Patronage firings forbidden
Elrod, Sheriff, et al. v. Burns et al., decided June 28
The practice of patronage dismissals violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments, the court held in a 5 to 3 decision with the newest justice, Stevens, not participating. (For more details, see "The State of the state," p. 26.)
A blow for states' rights
National League of Cities et al. v. Usery,
Secretary of Labor, decided June 24
State and local governments won an important victory over Congress when the Court, in a 5 to 4 decision, held unconstitutional the 1974 extension of the Federal Fair Labor Standards Acts' minimum wage and maximum hour provisions to almost all employees of state and local governments. The immediate effect was to relieve state and local governments from the need to comply with provisions for overtime pay. But, this is overshadowed by the long-term implications of the decision: the possibility that Congress would take further steps to intervene in relations of state and local governments in such areas as collective bargaining and OS HA (Occupational Safety and Health Act) controls.
Prior to the 1974 amendments, state and local governments had often handled overtime by giving compensatory time off. Under the new law, the general rule was employees working more than a 40-hour week had to be paid for overtime at time and a half their regular hourly wage. There were exemptions for executive and professional personnel, police and firemen, and some others. Firemen, for example, often have shifts of 24 hours on duty (during which they can sleep if there are no fires) and 12 hours off duty; this quickly runs into 56-hour weeks or 16 overtime hours.
The state of Illinois responded to the federal legislation on May 1, 1974, by a memorandum from Nolan B. Jones, director of personnel, listing more than 200 position titles where the cash overtime rule applied. In the case of cities, a liberal policy so far has exempted firemen from this provision, but
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beginning in 1977, overtime pay was to be required under the law that the court has now voided. This overtime would have cost cities more than the federal money cities receive from general revenue sharing (GRS) funds, according to the National League of Cities.
Congress initially ventured into the regulation of state and local governments' employment practices in 1966 when Congress extended the Fair Labor Standards Act to hospitals, schools and similar institutions. The Supreme Court upheld that extension in June 1968 in the case of Maryland v. Wirtz, 392 U.S. 183, but has now overruled that decision. The present opinion was written by Justice Rehnquist, joined by Burger, Stewart, Blackmun, and Powell with Blackmun also filing a concurring opinion. Brennan, White, Marshall, and Stevens (the newest justice as Ford's appointee from Illinois) were the dissenters.
Not entitled to public aid
Edna Cornue et al.. Appellees, v. Department of Public Aid et al., Appellants, decided June 28
Residents of an old people's home who have a lifetime care contract with the home are not entitled to public aid, the court ruled in an opinion by Justice Schaefer. According to the contract, the plaintiffs had transferred present and future assets to the home in return for life care, a circumstance under which public aid is disallowed by the Illinois Public Aid Code. However, the home had been required by the Cook County health department to construct and operate a new infirmary. Because of this added cost for the home, it sought to avoid its contractual obligations. The court said the decision to build a new infirmary and the amount spent on it were decisions made by the home; in addition, whether the home would be compelled to close its doors would depend on many factors, "among them the value of the assets that will come to it under past and future contracts for lifetime care." The court upheld the original decision of the Department of Public Aid denying public assistance. Justice Crebs dissented.
Attorney general wins first round
The People ex rel. Scott, Attorney General, v. Richard H. Briceland et al. (No. 276-76), decided July 13, 1976
The section of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act which gives the EPA authority "to prepare and present enforcement cases before the (Pollution Control) Board" is unconstitutional because it violates the constitutional powers granted to the attorney general. Circuit Judge Paul C. Verticchio ruled. The provision (Ill. Rev. Stat., 1975, ch. 111 1/2, sec. 1004(e)) violates Article V, section 13, which states, "The Attorney General shall be the legal officer of the State and shall have the duties and powers that may be prescribed by law." Verticchio relied on a 1915 case, Fergus v. Russell, 270 Ill. 304, and People v. Toll Highway Commission (1954), 3 Ill. 2d 28, both decided under the former Constitution, and Stein v. Howlett (197 2), 52 Ill. 2d 570, decided under the new Constitution.
The defendant, Briceland, is director of the EPA, and following Verticchio's decision, Jeffrey Diver, deputy director of the EPA, announced the case would be appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court. The controversy between the attorney general and the agencies under the governor is not new; it stymied the end of the 1974 legislative session when Atty. Gen. William J. Scott tried to amend appropriation bills to assure that he had control over appointment of all lawyers in executive agencies (see January 1975, "Attorney General and Governor fight over control of lawyers employed by executive agencies").
Conflict also erupted between the attorney general and two other agencies in a case where the Department of General Services is opposing a rate increase granted Illinois Bell Telephone Company by the Illinois Commerce Commission. The department has charged that the attorney general, who earlier had defended the Commerce Commission, has a conflict of interest. When the attorney general sought to withdraw as the commission's lawyer, ICC Chairman Marvin Lieberman objected.
Senate president's ruling upheld
Daniel Walker, governor, petitioner, v. Cecil
A. Partee, president of the Senate, respondent. Entered May 19, 1976.
During the 1975 legislative session, Gov. Dan Walker returned House Bill 3024 amending the minimum wage law to the legislature with his recommendations for changes. One of these was a provision for the bill to become effective December I, 1975; since it has been passed after June 30, it would ordinarily not go into effect until July 1, 1976. Bills passed after June 30 need a three-fifths vote of the members elected in each house to become effective any earlier, according to the Constitution. When the recommendations of the governor failed to get such a majority in the Senate, Senate President Cecil A. Partee ruled the bill was dead. However, the Constitution also provides that in the case where the governor returns a bill with recommendations for change, his recommendations may be accepted by a recorded vote of a majority of the members elected to each house. On this basis, Gov. Walker asked for a writ of mandamus to compel Partee to present the bill to the governor for the governor's action.
Circuit Judge Simon L. Friedman held that the three-fifths vote was required. He also said that for the court to order the president of the Senate to declare the bill passed would be to interfere with the legislative process. The petition for mandamus was denied.
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