Alsup v. Mayhall

• Decision Date: 22 August 1962
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 2822.
• Citation: 208 F. Supp. 713
• Parties: S. A. ALSUP, Plaintiff, v. Roy MAYHALL, Individually and as Chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee of the State of Alabama, Bettye Frink, Individually and as Secretary of the State of Alabama, and MacDonald Gallion, Individually and as Attorney General of the State of Alabama, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Alabama

208 F. Supp. 713

S. A. ALSUP, Plaintiff, v. Roy MAYHALL, Individually and as Chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee of the State of Alabama, Bettye Frink, Individually and as Secretary of the State of Alabama, and MacDonald Gallion, Individually and as Attorney General of the State of Alabama, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 2822.

United States District Court S. D. Alabama, S. D.

August 22, 1962.

M. A. Marsal, Mobile, Ala., for plaintiff.

Gordon Madison, Asst. Atty. Gen., Montgomery, Ala., for Bettye Frink and MacDonald Gallion.

Frank J. Mizell, Jr., Montgomery, Ala., for Roy Mayhall.

Before RIVES, Circuit Judge, THOMAS and JOHNSON, District Judges.

PER CURIAM.

S. A. Alsup, a resident citizen of Mobile County, Alabama, files a petition seeking a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief against the defendants, Roy Mayhall, as Chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee for the State of Alabama, Bettye Frink, as Secretary of State for the State of Alabama, and MacDonald Gallion, as Attorney General for the State of Alabama.

To the petition, each of the defendants moves to dismiss. These several motions to dismiss are based, generally, upon the grounds: first, that the Court lacks jurisdiction; and second, that the petition fails to allege any facts that necessitate or justify a declaratory judgment or injunction.

The Legislature of the State of Alabama in "Act 154" (Senate Bill 224) enacted into law in 1961 what is commonly known and referred to as the "9-8 Bill," regulating elections held for the purpose of nominating candidates for and election of representatives in Congress. This bill was and is designed to cope with the fact that the State of Alabama, effective January 1963, will have its congressional representation reduced from nine to eight members by reason of the allocation of those representatives based upon the 1960 federal census. The Legislature of the State of Alabama, being unable to agree upon any plan redistricting the State from nine to eight districts, sought to cope temporarily with the problem in "Act 154" (Senate Bill 224) as follows:

"Section 1. If any political party holds primary elections for the purpose of nominating candidates for election as representatives in the Congress of the United States from Alabama, in 1962, or at any time thereafter until the state is redivided into congressional districts, such elections shall only be held as provided in this Act.

"Section 2. On the first Tuesday in May 1962, and every two years thereafter, until the state is redivided into congressional districts, a candidate for election as representative in Congress may be named by vote of the qualified electors of each of the nine congressional districts described in Code of Alabama 1940, Title 17, Section 425. The name of the candidate receiving a majority of the votes in the district shall be certified by the chairman of the state executive committee of the party holding the primary to the probate judges of the several counties of the state, who shall cause the names of such candidates as so certified to be placed upon paper ballots to be used in a statewide runoff primary election, which shall be held on the fourth Tuesday next following the date of the first primary. Only paper ballots shall be used in the primary election held on the fourth Tuesday next following the date of the first primary, in the election for the purpose of nominating candidates for election as Representatives in the Congress of the United States from Alabama under this Act, and the use of voting machines for such purpose is hereby prohibited, provided however that nothing in this Act shall prohibit the use of voting machines for elections of candidates for other offices held in said primary. The names of the eight candidates receiving the highest number of votes cast in the state-wide runoff primary shall be certified by said state chairman to the secretary of state as the party's nominees for election to Congress at the ensuing general election. Every voter who votes in the statewide runoff primary must vote for eight and only eight of the candidates whose names appear on the ballots. If no candidate receives a majority of all the votes cast in the first primary, then there shall be held a district runoff primary election on the second Tuesday next following the first primary; and the chairman of the state executive committee shall certify to the probate judges of the several counties of the several districts, the names of the two candidates of his party to receive the highest number of votes in the first primary election. The probate judges of the several counties shall have prepared and printed all election supplies and ballots to be voted in the district runoff primary election and also in the statewide primary election.

"Section 3. At the general election in November 1962, and every two years thereafter until the state is redivided into congressional districts, the representatives in Congress shall be elected at large by the qualified electors of the whole state, provided that every elector who votes in such election must vote for eight and only eight candidates for representatives in Congress.

"Section 4. Except as otherwise provided in this Act, primaries held for the purpose of nominating candidates for election as representatives in Congress shall be conducted in the same way and according to the same laws as prescribed for conducting other primaries.

"Section 5. All laws or parts of laws which conflict with this Act are repealed.

"Section 6. This Act shall become effective immediately upon its passage and approval by the Governor, or upon its otherwise becoming a law. However, if the Congress, at the present session or the next session, authorizes nine (9) members of Congress for Alabama, then this Act shall have no force or effect and the present nine (9) congressional districts in Alabama shall remain as they are now described in Section 425, Title 17, Code of 1940."¹

Petitioner claims that the method of selecting congressional representatives prescribed by "Act 154" (Senate Bill 224) violates his rights as a citizen of the United States and particularly violates his rights as guaranteed by the Fifth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The Act quite obviously does not violate either the Fifth or Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. The Fifth Amendment is a prohibitory amendment directed toward the federal government and not the states. Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319, 58 S.Ct. 149, 82 L.Ed. 288. Insofar as the Fifteenth Amendment is concerned, there is no allegation and no showing that the petitioner is a member of the Negro race or any other minority racial group. As a matter of fact, this Court knows that the contrary is true; therefore, the Fifteenth Amendment is not applicable in this instance. Terry v. Adams, 345 U.S. 461, 73 S.Ct. 809, 97 L.Ed. 1152. The pleadings (particularly the amendment to the complaint) and arguments in this case reflect that the real basis for the complaint is that there has been an alleged unequal or discriminatory treatment accorded the petitioner in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Plaintiff contends among other things (1) that the Alabama...