Opinion

Pratz v. Louisiana Polytechnic Institute

  • 316 F. Supp. 872
  • 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10963
Court
District Court, W.D. Louisiana
Filed
Jul 10, 1970
Status
Published
Author
Hunter
On the bench
Ainsworth, Dawkins, Hunter
Cited by
13 cases
Authority
More cited than 8.8%

The opinion

EDWIN F. HUNTER, District Judge (concurring):

The threshold question is whether this proceeding is for a three-judge court under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2281 . The Supreme Court of the United States recently reiterated and stressed its earlier holding that the three-judge court legislation is not a measure of broad social policy to be construed with liberality, but is rather an enactment technical in the strictest sense of the word to be applied as such. Mitchell v. Donovan, 398 U.S. 427 , 90 S.Ct. 1763 , 26 L.Ed.2d 378 (1970). As this case comes to us, it concerns not a statewide matter but rather a situation unique to Louisiana Tech at Ruston, Louisiana. The purpose of § 2281 is to prevent a single federal judge from being able to paralyze an entire policy on a statewide basis by issuing a broad injunctive order. The relief here sought, if justified, could in my opinion be granted without holding the State Board of Education’s Resolution unconstitutional. See Moody v. Flowers, 387 U.S. 97 , 87 S.Ct. 1544 , 18 L.Ed.2d 643 ; Dusch, et al v. Davis, et al, 387 U.S. 112 , 87 S.Ct. 1554 , 18 L.Ed.2d 656 . I would dissolve the three-judge court and leave the question of whether plaintiffs are entitled to the relief sought for consideration and disposition by a single judge of the district court.

However, on the merits I agree with the result reached by Judge Dawkins, and accordingly concur in the result.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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