Amalgamated Food Employees Union, Local 590 v. Logan Valley Plaza, Inc./Dissent Harlan

Mr. Justice HARLAN, dissenting.

The petitioners argue for reversal of the decision below on two separate grounds: first, that petitioners' picketing was protected by the First Amendment from state injunctive interference of this kind; second, that the Pennsylvania courts have strayed into a sphere where the power of initial decision is reserved by federal labor laws to the National Labor Relations Board. I think that, if available, the second or 'pre-emption' ground would plainly be a preferable basis for decision. Because reliance on pre-emption would invoke the authority of a federal statute through the Constitution's Supremacy Clause, it would avoid interpretation of the Constitution itself, which would be necessary if the case were treated under the First Amendment. See, e.g., Zschernig v. Miller, 389 U.S. 429, 443, 444-445, 88 S.Ct. 664, 672-673, 19 L.Ed.2d 683 (opinion of the writer concurring in the result). Dependence on pre-emption would also assure that the Court does not itself disrupt the statutory scheme of labor law established by the Congress, a point to which I shall return.

On the merits, it seems clear from the facts stated by the Court, see ante, at 310-312, and from our past decisions that the petitioners have a substantial pre-emption claim. However, upon examination of the record I have come reluctantly to the conclusion that this Court is precluded from reaching the merits of that question because of the petitioners' failure to raise any such issue in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The rule that in cases coming from state courts this Court may review only those issues which were presented to the state court is not discretionary but jurisdictional. Section 1257 of Title 28, which defines this Court's certiorari jurisdiction, states:

'Final judgments or decrees rendered by the highest court of     a State in which a decision could be had, may be reviewed by      the Supreme Court *  *  * (b)y writ of certiorari, *  *  * where      any title, right, privilege or immunity is specially set up      or claimed under the Constitution, treaties or statutes of *      *  * the United States.'

Since the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did not advert in its majority opinion to the pre-emption issue, it is necessary to determine whether that question was 'specially set up or claimed' within the meaning of § 1257. In deciding that question, it is relevant and usually sufficient to ask whether the petitioners satisfied the state rules governing presentation of issues. See, e.g., Beck v. Washington, 369 U.S. 541, 549-554, 82 S.Ct 955, 959 963, 8 L.Ed.2d 98; Wolfe v. State of North Carolina, 364 U.S. 177, 195, 80 S.Ct. 1482, 1492, 4 L.Ed.2d 1650; John v. Paullin, 231 U.S. 583, 585, 34 S.Ct. 178, 179, 58 L.Ed. 381. Rule 59 of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court provides:

'The (appellant's) statement of the questions involved must     set forth each question separately, in the briefest and most      general terms *  *  *. This rule is to be considered in the     highest degree mandatory, admitting no exception; ordinarily      no point will be considered which is not thus set forth in or      necessarily suggested by the statement of questions      involved.'

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has consistently held that it will not consider points not presented in the manner prescribed by this rule, and that such points are regarded as abandoned or waived. In this case, the petitioners' statement of questions involved did not refer to the possibility of federal pre-emption, and of course the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's majority opinion did not mention it either. A similar rule of the Washington Supreme Court was involved in Beck v. Washington, supra, and we held that when a defendant has failed to comply with such a rule 'the argument cannot be entertained here under an unbroken line of precedent. E.g., Ferguson v. State of Georgia, 365 U.S. 570, 572, 81 S.Ct. 756, 5 L.Ed.2d 783 (1961); Capital City Dairy Co. v. State of Ohio, 183 U.S. 238, 248, 22 S.Ct. 120, 46 L.Ed. 171 (1902).' 369 U.S., at 553-554, 82 S.Ct. at 962. I am therefore led to conclude that we have no jurisdiction to consider the question of pre-emption.

Turning to the First Amendment question, I believe that in the circumstances it is not an appropriate one for this Court to decide. This controversy arose in the course of a labor union's efforts to achieve labor goals by informational picketing. Although no pre-emption question is properly before us, I do not think that we can take notice that this is an area in which Congress has enacted detailed legislation, see e.g., 29 U.S.C. § 158(b)(7)(C), and has set up an administrative agency to resolve such disputes in the first instance. The reason why it was deemed necessary to fashion the doctrine of pre-emption under the federal labor laws was that it would be intolerably disruptive if this statutory scheme were interpreted differently by state and federal courts. See, e.g., Garner v. Teamsters, Chauffeurs and Helpers Local Union No. 776, 346 U.S. 485, 490-491, 74 S.Ct. 161, 165-166, 98 L.Ed. 228; San Diego Bldg. Trades Council, Millmen's Union Local 2020 v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 242-245, 79 S.Ct. 773, 778 780, 3 L.Ed.2d 775. It seems to me that a similar objection applies to this Court's resolution of such disputes by resort to the Constitution. For the establishment by this Court of a rigid constitutional rule in a field where Congress has attempted to strike a delicate balance between competing economic forces, and in circumstances where we cannot know how the controversy be settled by Congress' chosen instrument, may also have a considerable disruptive effect. I therefore believe that we should exercise our discretion not to reach the First Amendment issue, and that we should dismiss the writ as improvidently granted. Such a disposition would not be unfair to the petitioners, since the failure to bring the pre-emption question properly before us was their own.