312 F. Supp. 1361 | W.D. Okla. | 1970
ORDER
Plaintiff has applied to this Court for the creation of a three judge court under the provisions of 28 U.S.C.A. § 2281 et seq. Plaintiff claims that Title 11, Oklahoma Statutes Sections 1601 to 1620
This Court is required, as a separate judicial and jurisdictional function, to determine whether this case may be adjudicated by a three judge court or if it may be adjudicated by a single judge court. The request for a three judge court is more than a ministerial act and involves judicial discretion, as an improvident designation will result in a considerable waste of time and energy of the judges, counsel and litigants. Miller v. Smith, 236 F.Supp. 927 (Pa. 1964).
The determination by this Court whether a three judge court should be requested depends, inter alia, on whether Plaintiff has raised a substantial federal constitutional question. Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp. v. Epstein, 370 U.S. 713, 82 S.Ct. 1294, 8 L.Ed.2d 794 (1962); Ex parte Poresky, 290 U.S. 30, 78 L.Ed. 152, 54 S.Ct. 3 (1933); Bailey v. Patterson, 369 U.S. 31, 82 S.Ct. 549, 7 L.Ed.2d 512 (1962).
The Court concludes that the Plaintiff has not raised a substantial federal constitutional question in his Complaint. The Plaintiff could have a constitutional complaint if he had been improperly disenfranchised as one among the several voters of Oklahoma City. But no one in Oklahoma City votes under the law involved and Plaintiff is not a voter in any of the smaller cities of Oklahoma, would have no right to vote in any of said cities and is not denied the equal protection of the laws because they vote regarding their exercise of the authority and powers of the Urban Renewal Authority and the people of Oklahoma City do not vote regarding their exercise of said authority and powers. It is obvious that there is no relationship between the vote of the Plaintiff in Oklahoma City and the vote of a citizen of one of the smaller cities of Oklahoma.
The validity and constitutionality of urban renewal type legislation has been upheld by the United States Supreme Court, Berman v. Parker, 348 U.S. 26, 75 S.Ct. 98, 99 L.Ed. 27 (1954), and the only legal point asserted by the Plaintiff in his Complaint, namely, citizens of Oklahoma City do not vote on exercising urban renewal authority whereas citizens of smaller cities do vote on the issue, has also been considered by the courts with universal results adverse to the Plaintiff. See Kramer v. Union Free School District, Note 7, 395 U.S. 621, 89
Plaintiff’s request for a three judge court is denied as a substantial federal question is not presented by the Plaintiff in his Complaint.