Marine Forests Society v. California Coastal Commission

I agree with the majority that, even were this court to hold that the California Coastal Commission’s (Commission) former appointment structure made it essentially a legislative agency prohibited from exercising executive or judicial powers under separation-of-powers principles, the de facto officer doctrine (or a closely related rule) would bar a separation-of-powers challenge to particular executive and quasi-judicial acts of the Commission brought before a court had finally determined, in an action for injunctive or declaratory relief, that the performance of such acts was unconstitutional. For that reason, as the majority explains, we need not decide whether the Commission’s former structure did render it subservient to the Legislature. (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 53.)

I write separately to stress why the de facto officer doctrine (or a closely related rule) applies here. While plaintiffs’ separation-of-powers challenge is not, strictly speaking, an attack on the qualifications or appointment of any particular officer, it does, as the majority observes, rest on aspects of the Commission members’ appointment and tenure; consequently, if successful, it would, like a collateral…

I agree generally with the separation of powers test stated by the majority, and with its application of that test to the narrow circumstances of this particular case. In light of the unique history and function of the Coastal Commission (Commission), I accept the majority’s conclusion that the current version of the California Coastal Act (Coastal Act; Pub. Resources Code, § 30000 et seq.) 1 does not violate the separation of powers by providing that the Governor, the Senate Rules Committee, and the Speaker of the Assembly shall each appoint one-third of the Commission’s voting members. I also concur that, technically, we may confine our analysis to the law as currently in effect, because this case concerns only the prospective validity of an injunction, and the “de facto officer” doctrine would protect the official acts of commissioners who held their offices, under color of authority, pursuant to the prior scheme.

As the majority suggests, the Commission is a modem, somewhat hybrid statutory creation. It has succeeded, on behalf of the state, to certain land use planning functions—executive, quasi-legislative, and quasi-judicial—that were traditionally the province of local…

This case involves a constitutional challenge to the provisions of the California Coastal Act (Coastal Act or Act) governing the appointment and tenure of the members of the California Coastal Commission (Coastal Commission or Commission). At the time this action was commenced, the applicable statutes provided, in part, that one-third of the voting members of the Coastal Commission were to be appointed by the Governor, one-third by the Senate Committee on Rules (Senate Rules Committee), and one-third by the Speaker of the Assembly, and further provided that all members of the Commission were to serve a two-year term and were eligible for reappointment for succeeding two-year terms but were removable throughout their term in office at the pleasure of their appointing authority. (Pub. Resources Code, § 30301, subds. (e), (f), former § 30312, subd. (b), as enacted by Stats. 1976, ch. 1330, § 1, p. 5970.) 1 In their initial cause of action, plaintiffs asserted that this statutory structure—by authorizing members of the legislative branch to appoint a majority of the voting members of the Commission and enabling each appointing authority to remove its appointees at…

In Obrien v. Jones (2000) 23 Cal.4th 40 [ 96 Cal.Rptr.2d 205 , 999 P.2d 95 ], as here, this court considered a challenge under the California Constitution’s separation of powers provision (Cal. Const., art. Ill, § 3) to legislation authorizing interbranch appointments. In both cases, this court rejected the challenge. In Obrien I dissented ( 23 Cal.4th at p. 63 ), while here I concur, for reasons I now explain.

The laws at issue in Obrien v. Jones, supra, 23 Cal.4th 40 granted officers of the executive and legislative branches (the Governor, the Senate Rules Committee, and the Speaker of the Assembly) the authority to appoint and reappoint judges of the State Bar Court (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 6079.1) and altered that court’s composition by eliminating public representation (id., § 6086.65). Summarizing my reasons for concluding that these laws were invalid, I wrote: “Because the State Bar Court operates as an arm of this court in hearing attorney discipline matters, and because this court has primary authority over attorney discipline, judges of the State Bar Court are subordinate judicial officers that must be answerable only to this court. Because the law at issue makes State Bar…

Robert Garcia, and Katrina D. McIntosh, Santa Monica; Law Office of J. William Yeates, J. William Yeates, Mary U. Akens, Sacramento, Keith G. Wagner; California Environmental Law Project and Laurens H. Silver, for Planning and Conservation League, Sierra Club, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Environmental Defense Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, League for Coastal Protection, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Surfrider Foundation, Defenders of Wildlife, National Audubon Society—California, Amigos de Bolsa Chica, Big Sur Land Trust, Cal Beach Advocates, California Coastkeeper Alliance, California Coastal Protection Network, The Center for Law in the Public Interest, Earth Alert!, Heal the Bay, Latino Urban Forum, The Ocean Conservancy, Ocean Outfall Group, Orange County Coastkeeper, San Diego Baykeeper, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, SLO Coast Alliance, Vote the Coast, Wetlands Action Network and Wildlands Restoration Team as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Appellants.

The Zumbrun Law Firm, Ronald A. Zumbrun and Mark A. Teh, Sacramento, for Plaintiffs and Respondents.

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, Joseph E. Petrillo, David P. Lanferman, San…