Burns v. Richardson Cravalho v. Richardson Abe v. Richardson, s. 318

• Decision Date: 25 April 1966
• Docket Number: 323 and 409,Nos. 318,s. 318
• Parties: John A. BURNS, Governor of the State of Hawaii, Appellant, v. William S. RICHARDSON et al. Elmer F. CRAVALHO et al., Appellants, v. William S. RICHARDSON et al. Kazuhisa ABE et al., Appellants, v. William S. RICHARDSON et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

384 U.S. 73

86 S.Ct. 1286

16 L.Ed.2d 376

John A. BURNS, Governor of the State of Hawaii, Appellant,

v William S. RICHARDSON et al.

Elmer F. CRAVALHO et al., Appellants,

v. William S. RICHARDSON et al.

Kazuhisa ABE et al., Appellants,

v. William S. RICHARDSON et al.

Nos. 318, 323 and 409.

Argued Feb. 21, 1966.

Decided April 25, 1966.

[Syllabus from pages 73-74 intentionally omitted] Bertram T. Kanbara, Honolulu, Hawaii, and Dennis G. Lyons, Washington, D.C., for appellant in No. 318 and appellees in Nos. 323 and 409.

Yukio Naito, Honolulu, Hawaii, for appellants in No. 409 and appellees in Nos. 318 and 323.

James T. Funaki, Honolulu, Hawaii, for appellants in No. 323 and appellees in Nos. 318 and 409.

Robert G. Dodge and Masaji Marumoto, Honolulu, Hawaii, for appellees in all three cases.

Mr. Justice BRENNAN delivered the opinion of the Court.

This reapportionment case was brought in the District Court of Hawaii by residents and qualified voters of the City and County of Honolulu, appellees in each of the three appeals consolidated here. They alleged that Hawaii's legislative apportionment was unconstitutional under our decisions in Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 12 L.Ed.2d 506, and companion cases. ¹ William S. Richardson, Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii, also an appellee in all three appeals, was named defendant in his capacity as the state officer responsible for supervising state elections. John A. Burns, Governor of Hawaii, appellant in No. 318, intervened as a party plaintiff. Members of the State House of Representatives, appellants in No. 323, and members of the State Senate, appellants in No. 409, intervened as parties defendant.

Under the Hawaii Constitution, adopted in 1950 and put into effect upon admission to statehood in 1959, the State is divided into four major counties, referred to in the State Constitution as 'basic areas.' Each county is made up of a group of islands, separated from each of the other counties by wide and deep ocean waters. The principal island of the City and County of Honolulu, the most populous county, is the island of Oahu. It is the State's industrial center, principal tourist attraction, and site of most of the many federal military establishments located in the State. In 1960, 79% of the State's populationlived there. The three other counties, primarily rural and agricultural, are Hawaii County, Maui County, and Kauai County.²

The apportionment article of the State Constitution was framed to assure that the three small counties would choose a controlling majority of the State Senate and that the population center, Oahu, would control the State House of Representatives. Thus, Art. III, § 2, of the State Constitution apportions a 25-member senate among six fixed senatorial districts, assigning a specified number of seats to each. Fifteen senate seats, a controlling majority, are allocated among Hawaii, Kauai and Maui Counties and 10 seats are assigned to Oahu. Alteration of this apportionment is made very difficult by a provision 'that no constitutional amendment altering * * * the representation from any senatorial district in the senate shall become effective unless it shall also be approved by a majority of the votes tallied upon the question in each of a majority of the counties.'³ Hawaii Const., Art. XV, § 2, 6.

For the State House of Representatives, on the other hand, the State Constitution establishes 18 representative districts, 10 of which are on Oahu, and requires the Governor to apportion the 51-member body among these districts on the basis of the number of voters registered in each. The first apportionment occurred in 1959, just prior to statehood, and was based on registration figures for the 1958 territorial election. It produced 13 multi-member representative districts and five single-member districts, and allocated 36 representatives, a controlling majority, to Oahu.⁴ The Governor is required to reap- portion the State decennially, a duty which may be enforced by mandamus from the State Supreme Court.

This apportionment scheme was first attacked in the Supreme Court of Hawaii, within a month after we decided Reynolds v. Sims. That court refused to pass on the validity of the apportionment at that time. It noted the imminence of the 1964 election and stated its belief that, consistent with the Hawaii Constitution, judicial proceedings should await legislative proposals for a constitutional amendment or a constitutional convention. Guntert v. Richardson, 47 Haw. 662, 394 P.2d 444. Compare Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S., at 585, 84 S.Ct., at 1393. A special legislative session was then called by the Governor to consider reapportionment. It failed to act.

This suit was brought on August 13, 1964. A three-judge court was convened, as required by 28 U.S.C. §§ 2281, 2284 (1964 ed.). Interim relief was denied in view of the pendency of the 1964 elections and hearings were set for January 1965. The court published its first decision and order on February 17, 1965. 238 F.Supp. 468. That order declared all provisions of the apportionment plan contained in the Hawaii Constitution valid under the Equal Protection Clause except the mentioned provisions relating to the apportionment of the State Senate. These were affirmatively declared to be invalid and unconstitutional.

In the February 17 order the District Court decided not to fashion its own reapportionment plan for the senate. Nor did it instruct the legislature to reapportion the senate or to propose constitutional amendments for that purpose.⁵ Instead, it directed the legislature to sub- mit to the electorate at an immediate special election the question, 'Shall there be a convention to propose a revision of or amendments to the Constitution?' The legislature was also directed to establish the convention procedures according to a timetable the court set.⁶ The court retained jurisdiction for all purposes, including that of itself reapportioning the senate in the event of a negative vote on the question, failure of the convention to adopt a suitable amendment, or rejection by the electorate of the amendment adopted by the convention.

The court chose the convention route over the legislative route for two reasons. Under the Hawaii Constitution all elections necessary to adoption of amendments proposed by a constitutional convention may be held on a special basis. Legislative proposals, on the other hand, may be submitted only at a general election. In starting the machinery necessary for a convention, the court hoped that a valid permanent plan could be presented to the electorate and adopted before the next general election, to be held in 1966. The second reason was that the court doubted that the legislature would be able to agree on an amendment proposal for reapportioning the senate, in view of the failure of the previously called legislative special session to act.

The special elections necessary under the court's order, however, entailed substantial expense. On motion of the intervening legislators, which showed substantial progress towards a legislative proposal for amendment, the court on March 9, 1965, modified its order. As suggested by the parties, it suspended the February 17 order and instead required the legislature to enact three separate statutes before turning to regular legislative business. One statute was to propose an interim senate apportionment plan, using registered voters as a basis, to be submitted to the court. If approved, it would be adopted by the court as its plan for use in the 1966 general election. The second statute was to propose a constitutional amendment embodying pertinent provisions of the interim plan, to be submitted to the people for approval at that election. The third statute was to submit the question of calling a constitutional convention to the electorate at the 1966 general election.

Three statutes were enacted. H.B. 987, the only one of these measures before us,⁷ proposed an interim plan of apportionment for the senate. 1 Hawaii Sess.Laws 1965, Act 281. The plan followed the pattern for house apportionment. It established eight senatorial districts, five on Oahu. As required by the court's order, the 25 senators were to be apportioned on the basis of registered voters.⁸ Using figures derived from registration for the 1964 general elections, Oahu was allocated 19 out of the 25 senators, a controlling majority.

Under the total apportionment scheme which resulted from this enactment, Oahu would not have any single-member districts in either the house or the senate. The distribution of registered voters in Oahu is such that Oahu's 10 representative districts have two to six representatives each, and its five senatorial districts each would have either three or four senators. Hawaii County would be a single senatorial district represented by three senators and have five representative districts, four choosing a single representative and the fifth electing three. Maui County would be a single senatorial district electing two senators and have two representative districts, one electing four, and the other a single representative. Kauai County would be a single senatorial and a single representative district electing one senator and three representatives. Thus, Oahu with 79% of total population would elect 76% of the senate, 19 of 25 senators, and 71% of the house, 36 of 51 representatives.

The new senate apportionment scheme was submitted to the court immediately upon passage. By opinion and order of April 28, 1965, the District Court disapproved it, and reinstated the provision of its earlir order requiring immediate resort to the convention method.⁹ 240 F.Supp. 724. It expressly approved the use of the registered voters measure of population. Its disapproval was based on the legislative decision not to create singlemember senatorial districts for Oahu but merely to increase the number of multi-member senatorial districts on that island...