Baker v. Carr
| Decision Date | 10 October 1963 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 2724. |
| Citation | 222 F. Supp. 684 |
| Parties | Charles W. BAKER et al., Original and Intervening Plaintiffs, v. Joe C. CARR et al., Original, Intervening and Added Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee |
Z. T. Osborn, Jr., Nashville, Tenn., Hobart F. Atkins, Knoxville, Tenn., Walter Chandler, Memphis, Tenn., for plaintiffs.
Neill S. Brown, Director of Law, Seymour Samuels, Asst. Director of Law, Metropolitan Government, Nashville, Tenn., Harris Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., for City of Nashville (Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tenn.).
C. R. McClain, Director of Law, Knoxville, Tenn., for City of Knoxville, Tenn.
J. W. Anderson, City Atty., Chattanooga, Tenn., E. K. Meacham, Eugene N. Collins, Chattanooga, Tenn., for City of Chattanooga, Tenn.
Cecil Branstetter, Nashville, Tenn., for Tenn. State Labor Council.
Gilbert S. Merritt, Jr., Asst. Director of Law, Metropolitan Government, Nashville, Tenn., for Davidson County Election Commission.
George H. McCanless, Atty. Gen., and Milton P. Rice, Asst. Atty. Gen., State of Tennessee, Nashville, Tenn., for defendants.
Edwin F. Hunt, Nashville, Tenn., for Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation.
Before WEICK, Circuit Judge, and BOYD and MILLER, District Judges.
This action again comes before us for consideration of the problem of legislative apportionment in Tennessee.
On June 22, 1962, the Court rendered a per curiam opinion, Baker, et al., v. Carr, et al., 206 F.Supp. 341, setting forth its views with respect to the 1962 legislation enacted by an extraordinary session of the General Assembly of Tennessee when measured in terms of the equal protection requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment. It was the conclusion of the Court that although the Act apportioning seats in the House of Representatives possessed certain individual inequities which cast doubt upon its validity, the general plan followed by the Act was not per se irrational or arbitrary. The scheme of the Act was to apportion the 99 members of the House of Representatives on the basis of a modified voter population principle by applying the two-thirds provision of the Tennessee Constitution not only to counties but also to floterial districts. This method of distribution obviously resulted in favoring the less populous areas of the state vis-a-vis the metropolitan areas having concentrations of population. However, as set forth in the opinion, "such a state plan for distribution of legislative strength, at least in one house of a bicameral legislature, cannot, in our opinion, be characterized as per se irrational or arbitrary." 206 F.Supp. at 345. The Court went on to point out that this was true for the reason that the Fourteenth Amendment should not be construed to preclude a state from enforcing a policy which would give a measure of protection to its rural and sparsely populated counties constituting integral and historic parts of the state's governmental structure and possessing substantial interests in state government and in the formulation of its laws and policies.
Consideration of the 1962 Act apportioning seats in the state senate, however, led the Court to the conclusion that the Act was devoid of any standard or rational plan of classification which the Court was able to discern. 206 F.Supp. at 346. Discrepancies were found not only as between the three grand divisions of the state but as between rural areas and metropolitan areas, as between various rural districts, and even as between metropolitan districts. For the reason that the Act was wholly wanting in any rational or explainable principle or theory of representation, comparable to the "crazy quilt" referred to by Mr. Justice Clark in his concurring opinion in this case, 369 U.S. at 254, 82 S.Ct. at 729, 7 L.Ed.2d 663, the Court expressed the view that the Act did not meet the test of equal protection of the law.
Confronted with the problem of fashioning a remedy, the Court carefully weighed and considered various alternatives, 206 F.Supp. 348-349, and concluded that, rather than for the Court to undertake the delicate task of devising and effectuating a plan, the best solution was to permit the General Assembly itself to reconsider the problem with the help of certain guide lines which the Court undertook to prescribe in its opinion. These were set forth as follows:
Thus, the Court clearly indicated its view that the minimum standard required to satisfy equal protection in legislative apportionment in Tennessee could be achieved by a reasonable departure from the principle of per capita representation in one house of the General Assembly in order to protect the interests of the smaller or rural areas of the state, coupled with full recognition of such principle, insofar as practicable, in the other house. The Supreme Court in its opinion did not see fit or perhaps did not have occasion to prescribe any exact criteria for determining the meaning of equal protection of the law under the Fourteenth Amendment in the context of state legislative representation. But it was our view then that equal protection should not be construed in such way as to deny to a state the right in distributing its legislative strength to give a rational recognition to both geography and population. Such a view, we believed, found support in the legislative practice of many of the states as well as in the analogy of the United States Congress.
At its regular 1963 session the General Assembly of Tennessee again enacted apportionment legislation. Chapter 295 of the Public Acts of 1963 reapportions seats in the House of Representatives. Chapter 320 of the Public Acts of 1963 reapportions seats in the state senate. The plaintiffs, on September 6, 1963, filed an amended and supplemental complaint in which they challenge the constitutionality of both Acts upon the ground that they do not meet the minimum standards prescribed by this Court in its opinion of June 22, 1962, and upon the ground that both Acts are violative of the equal protection clause of the Federal Constitution. They request that both Acts be declared unconstitutional and that the Court approve plans suggested by them which they insist would apportion both houses of the General Assembly as nearly as possible according to the principle of per capita equality of representation. Their present insistence is that any substantial departure from numbers is forbidden in apportioning either house and that the Court should give effect to the so-called principle that "one person equals one vote." The defendants, on the other hand, contend that the 1963 Acts are constitutionally unobjectionable and that they fully comply with the minimum standards indicated by this Court in its prior opinion. They point out that the 1963 Act reapportioning the House of Representatives eliminates all of the inequities specified by the Court but otherwise faithfully follows the general plan of the 1962 Act. They insist that the Act reapportioning the Senate is primarily and substantially based upon numbers of qualified voters as shown by the 1960 federal census.
First we consider the plaintiffs' insistence that we should retreat from the view expressed a year ago and enunciate a rule that the Federal Constitution rigidly requires the states in constituting their legislative bodies to be governed exclusively by population except for minor deviations due to the practical inconvenience of undertaking to disregard county boundary lines.
Upon reconsideration we adhere to our former view that while population must be substantially adhered to in one house of a bicameral legislature, it is permissible under the Fourteenth Amendment for a state in creating legislative districts for the other house to take into account other interests and objectives, as for example, the policy of providing adequate legislative representation to the rural population whose special interests might otherwise be overridden by "sheer weight of numbers." This view has been generally approved by other courts having occasion to consider the question. See Sobel v. Adams, 208 F.Supp. 316 (1962); Sims v. Frink, D.C., 205 F.Supp. 245 and D.C., 208 F. Supp. 431 (1962); Tombs v. Fortson, D.C., 205 F.Supp. 248 (1962); Lisco v. Love, D.C., 219 F.Supp. 922; Germano, et al., v. Kerner, et al., D.C., 220 F.Supp. 230 (1963); W. M. A. C. v. Simon, D.C., 202 F.Supp. 741 and D.C., 208 F.Supp. 368; Nolan v. Rhodes, D.C., 218 F.Supp. 953 (1963); Caesar v. Williams, 84 Idaho 254, 371 P.2d 241 (1962); Jackman v. Bodine, 78 N.J.Super. 414, 188 A.2d 642 (1963); Maryland Committee v. Tawes, 229 Md. 406, 184 A.2d 715 (1962); Sweeney v. Notte, 183 A.2d 296 (Rhode Island 1962).
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Butterworth v. Dempsey
...it would then decide which plan, if either, it would approve, expressing no doubt as to its power to impose a plan. Baker v. Carr, 222 F.Supp. 684, 694 (M.D.Tenn. 1963). At least one other district court has gone even further than Baker in entering an order of reapportionment of a state leg......
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Ellis v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 9899.
...defines "population" as "qualified voters," that is, persons over 21, and no objection was voiced on this score. See Baker v. Carr, 222 F.Supp. 684 (M.D.Tenn.1963); 206 F. Supp. 341, 344 (M.D.Tenn.1962). However, that issue was not presented and the Court did not directly address itself to ......
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Calkins v. Hare
...v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 82 S.Ct. 691, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (Mar. 26, 1962); and on remand at 206 F.Supp. 341 (D.C. June 22, 1962); and 222 F.Supp. 684 (D.C. Oct. 10, 1963). As of the date of the last decision, October 10, 1963, an acceptable reapportionment of the Tennessee Legislature had not been......