United States District Court for the District of Oregon

“ The State of Oregon is not in the position of the Franchise Tax Board, requesting a declaration that the usual operation of state statutes is not prohibited by federal law. The only difference between the State of ORegon and the plaintiffs in Shaw is that the State is not seeking injunctive relief, but only declaratory relief. In Franchise Tax Board, the Board, although pleading a declaratory judgment cause of action in its complaint, had available to it a coercive action with which to enforce its rights, and indeed held this as its first cause of action. ”

“ What is implicit in the above-cited taxpayer standing cases also undercuts the State's argument that its action against Rajneeshpuram cannot arise under the first amendment because the first amendment gives the State no substantive rights or immunities. If an action by a citizen-taxpayer against an alleged establishment of religion by a government arises under the first amendment for jurisdictional purposes, then certainly the present suit does as well. ”

“ There are good reasons why the federal courts should not entertain suits by the States to declare the validity of their regulations despite possibly conflicting federal law. States are not significantly prejudiced by an inability to come to federal court for a declaratory judgment in advance of a possible injunctive suit by a person subject to federal regulation. ”

“ The cases finding that no federal jurisdiction exists appear [*12] to be concerned with (1) the requirement that the federal element be a necessary element in the plaintiff's cause of action and not come into the case as a matter of defense (Mottley, supra) , and (2) that the federal element in the plaintiff's cause of action not be too remote or too indirectly related to the cause of action (Gully, supra) . Neither concern arises here. 1
Footnotes 1 The State relies heavily on Franchise Tax Board, supra, in support of its position that no federal jurisdiction exists in the present action. ”