United Steelworkers of America v. Bagwell
This text of 239 F. Supp. 626 (United Steelworkers of America v. Bagwell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Opinion
This is a lawsuit wherein a labor union (Steelworkers) and an individual [627]*627employee (Kirk) of the union seek to have ordinances of the City of Statesville declared unconsitutional and void and their enforcement restrained. If the labor union lacks standing to maintain the action, Bailey v. Patterson, 368 U.S. 346, 82 S.Ct. 282, 7 L.Ed.2d 332 (1961), it is not of controlling importance since the individual plaintiff is allegedly threatened with prosecution under the ordinances. Nor does it matter in the posture of the case if the “liberty guaranteed by the due process clause is the liberty of natural, not artificial, persons”, Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization, 307 U.S. 496, 59 S.Ct. 954, 969, 83 L.Ed. 1423, 1443 (1939), for Kirk is clearly entitled to assert the privileges and immunities which Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment secures for citizens of the United States.
Jurisdiction in this court exists under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1343(3), and neither diversity of citizenship nor amount in controversy are requisites of a cause of action asserted thereunder. Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization, supra, 307 U.S. at 507-514, 527-532, 59 S.Ct. 954; Douglas v. City of Jeannette, 319 U.S. 157, 63 S.Ct. 877, 87 L.Ed. 1324 (1943); Ortega v. Ragen, 216 F.2d 561 (7th Cir. 1954), cert. denied 349 U.S. 940, 75 S.Ct. 786, 99 L.Ed. 1268 (1955).
The harder question is whether jurisdiction ought to be exercised. The questioned ordinances, set out in the margin,1 [628]*628are of doubtful constitutionality, serving dubious purposes.2 Similar laws have been struck down time and again as being in basic conflict with the great democratic freedoms secured by the First Amendment. Thomas v. Collins, 323 U.S. 516, 65 S.Ct. 315, 89 L.Ed. 430 (1945); Staub v. City of Baxley, 355 U.S. 313, 78 S.Ct. 277, 2 L.Ed.2d 302 (1958); Lovell v. City of Griffin, 303 U.S. 444, 58 S.Ct. 666, 82 L.Ed. 949 (1938). These fundamental liberties are protected by the Fourteenth Amendment from invasion by state (including municipal) action. Lovell v. City of Griffin, supra, 303 U.S. at 450, 58 S.Ct. 666. These liberties have a sanctity not permitting dubious intrusions, Thomas v. Collins, supra, 323 U.S. at 530, 65 S.Ct. 315, even for proper purposes, such as litter control, Schneider v. State of New Jersey, Town of Irvington, 308 U.S. 147, 60 S.Ct. 146, 84 L.Ed. 155, 165 (1939).
It is stipulated that Kirk “has been informed that he will be subject to arrest and prosecution under the ordinances * * * unless he applies for and obtains a permit * * Whether so informed by his own lawyer, an official of the City of Statesville, or someone else is not disclosed. Nor does it certainly appear that he will be arrested and prosecuted. So far he has not been. Perhaps his fears are groundless.3 It cannot, and should not, be assumed that Kirk’s constitutional rights will not be vindicated in the courts of the State of North Carolina.
“Ordinarily, a federal court will not assume jurisdiction to enjoin criminal proceedings in a state court under state or local laws * * * for even if the proceedings * * * in the state court are brought under an allegedly unconstitutional state law, the defendant can raise the federal question in those proceedings with the right to appeal to the highest court of the state and then to the Supreme Court of the United States.” 28 Am.Jur., Injunctions Section 234; and see Bailey v. Patterson, supra.
Discretionary refusal to exercise equitable power to interfere with state criminal prosecution has been specifically sanctioned by the United States Supreme Court as an approved device to preserve the proper balance between the states and the federal government in law enforcement. Stefanelli v. Minard, 342 U.S. 117, 72 S.Ct. 118, 96 L.Ed. 138, 143 (1951).
Courts of equity should refuse “to interfere with or embarrass threatened proceedings in state courts save in * * * exceptional cases * * * to prevent irreparable injury which is clear and imminent * * Douglas v. City of Jeannette, supra, 319 U.S. at 163, 63 S.Ct. at 881. No such irreparable injury, clear and imminent, is threatened here. There may be no prosecution. If there is, the straws in the wind (see footnote 3 supra) point toward acquittal rather than conviction. And if there should be conviction, ample remedies are [629]*629thereafter available to test the validity of the ordinances.
In the present posture of the case, on the findings of fact and conclusions of law contained herein, and in the exercise of discretion, it is adjudged that this court will not exercise its equity jurisdiction to restrain prosecution under the ordinances involved herein, and will not adjudicate the constitutionality of said ordinances, deferring instead to the coordinate power of the courts of the State of North Carolina. The Complaint will be dismissed.
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack
239 F. Supp. 626, 58 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2773, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6514, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-steelworkers-of-america-v-bagwell-ncwd-1965.