National Right to Work Legal Defense v. Richey
| Decision Date | 16 June 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 74--1661,74--1661 |
| Citation | 510 F.2d 1239 |
| Parties | 88 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3159, 167 U.S.App.D.C. 18, 76 Lab.Cas. P 10,731 NATIONAL RIGHT TO WORK LEGAL DEFENSE and Education Foundation Inc., and National Right to Work Committee, Petitioners, v. Honorable Charles R. RICHEY, District Judge, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit |
On Petition for Writ of Mandamus.
Conrad K. Harper, New York City, for petitioners. Thomas S. Jackson and John L. Kilcullen, Washington, D.C., and Deborah E. Lynch, New York City, entered appearances for petitioners.
Joseph L. Rauh, Jr., Washington, D.C., for respondent.
Before McGOWAN, TAMM and ROBINSON, Circuit Judges.
On May 1, 1973, respondents to this petition for mandamus--ten international unions and their affiliates--brought suit in the District Court against the National Right To Work Committee, and the National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation, Inc. (a separate organization affiliated with the Committee). The first cause of action sought declaratory and injunctive relief 1 in respect of alleged violations of Section 101(a)(4) of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. 2 Defendants moved to dismiss because (1) there was no allegation that the employers contributing to the Foundation are employers of the employees supported by it, and (2) the Act does not confer on plaintiffs a right to enforce, through an independent action under Section 102, the provisions of Section 101(a)(4). On October 24, 1973, the District Court denied the motion to dismiss, ruling against the jurisdictional claim, 3 but reserving the determination of whether defendants had received contributions from 'interested employers' until further evidence should be adduced. 366 F.Supp. 46 (D.D.C.1974). The District Court thereafter denied defendants' request for certification of an interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b).
Plaintiffs sought to discover the names of all business contributors to the Foundation in 1972. When this was resisted on constitutional grounds, plaintiffs narrowed their request, and filed a motion to compel disclosure. 4 Defendants resisted in a series of memoranda in which they raised a number of statutory and constitutional issues, not all of which were strictly relevant to the discovery motion, and not all of which are repeated here. On June 5, 1974, the District Court granted the motion to compel disclosure, and on June 20 it denied certification of certain issues under 28 U.S.C. 1292(b), staying its order of June 5 until June 25 to allow defendants time to seek review in this court. On June 27, 1974, defendants filed an appeal and motion for stay in this court. The appeal was dismissed on June 28 for lack of jurisdiction, and certiorari was denied by the Supreme Court on January 27, 1975. The petition for mandamus and stay was filed on June 28, 1974 and on that same date this court stayed the District Court's order pending decision on the petition. 5
The petition asks this court to (1) vacate the order compelling discovery, and (2) dismiss the first cause of action (a) for lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter, or (b) because of the asserted unconstitutionality of the second proviso to Section 101(a)(4). It would appear that this court is being asked to rule on the following questions:
(1) Does Section 102 give the District Court jurisdiction to entertain a suit by a union to enforce the provisions of Section 101(a)(4)? (In his decisions of October 24, 1973 and June 5, 1974, the district judge ruled that it did).
(2) Would a prohibition on financial contributions to the Foundation violate the First Amendment rights of employer-contributors?
(3) Is the definition of 'interested employer' restricted to the immediate employer of union-member parties? (The district judge does not appear to have made a final ruling on the definition of 'interested employer,' but he implicitly held that it is something broader than the immediate employer).
(4) Do the restrictions of Section 101(a)(4) apply only to suits brought by union members to protect rights under Title I of the Act? (The district judge ruled on June 5 that Section 101(a)(4) applies to more than Title I suits).
(5) Was the order compelling disclosure either appropriate or constitutional?
The Supreme Court in the recent past has on occasion unmistakably enlarged the area in which mandamus may be suitably employed. 6 It is equally clear, however, that mandamus remains, in that Court's contemplation, an extraordinary remedy, to be used in the discretion of the issuing court only where essential in the interest of justice, and not in derogation of the orderly processes of appeal. The issue that we must decide is whether mandamus is appropriate in the instant case. For the reasons stated below, we hold that mandamus is neither necessary nor appropriate.
This court has several times in recent years spoken to the principles governing the issuance of the writ. See, e.g., Colonial Times, Inc. v. Gasch, 166 U.S.App.D.C. ---, 509 F.2d 517 (1975); Donnelly v. Parker, 158 U.S.App.D.C. 335, 486 F.2d 402 (1973); Morrow v. District of Columbia, 135 U.S.App.D.C. 160, 417 F.2d 728 (1969). We do not repeat those discussions here, but taking them into account, demonstrate why none of the five alleged trial court errors are appropriate for resolution by mandamus.
Petitioners allege that the District Court erred in refusing to rule that plaintiffs could not maintain this action as an affirmative suit. As the Seventh Circuit recognized in International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 336 v. Illinois Bell Telephone Company, 496 F.2d 1, 3 (7th Cir. 1974), the instant case is the first to address this point, and the issue is not an easy one. Even if the district judge's finding of jurisdiction should ultimately be held to be erroneous, his determination that jurisdiction does exist is not the clear usurpation of judicial power traditionally required for the issuance of mandamus. 7 As the Supreme Court said in Ex parte Chicago, R.I. & Pac. Ry., 255 U.S. 273, 275, 41 S.Ct. 288, 289, 65 L.Ed. 631 (1921):
There is a well-settled rule by which this court is guided upon applications for a writ of prohibition to prevent a lower court from wrongfully assuming jurisdiction of a party, of a cause, or of some collateral matter arising therein. If the lower court is clearly without jurisdiction, the writ will ordinarily be granted . . .. If, however, the jurisdiction of the lower court is doubtful, Ex parte Muir, 254 U.S. 522 (41 S.Ct. 185, 65 L.Ed. 383); . . . or if the the complaining party has an adequate remedy by appeal or otherwise, Ex parte Tiffany, 252 U.S. 32, 37 (40 S.Ct. 239, 64 L.Ed. 443); Ex parte Harding, 219 U.S. 363 ); the writ will ordinarily be denied.
Nor is this a case such as Ex parte Crane, 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 190, 8 L.Ed. 92 (1831) or Maryland v. Soper, 270 U.S. 9, 46 S.Ct. 185, 70 L.Ed. 449 (1925), in which denial of mandamus will reduce or eliminate effective appellate scrutiny. It is unquestioned that review of the jurisdiction question will be fully available on appeal from a final judgment. See Ex parte Chicago, R.I. & Pac. Ry., supra, In re Atlantic City RR, 164 U.S. 633, 17 S.Ct. 208, 41 L.Ed. 579 (1897). See also Ex parte Fahey, 332 U.S. 258, 67 S.Ct. 1558, 91 L.Ed. 2041 (1947).
The district judge's decision on the Section 102 question does not show any persistent or deliberate disregard of limiting rules such as might bring the case within the ambit of 'supervisory' mandamus. See Will v. United States, 389 U.S. 90, 88 S.Ct. 269, 19 L.Ed.2d 305 (1967); La Buy v. Howes Leather Co., 352 U.S. 249, 77 S.Ct. 309, 1 L.Ed.2d 290 (1957); McCullough v. Cosgrave, 309 U.S. 634, 60 S.Ct. 703, 84 L.Ed. 992 (1940) (per curiam); Los Angeles Brush Mfg. Corp. v. James, 272 U.S. 701, 47 S.Ct. 286, 71 L.Ed. 481 (1927).
Although 'advisory' mandamus, which may issue to clarify novel and important questions of law, might seem relevant, the cases on that subject authorize such mandamus only where the decision will serve to clarify a question that is likely to confront a number of lower court judges in a number of suits before appellate review is possible, as, for example, where the district judges are in error, doubt, or conflict on the meaning of a rule of procedure. See Schlagenhauf v. Holder, 379, U.S. 104, 85 S.Ct. 234, 13 L.Ed.2d 152 (1964); Colonial Times Inc. v. Gasch, supra; United States v. Hughes, 413 F.2d 1244 (5th Cir. 1969), vacated as moot, 397 U.S. 93, 90 S.Ct. 817, 25 L.Ed.2d 77 (1970). This is not such a case.
Finally, it cannot be said that mandamus is appropriate here for any weighty equitable reason, such as interference with foreign policy, Ex Parte Peru, 318 U.S. 578, 587, 63 S.Ct. 793, 87 L.Ed. 1014 (1943); the possibility that the question will for practical rather than legal reasons evade review, cf. Perlman v. United States, 247 U.S....
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Cement Antitrust Litigation (Mdl No. 296), In re
...... prevail fully at trial and thus have no right to appeal from the final judgment. . ..., they contend that the resolution of the legal question will, for reasons we consider below, add ...National Broadcasting Corp., 584 F.2d 904, 906 n.2 (9th ... important problems."); National Right to Work Legal Defense & Education Foundation, Inc. v. ......
-
U.S. v. Hubbard
...... documents publicly available: "there is a right in the public to know what occurs before the ... present before the court 7 urged Judge Richey, to whom the criminal case was assigned, to ... 10 . The legal consequence of the position taken by the ... Page 316 . against risks to national security interests, 83 and to minimize the ... detriment of both the government and the defense. If the additional evidence be merely cumulative ...-80, 19 L.Ed.2d 305 (1967); Nat'l Right to Work Legal Defense v. Richey, 510 F.2d 1239, 1242 ......
-
U.S. v. U.S. Dist. Court For Cent. Dist. of California, Los Angeles, Cal.
...... argued, good-faith mistake could not be a defense. Defendants in turn moved to dismiss the ....' " Armster, 806 F.2d at 1352 (quoting National Right to Work Legal Defense & Educ. Found., Inc. v. Richey, 510 F.2d 1239, 1243 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, ......
-
In re Al-Nashiri
......Paradis, Counsel, Office of the Chief Defense Counsel, argued the cause for the petitioner. ... Act of 2009 (MCA 2009): Overview and Legal Issues 3 (2014). The Congress obliged and enacted ...B. Nashiri is a Saudi national and an alleged member of al Qaeda. According to ... must satisfy the burden of showing that his right to issuance of the writ is clear and ... decision of record.”); Nat'l Right to Work Legal Def. v. Richey, 510 F.2d 1239, 1242 ......