SCHLESINGER Et Al. v. HOLTZMAN Et Al.

414 U.S. 1321

• Court: Supreme Court of the United States
• Decided: October 26, 1973
• Docket: A-175
• Status: Published

Opinions

Mr. Justice Marshall, Circuit Justice.

On August 1, 1973, I, as Circuit Justice for the Second Circuit, denied an application to vacate a stay entered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on July 27, 1973, staying the order of the District Court for the Eastern District of New York dated July 25, 1973.

On August 2, Elizabeth Holtzman and others, plaintiffs in the original action, presented an application to Mr. Justice Douglas. A hearing was then set in Yakima, Washington, on Friday, August 3. On August 3, an order was issued by Mr. Justice Douglas vacating the stay entered by the Court of Appeals on July 27,1973, and thereby reinstating the order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

On August 4, the Solicitor General presented an application for a stay of the order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Since the action of the Court of Appeals in granting a stay is set aside, the only order extant in this case is the order of the District Court dated July 25, 1973. The instant application calls on me to deal directly with that order of the District Court.

In the ordinary course, a Justice acting as a Circuit Justice would defer acting with respect to a District Court order until the Court of Appeals had acted, but in the present circumstances the Court of Appeals has already acted and the consequence of the order of Mr. Justice Douglas is to set aside the Court of Appeals order.

The consequence of the Court of Appeals’ stay order of August 1, 1973, was to preserve the status quo until it could act on the merits. The Court of Appeals, having originally expedited a hearing on the merits to August 13, 1973, has since further expedited the hearing on the merits to August 8, 1973.

Now therefore, the order of the District Court dated July 25, 1973, is hereby stayed pending further order by this Court.

I have been in communication with the other Members of the Court, and The Chief Justice, Me. Justice Brennan, Mr. Justice Stewart, Mr. Justice White, Mr. Justice Blackmun, Mr. Justice Powell, and Mr. Justice Rehnquist agree with this action.