Bianchi v. Griffing

• Citation: 217 F. Supp. 166
• Decision Date: 08 April 1963
• Docket Number: No. 62 C 821.,62 C 821.
• Parties: I. William BIANCHI, Jr., and Quentin B. Sammis, Plaintiffs, v. Evans K. GRIFFING et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

217 F. Supp. 166

I. William BIANCHI, Jr., and Quentin B. Sammis, Plaintiffs, v. Evans K. GRIFFING et al., Defendants.

No. 62 C 821.

United States District Court E. D. New York.

April 8, 1963.

Frederic Block, Port Jefferson Station, N. Y., and Cahn & Cahn, Huntington, N. Y., Frederic Block, Port Jefferson Station, N. Y., Richard C. Cahn, Huntington, N. Y., of counsel, for plaintiffs.

George W. Percy, Jr., Suffolk County Atty., Stanley S. Corwin, Greenport, N. Y., of counsel, for defendants.

BRUCHHAUSEN, District Judge.

The defendants move to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that (1) no substantial federal question is raised; (2) the Court lacks jurisdiction over the subject matter; (3) the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted; (4) the Court should abstain from exercising its equitable jurisdiction; and (5) there has been a failure to join an indispensable party.

THE COMPLAINT

The plaintiffs in their various capacities as citizens, taxpayers and voters of Suffolk County, New York, seek (1) judgment pursuant to 28 U.S.C.A. §§ 2201 and 2202 declaring invalid under the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, so much of Section 203 of the Suffolk County Charter which provides that the defendants, constituting the Board of Supervisors of said County, shall each have one vote as members of the said Board, and (2) an injunction to restrain the defendants from acting in their collective capacity as such Board until a constitutional change in the voting system is duly made and adopted pursuant to applicable law.

Jurisdiction is asserted and relief requested both under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 1983, 1988 and 28 U.S.C.A. § 1343(3) (4). Plaintiffs seek the convening of a three-judge court, pursuant to 28 U.S.C.A. § 2281 insofar as an injunction is sought restraining the enforcement or execution of a State statute.

It is alleged that each of the defendants resides in, and represents the voters of, one of the ten towns in Suffolk County; that the population of these towns varies from 1,367 to 191,280; that each defendant casts one vote without regard to the number of persons he represents; that the voting power is distributed solely on a geographic basis, that is one vote per town. It is further alleged that this arrangement arbitrarily exalts the voting strength of persons residing in the less populated towns, with no justification other than the present invidiously discriminatory geographic classification.

In Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, at page 199, 82 S.Ct. 691, at page 700, 7 L.Ed.2d 663, the Court held in part:

"Article III, § 2, of the Federal Constitution provides that `The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority * * *.' It is clear that the cause of action is one which `arises under' the Federal Constitution. The complaint alleges that the 1901 statute effects an apportionment that deprives the appellants of the equal protection of the laws in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Dismissal of the complaint upon the ground of lack of jurisdiction of the subject matter would, therefore, be justified only if that claim were `so attenuated and unsubstantial as to be absolutely devoid of merit,' Newburyport Water Co. v. Newburyport, 193 U.S. 561, 579, 24 S.Ct. 553, 557, 48 L.Ed. 795, or `frivolous,' Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. 678, 683, 66 S.Ct. 773, 776, 90 L.Ed. 939. That the claim is unsubstantial must be `very plain.' Hart v. Keith Vaudeville Exchange, 262 U.S. 271, 274 43 S.Ct. 540, 541, 67 L.Ed. 977."

At page 200 of 369 U.S., at page 701 of...