Cousins v. Wigoda 8212 1106

• Citation: 95 S.Ct. 541,42 L.Ed.2d 595,419 U.S. 477
• Decision Date: 15 January 1975
• Docket Number: No. 73,73
• Parties: William COUSINS et al., Petitioners, v. Paul T. WIGODA et al. —1106
• Court: United States Supreme Court

419 U.S. 477

95 S.Ct. 541

42 L.Ed.2d 595

William COUSINS et al., Petitioners,

v Paul T. WIGODA et al.

No. 73—1106.

Argued Nov. 11, 1974.

Decided Jan. 15, 1975.

Syllabus

Petitioners (Cousins delegates) challenged before the National Democratic Party Credentials Committee, as violative of Party guidelines, the seating of respondents (Wigoda delegates) who had been elected from Chicago districts at the March 1972 Illinois primary election as delegates to the 1972 Democratic National Convention to be held in July 1972. The Committee decided that the Cousins delegates should be seated instead of the Wigoda delegates, who, on July 8, 1972, two days before the Convention opened, were granted an injunction by the Illinois Circuit Court enjoining the Cousins group from acting as delegates at the Convention. The Cousins delegates nevertheless were seated by the Convention and functioned as delegates. The Illinois Appellate Court affirmed, holding that '(t)he right to sit as a delegate representing Illinois at the national nominating convention is governed exclusively by the Illinois Election Code,' and that the 'interest of the State in protecting the effective right to participate in primaries is superior to whatever other interests the party itself might wish to protect.' In another suit, which had been brought in the District Court for the District of Columbia, one Keane, a Wigoda delegate, challenged the constitutionality of the Party guidelines allegedly violated in the Wigoda delegates' selection. The District Court sustained one of the challenged guidelines and dismissed Keane's suit while denying the Party's counterclaim for an injunction against the Wigoda delegates' proceeding with the state-court action. The Court of Appeals on July 5 affirmed the dismissal but granted the counterclaim. This Court in a per curiam opinion stayed the judgment of the Court of Appeals and later, having granted Keane's petition for certiorari, vacated the Court of Appeals' judgment and remanded for a detrmination of mootness. The Court of Appeals thereafter held the case moot insofar as it involved the seating of delegates at the completed Convention and affirmed dismissal of the Keane suit. In addition to their arguments on the merits, petitioners contend that language in the per curiam established the Convention's right to decide the Chicago credentials contest, and that this Court's action in staying, but not vacating, the Court of Appeals' judgment left that judgment as a res judicata bar to the injunction. Held:

1. This Court's per curiam unqualifiedly suspended the operative effects of the Court of Appeals judgment without resolving the merits of the controversy; and petitioners' res judicata contention is not open for consideration, not having been pleaded and proved in the Circuit Court as required by state law. Pp. 485—487.

2. In the selection of candidates for national office a National Party Convention serves the pervasive national interest, which is paramount to any interest of a State in protecting the integrity of its electoral process, and the Circuit Court erred in issuing an injunction that abridged the associational rights of petitioners and their Party and the Party's right to determine the composition of its National Convention in accordance with Party standards. Pp. 487—491.

14 Ill.App.3d 460, 302 N.E.2d 614, reversed.

Wayne W. Whalen, Chicago, Ill., for petitioners.

Jerome H. Torshen, Chicago, Ill., for respondents.

Mr. Justice BRENNAN delivered the opinion of the Court.

At the March 1972 Illinois primary election, Chicago's Democratic voters elected the 59 respondents (Wigoda delegates) as delegates to the 1972 Democratic National Convention to be held in July 1972 in Miami, Fla. Some of the 59 petitioners (Cousins delegates) challenged the seating of the Wigoda delegates before the Credentials Committee of the National Democratic Party on the ground, among others, that the slate-making procedures under which the Wigoda delegates were selected violated Party guidelines incorporated in the Call of the Convention. On June 30, 1972, the Credentials Committee sustained the Findings and Report of a Hearing Officer that the Wigoda delegates had been chosen in violation of the guidelines,¹ and also adopted the Hearing Offi- cer's recommendation that the Wigoda delegates be unseated and the Cousins delegates (who had been chosen in June at private caucuses in Chicago) be seated in their stead.

On July 8, 1972, two days before the Convention opened, the Wigoda delegates obtained from the Circuit Court of Cook County, Ill., an injunction that enjoined each of the 59 petitioners 'from acting or purporting to act as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention . . . (and) from performing the functions of delegates . . . (and) from receiving or accepting any credentials, badges or other indicia of delegate status . . ..'² Nevertheless when the Convention on July 10 adopted the Credentials Committee's recommendation and seated the Cousins delegates, they took their seats and participated fully as delegates throughout the Convention. In consequence, proceedings to adjudge petitioners in criminal contempt of the July 8 injunction are pending in the Circuit Court awaiting this Court's decision in this case.

The Illinois Appellate Court affirmed the injunction, 14 Ill.App.3d 460, 302 N.E.2d 614 (1973),³ and the Supreme Court of Illinois, without opinion, on November 29, 1973, denied leave to appeal. The Appellate Court held that '(t) he right to sit as a delegate representing Illinois at the national nominating convention is governed exclusively by the Election Code,' id at 472, 302 N.E.2d, at 626, and rejected the Cousins delegates' contention that the injunction attempting to enforce that Code, by preventing them from participating as delegates at the Convention, violated their right, and the right of the National Democratic Party, to freedom of political activity and association assured them under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The Appellate Court stated:

'(T)he purposes and guidelines for reform adopted by the Democratic National Party in its Call for the 1972 Democratic National Convention . . . in no way take precedence in the State of Illinois over the Illinois Election Code (Ill.Rev.Stat. 1971, ch. 46, § 7—1 et seq.). The opening section of Article 7 of the Election Code, which deals with the making of nominations by political parties (§ 7—1), is most clear when in discussing the selection of delegates to National nominating conventions, it states:

". . . (D)elegates and alternate delegates to National nominating conventions by all political parties . . . shall be made in the manner provided in this Article 7, and not otherwise." Id., at 471, 302 N.E.2d, at 625.

'(T)he law of the state is supreme and party rules to the contrary are of no effect. . . .' Id., at 475, 302 N.E.2d, at 627.

'The interest of the state in protecting the effective right to participate in primaries is superior to whatever other interests the party itself might wish to protect. . . .' Id., at 477, 302 N.E.2d, at 629.

'Since (respondents) were admittedly elected to the position of delegates to the 1972 Democratic National Convention by operation of the Election Code, an Illinois statute, this court finds the trial courts' injunctions did not abrogate (petitioners') fundamental constitutional rights of free political association. . . .' Id., at 479, 302 N.E.2d, at 631.

We granted certiorari to decide the important question presented whether the Appellate Court was correct in according primacy to state law over the National Political Party's rules in the determination of the qualifications and eligibility of delegates to the Party's National Convention. 415 U.S. 956, 94 S.Ct. 1483, 39 L.Ed.2d 571 (1974).⁴ We reverse.

I

There is a threshold question to be decided before we discuss the merits of the constitutional issue. During June and July 1972 the District Court for the District of Columbia and the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit twice considered an action brought by one of the Wigoda delegates, Thomas E. Keane, against the National Democratic Party. That action challenged the constitutionality of the Party guidelines allegedly violated in the selection of the Wigoda delegates. The Cousins delegates intervened and the Party counter-claimed for an injunction enjoining the Wigoda delegates from proceeding with the state-court action. The case was initially dismissed on appeal because the Credentials Committee had not yet decided the petitioners' challenge, Keane v. National Democratic Party, No. 1010—72 (DC June 19, 1972); Keane v. Na- ( DC Cir. June 20, 1972). After the Credentials Committee announced its adoption of the Hearing Officer's Findings and Report, the suit proceeded. The District Court sustained the constitutional Democratic Party, No. 72—1562 pra, and dismissed Keane's suit, while denying the counterclaim. The Court of Appeals, on July 5, affirmed the dismissal but granted the counterclaim directing the entry of an order enjoining the Wigoda delegates from proceeding with tutionality of Guideline C—6, see n. 1, supra the Circuit Court suit. Brown v. O'Brien, 152 U.S.App.D.C. 157, 469 F.2d 563. This Court, however, at a Special Term on July 7, stayed the judgment of the Court of Appeals, 409 U.S. 1, 92 S.Ct. 2718, 34 L.Ed.2d 1. On October 10, 1972, we granted Keane's petition for certiorari, vacated the judgment of the Court of Appeals, and remanded for a determination of mootness. 409 U.S. 816, 93 S.Ct. 67, 34 L.Ed.2d 73. The Court of Appeals, on February 16, 1973, held the case moot insofar as it concerned seating of delegates at the July Convention, found no basis for relief as to any other matter, and entered a judgment affirming the District Court's order of July 3 dismissing Keane's suit, 155 U.S.App.D.C. 18, 475 F.2d 1287.

Based upon these events, petitioners argue...