Palmore v. Superior Court of District of Columbia

• Decision Date: 09 July 1975
• Docket Number: No. 74-1832,74-1832
• Citation: 515 F.2d 1294,169 U.S.App.D.C. 323
• Parties: Roosevelt F. PALMORE, Appellant, v. SUPERIOR COURT OF the DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Page 1294

515 F.2d 1294

169 U.S.App.D.C. 323

Roosevelt F. PALMORE, Appellant, v. SUPERIOR COURT OF the DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA et al.

No. 74-1832.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued April 24, 1975.

Decided July 9, 1975.

Frank F. Flegal, Washington, D. C., for appellant in No. 74-1832.

Albert H. Turkus, Asst. U. S. Atty., with whom Earl J. Silbert, U. S. Atty., John A. Terry, Warren R. King, Craig M. Bradley, and Tobey W. Kaczensky, Asst. U. S. Attys., were on the brief for appellees.

Before BAZELON, Chief Judge, and WRIGHT, McGOWAN, TAMM, LEVENTHAL, ROBINSON, MacKINNON, ROBB and WILKEY, Circuit Judges, sitting en banc.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge TAMM.

Dissenting opinion filed by Circuit Judge ROBB.

TAMM, Circuit Judge:

This case and its companion, Pressley v. Swain, No. 73-1975, also decided today, present the important question whether Congress, by enacting 23 D.C.Code § 110(g) (1973), as part of the District of Columbia Court Reform and Criminal Procedure Act of 1970, eliminated the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to entertain post-conviction petitions for writs of habeas corpus brought by individuals convicted in the Superior Court. Answering that question negatively, we reverse the district court's dismissal of such a petition for lack of jurisdiction and remand for consideration on the merits.

I

On February 23, 1971, appellant Palmore was indicted in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia for carrying a pistol without a license in violation of 22 D.C.Code § 3204 (1973). Prior to trial, he unsuccessfully moved to suppress evidence on fourth amendment grounds, and thereafter, was convicted in a non-jury trial and sentenced. A. 12-44. ¹ Palmore appealed to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals which, passing fully upon his fourth amendment claim, affirmed his conviction. Palmore v. United States, 290 A.2d 573, 580-84 (D.C.Ct.App.1972). On further review the Supreme Court affirmed his conviction without considering Palmore's fourth amendment claim. Palmore v. United States, 411 U.S. 389, 93 S.Ct. 1670, 36 L.Ed.2d 342 (1973). ²

Before the Supreme Court's mandate had issued, Palmore petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that he was being held in custody in violation of the fourth amendment. On July 10, 1974, the district court dismissed his petition on the ground that "Congress has deprived this Court of jurisdiction by providing in 23 D.C.Code § 110(a) that post-conviction collateral attack upon convictions in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia may be made by motion in that court. . . ." ³ This appeal followed.

Appellant makes two arguments in support of jurisdiction one statutory, the other constitutional. ⁴ First, he argues that 23 D.C.Code § 110(g) should not be construed to deprive the district court of its traditional habeas corpus jurisdiction because Congress itself never intended such a result. Second, he contends that if section 110(g) divests the district court of its jurisdiction, the statute is unconstitutional because it: (1) constitutes a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus contrary to article I, section 9, clause 2 of the Constitution ⁵ and (2), denies him the equal protection of the laws inherent in the due process clause of the fifth amendment.

The Government, in opposition to each contention advanced by appellant, initially argues that the statute is clear on its face, and the only possible construction of it precludes post-conviction relief in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for an individual convicted in Superior Court. Further, the Government contends that section 110(g), so construed, is a proper exercise of Congress' power to define and limit the jurisdiction of federal courts, is not a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, and does not create an irrational classification in violation of the equal protection guarantee of the due process clause.

As discussed in detail below, we conclude that section 110(g) does not so restrict the jurisdiction of the district court, but is merely an exhaustion of remedies requirement. Acceptance of the Government's construction would result in significant changes in habeas corpus jurisdiction traditionally exercised by the federal courts, and force us directly to confront serious and significant constitutional questions; the Government would have us take this route into previously unchartered constitutional waters without a scintilla of Congressional intent to endorse it. Instead, we conclude that Congress never intended to affect the federal courts' habeas jurisdiction by enacting section 110(g). In so doing, we reaffirm the concept that statutes should be interpreted to avoid difficult constitutional questions, questions which necessitate in this case inquiry beyond the face of the statute to its legislative history. This inquiry leads us to a result consistent with that legislative history and the primary purposes behind the Court Reform Act itself.

II

In 1970, Congress passed the District of Columbia Court Reform and Criminal Procedure Act, Pub.L. No. 91-358, 84 Stat. 473 (Court Reform Act) resulting in a fundamental reorganization of judicial administration in this jurisdiction. See Palmore v. United States, supra, 411 U.S. at 392 n.2, 93 S.Ct. 1670. Thereafter, courts have struggled to interpret the Act properly and to define the relationship between the court systems it created. See, e. g., McCall v. Swain, 167 U.S.App.D.C. ---, 510 F.2d 167 (1975) (district court jurisdiction and interpretation of 16 D.C.Code § 1901 (1973) ); Johnson v. Robinson, 166 U.S.App.D.C. ---, 509 F.2d 395 (1974) (interpreting pre-habeas exhaustion requirement of 24 D.C.Code § 301(k)(7) ); M.A.P. v. Ryan, 285 A.2d 310 (D.C.Ct.App.1971) (stare decisis effect of federal decisions for local courts); cf. Luck v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co., 166 U.S.App.D.C. ---, 510 F.2d 663, 665-66 (1975) (applicability of Erie doctrine to District). The instant case presents another such situation. ⁶

23 D.C.Code § 110 (1973) ⁷ provides for post-conviction relief in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Subsection (g) reads:

An application for a writ of habeas corpus in behalf of a prisoner who is authorized to apply for relief by motion pursuant to this section shall not be entertained by the Superior Court or by any Federal or State Court if it appears that the applicant has failed to make a motion for relief under this section or that the Superior Court has denied him relief, unless it also appears that the remedy by motion is inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of his detention.

The district court held that this section divested it of jurisdiction to entertain appellant's post-conviction petition for a writ of habeas corpus. A. 8-9.

A

Appellant asserts that the district court erred in this regard. Contrariwise the Government repeatedly argues that the language of subsection (g) is "clear and unambiguous" and claims that "this Court would be denying the manifest intent of Congress if (we) were to construe the statute in any way other than to preclude post-conviction relief in the District Court for one convicted in the Superior Court." Gov't Br. at 13. The Government concedes appellant's point that courts often construe statutes to avoid difficult constitutional questions, ⁸ but asserts that such an approach is inappropriate where the statute's meaning is clear. See, e. g., Jay v. Boyd, 351 U.S. 345, 357 n.21, 76 S.Ct. 919, 100 L.Ed. 1242 (1956); United States v. Thompson, 147 U.S.App.D.C. 1, 452 F.2d 1333, 1341 (1971), cert. denied, 405 U.S. 998, 92 S.Ct. 1251, 31 L.Ed.2d 467 (1972) (if Congress clearly intended unconstitutional result, court's responsibility is to invalidate the law).

As to the proper methodology to apply when a statute is facially clear and unambiguous, the Government advances the rule of Caminetti v. United States, 242 U.S. 470, 485, 37 S.Ct. 192, 194, 61 L.Ed. 442 (1917) (citations omitted):

It is elementary that the meaning of a statute must, in the first instance, be sought in the language in which the act is framed, and if that is plain, and if the law is within the constitutional authority of the law-making body which passed it, the sole function of the courts is to enforce it according to its terms.

Where the language is plain and admits of no more than one meaning, the duty of interpretation does not arise and the rules which are to aid doubtful meanings need no discussion.

The Government contends that appellant's argument that the district court's interpretation of the statute receives no support in its legislative history ⁹ "flies in the face of established principles of statutory construction:"

Where doubts exist and construction is permissible, reports of the committees of Congress and statements by those in charge of the measure and other like extraneous matter may be taken into consideration to aid in the ascertainment of the true legislative intent. But where the language of an enactment is clear and construction according to its terms does not lead to absurd or impracticable consequences, the words employed are to be taken as the final expression of the meaning intended. And in such cases legislative history may not be used to support a construction that adds to or takes from the significance of the words employed.

Gov't. Br. at 22-23, quoting United States v. Missouri Pacific R.R. Co., 278 U.S. 269, 278, 49 S.Ct. 133, 73 L.Ed. 322 (1929) (citations omitted).

However, recognizing that statutory construction is, at best, an imperfect science, see Schiaffo v. Helstoski, 492 F.2d 413 (3rd Cir. 1974), the Supreme Court has cautioned that "(g)eneralities about statutory construction help us little. They are not rules of law but merely axioms of experience. They do not solve the...