House,5 and on July 6, 2005, House Bill 1521, PN-2561, was passed by the Senate with amendments. (Id. ¶ 63.) The House refused to concur in the Senate's amendments, and the Senate insisted upon its amendments to the bill. (Id.) After the House insisted upon its non-concurrence to the amendments, a conference committee was appointed consisting of three House and three Senate members. (Id. ¶ 63.) The appointed conference committee was comprised of Robert C. Jubilerer, President Pro Tempore of the Senate; David J. Brightbill, Senate Majority Leader; Robert J. Mellow, Senate Minority Leader; Samuel H. Smith, House Majority Leader; David G. Argall, House Majority Whip; and Michael R. Veon, House Minority Whip, all named Defendants in this action. (Id. ¶ 64.)

At approximately 2:00 a.m. on July 7, 2005, the six-member conference committee amended House Bill 1521, now PN-2570. (Id. ¶ 65.) The amendment converted the bill from its original 24—line version into a 22—page bill, providing substantial increases in the salary of every justice and judge of the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System, every member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, and senior members of the executive branch, including the Governor and members of his Cabinet. (Id.) The amendments were so extensive that the original subject matter of House Bill 1521 was deleted entirely. (Id. ¶ 66.)

Minutes after being reported out of the conference committee, HB 1521, PN-2570, was presented to the Senate and the House under a rule prohibiting any amendment to the bill. (Id. ¶ 69.) Presentation of the bill in this manner represented "the only public consideration of,...

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