Switchmen's Union v. National Mediation Board

320 U.S. 297, 64 S. Ct. 95, 88 L. Ed. 61, 1943 U.S. LEXIS 1152, 13 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 616
CourtSupreme Court of the United States
DecidedNovember 22, 1943
Docket48
StatusPublished
Cited by555 cases

This text of 320 U.S. 297 (Switchmen's Union v. National Mediation Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of the United States primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Switchmen's Union v. National Mediation Board, 320 U.S. 297, 64 S. Ct. 95, 88 L. Ed. 61, 1943 U.S. LEXIS 1152, 13 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 616 (1943).

Opinions

Mr. Justice Douglas

delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is an action by the petitioners, the Switchmen’s Union of North America and some of its members against the National Mediation Board, its members, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, and the New York Central Railroad Company and the Michigan Central Railroad Company. The individual plaintiffs are members and officials of the Switchmen’s Union and employees of the respondent carriers.

Petitioners were plaintiffs in the District Court. A certification of representatives for collective bargaining under § 2, Ninth of the Railway Labor Act (44 Stat. 577, 48 Stat. 1185) was made by the Board to the carriers.1 [299]*299This certification followed the invocation of the services of the Board to investigate a dispute among the yardmen as to their representative. The Brotherhood sought to be the representative for all the yardmen of the rail lines operated by the New York Central system. The Switchmen contended that yardmen of certain designated parts of the system should be permitted to vote for separate representatives instead of being compelled to take part in a system-wide election.

The Board designated all yardmen of the carriers as participants in the election. The election was held and the Brotherhood was chosen as the representative. Upon the certification of the result to the carriers, petitioners sought to have the determination by the Board of the participants and the certification of the representative cancelled. This suit for cancellation was brought in the District Court. That court upheld the decision of the Board to the effect that all yardmen in the service of a carrier should select a single representative for collective bargaining. The Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed by a divided vote. 135 F. 2d 785. The case is here on a petition for a writ of cer-[300]*300tiorari which we granted because of the importance of the problems which are raised.

We do not reach the merits of the controversy. For we are of the opinion that the District Court did not have the power to review the action of the National Mediation Board in issuing the certificate.

Sec. 24 (8) of the Judicial Code, 28 U. S. C. §'41 (8), gives the federal district courts “original jurisdiction” of all “suits and proceedings arising under any law regulating commerce.” We may assume that if any judicial review of the certificate of the Board could be had, the District Court would have jurisdiction by reason of that provision of the Judicial Code. See Louisville & Nashville R. Co. v. Rice, 247 U. S. 201; Mulford v. Smith, 307 U. S. 38; Peyton v. Railway Express Agency, 316 U. S. 350. But we do not think that that broad grant of general jurisdiction may be invoked in face of the special circumstances which obtain here.

If the absence of jurisdiction of the federal courts meant a sacrifice or obliteration of a right which Congress had created, the inference would be strong that Congress intended the statutory provisions governing the general jurisdiction of those courts to control. That was the purport of the decisions of this Court in Texas & New Orleans R. Co. v. Brotherhood of Clerks, 281 U. S. 548, and Virginian Ry. Co. v. System. Federation, 300 U. S. 515. In those cases it was apparent that but for the general jurisdiction of the federal courts there would be no remedy to enforce the statutory commands which Congress had written into the Railway Labor Act. The result would have been that the “right” of collective bargaining was unsupported by any legal sanction. That would have robbed the Act of its vitality and thwarted its purpose. Such considerations are not applicable here. The Act in § 2, Fourth writes into law the “right” of the “majority of any craft or class of employees” to “determine who shall be [301]*301the representative of the craft or class for the purposes of this Act.” That “right” is protected by § 2, Ninth which gives the Mediation Board the power to resolve controversies concerning it and as an incident thereto to determine what is the appropriate craft or class in which the election should be held. See Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. National Mediation Board, 88 F. 2d 757; Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. National Mediation Board, 135 F. 2d 780. A review by the federal district courts of the Board’s determination is not necessary to preserve or protect that “right.” Congress for reasons of its own decided upon the method for the protection of the “right” which it created. It selected the precise machinery and fashioned the tool which it deemed suited to that end. Whether the imposition of judicial review on top of the Mediation Board’s administrative determination would strengthen that protection is a considerable question.2 All constitutional questions aside, it is for Congress to determine how the rights which it creates shall be enforced. Tutun v. United States, 270 U. S. 568, 576-577. In such a case the specification of one rémedy normally excludes another. See Arnson v. Murphy, 109 U. S. 238; Wilder Mfg. Co. v. Corn Products Refining Co., 236 U. S. 165, 174-175; United States v. Babcock, 250 U. S. 328, 331; Sunshine Anthracite Coal Co. v. Adkins, 310 U. S. 381, 404.

Generalizations as to when judicial review of administrative action may or may not be obtained are of course hazardous. Where Congress has not expressly authorized judicial review, the type of problem involved and the history of the statute in question become highly relevant in determining whether judicial review may be nonetheless supplied. See United States v. Griffin, 303 U. S. 226, 232-237. As is indicated at some length in General Commit[302]*302tee of Adjustment v. Missouri-Kansas-Texas R. Co., post, p. 323, the emergence of railway labor problems from the field of conciliation and mediation into that of legally enforcible rights has been quite recent. Until the 1926 Act the legal sanctions of the various acts had been few. The emphasis of the legislation had been on conciliation and mediation; the sanctions were publicity and public opinion. Since 1926 there has been an increasing number of legally enforcible commands incorporated into the Act. And Congress has utilized administrative machinery more freely in the settlement of disputes. But large areas of the field still remain in the realm of conciliation, mediation, and arbitration. On only a few phases of this controversial subject has Congress utilized administrative or judicial machinery and invoked the compulsions of the law. We need not recapitulate that history here. Nor need we reiterate what we have said in the Missouri-Kansas-Texas R. Co.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Air Transport Ass'n of America, Inc. v. National Mediation Board
719 F. Supp. 2d 26 (District of Columbia, 2010)
Bensel v. Allied Pilots Ass'n
271 F. Supp. 2d 616 (D. New Jersey, 2003)
New York Public Interest Research Group, Inc. v. Whitman
214 F. Supp. 2d 1 (District of Columbia, 2002)
Aerovias De Mexico, S.A. De C v. v. National Mediation Board
211 F. Supp. 2d 1 (District of Columbia, 2002)
Newby v. Enron Corp.
188 F. Supp. 2d 684 (S.D. Texas, 2002)
Dist. 6, Intern. Un. of Indus. v. Nat. Med. Bd. of US
139 F. Supp. 2d 557 (S.D. New York, 2001)
LSG Lufthansa Services v. National Mediation Board
116 F. Supp. 2d 181 (District of Columbia, 2000)
Air Florida, Inc. v. National Mediation Board
534 F. Supp. 1 (S.D. Florida, 1982)
City of Trenton v. Federal Emergency Management Agency
545 F. Supp. 13 (E.D. Michigan, 1981)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
320 U.S. 297, 64 S. Ct. 95, 88 L. Ed. 61, 1943 U.S. LEXIS 1152, 13 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 616, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/switchmens-union-v-national-mediation-board-scotus-1943.