State Constitutional Law in 1947–48

Abstract

The total number of cases arising under state constitutions this year is substantially larger than last year. The bulk of the increase seems to fall in the area of civil rights, particularly procedural rights, although there is some increased activity in areas of state and local government as well. The cases fall readily into the general pattern followed in last year's survey.I. GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION1. State Government. The standing and circumstances necessary to enable a party to secure a decision on the constitutionality of a statute were discussed by the highest courts of four states. In 1947, the Tennessee legislature passed an Anti-Closed Shop Act which was promptly attacked by a union recognized by the NLRB as exclusive bargaining agent in the defendant plant. A county chancery court upheld the statute against arguments that it violated the state and federal constitution. Before the day fixed for hearing on appeal, the union requested that the appeal be dismissed, a request resisted by the employer and the attorney-general. It is clear from the argument on the request that both parties were seeking an adjudication on the federal question from the federal Supreme Court. Evidently, however, the union decided to press the matter to the latter court in a different and more favorable controversy. In this case, since the lower court upheld the constitutionality of the law, the public interest, it was said, would not be impaired by dismissal. From the precedents cited, however, it seems likely that if the lower court decision had been against the law's constitutionality, the Supreme Court would have refused the request. The same court also held that where the defendant has attacked the constitutionality of a statute unsuccessfully in a criminal trial, he many not raise the same questions in a civil case brought against him, even when the prior adjudication was made in an unpublished opinion.