David v. Cahill, Civ. A. No. 1914-71.
| Decision Date | 26 April 1972 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 1914-71. |
| Citation | 342 F. Supp. 463 |
| Parties | William DAVID et al., Plaintiffs, v. William T. CAHILL, Governor of the State of New Jersey, et al., Defendants, James J. Howard et al., Intervenors. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey |
Brown, Vogelman, Morris & Ashley, Jersey City, N. J., for plaintiffs; by Raymond A. Brown, and Irving I. Vogelman, Jersey City, N. J.
Warren, Goldberg & Berman, Trenton, N. J., for defendants; by David J. Goldberg, Trenton, N. J.
Farley & Rush, Newark, N. J., for John E. Hunt, Charles W. Sandman, Peter Frelinghuysen, Edward B. Forsythe, William B. Widnall and Florence B. Dwyer; by Thomas R. Farley, Newark, N. J.
George F. Kugler, Jr., Atty. Gen., for William T. Cahill, Paul J. Sherwin, and William Yeomans and the Essex County Board of Elections; by Morton I. Greenberg, Asst. Atty. Gen., Trenton, N. J.
Before GIBBONS, Circuit Judge, and GARTH and FISHER, District Judges.
In this action the plaintiffs, citizens, residents, and registered voters of New Jersey, suing on their own behalf and on behalf of all those similarly situated, seek a declaration of unconstitutionality and an injunction against enforcement of N.J.S. 19:46-3, which creates districts for the election of United States Representatives from New Jersey. Jurisdiction is asserted under 28 U.S.C. § 1343. The initial defendants were the Governor of the State, the Secretary of State, the Superintendent of Elections of Essex County and the Essex County Board of Elections. The Attorney General of New Jersey has appeared on behalf of these defendants. On motion this court permitted incumbent members1 of the House of Representatives from New Jersey to intervene as defendants. The Democratic members, James J. Howard, Frank Thompson, Jr., Robert A. Roe, Henry Helstoski, Peter W. Rodino, Jr., Joseph G. Minish, Dominick V. Daniels and Edward J. Patten are represented by Warren, Goldberg & Berman, Esqs. The Republican members, John E. Hunt, Charles W. Sandman, Peter Frelinghuysen, Edwin B. Forsythe, William B. Widnall and Florence P. Dwyer, are represented by Farley & Rush, Esqs. All defendants have stipulated that the plaintiffs have standing and are appropriate class representatives. All parties have joined in a stipulation of facts, and all have conceded that they would offer no evidence except for that contained in the stipulation of facts bearing upon the constitutionality of the congressional districting plan set forth in N.J.S. 19:46-3. In the stipulation these facts appear:
New Jersey is divided into fifteen congressional districts. The 1970 Federal Census as corrected by the Bureau of Census as of January 3, 1972 establishes New Jersey's population at 7,170,885. With this population an ideal district based upon population would contain 478,059. In fact the population, deviation from the ideal, and percentage of relative deviation of New Jersey's fifteen districts is as follows:
% of Rel
District Population Deviation Deviation
1 483,518 + 5,459 + 1.14
2 416,317 - 61,742 -12.92
3 558,176 + 80,117 +16.76
4 525,322 + 47,263 + 9.89
5 581,826 +103,767 +21.71
6 629,444 +151,385 +31.67
7 463,475 - 14,584 - 3.05
8 460,782 - 17,277 - 3.61
9 433,673 - 44,386 - 9.28
10 441,960 - 36,099 - 7.55
11 383,082 - 94,977 -19.87
12 467,196 - 10,863 - 2.27
13 392,626 - 85,433 -17.87
14 398,390 - 79,669 -16.67
15 535,098 + 57,039 +11.93
Total 7,170,885
Mean per cent of relative deviation 12.41
Patently the congressional districting plan set forth in N.J.S. 19:46-3 is unconstitutional. Kirkpatrick v. Preisler, 394 U.S. 526, 89 S.Ct. 1225, 22 L.Ed.2d 519 (1969); Wells v. Rockefeller, 394 U.S. 542, 89 S.Ct. 1234, 22 L.Ed.2d 535 (1969).
New Jersey provides for primary elections. N.J.S. 19:23-1 et seq. Petitions nominating candidates to be voted for by the voters of a political party in any congressional district are addressed to the Secretary of State. N.J.S. 19:23-6. The petitions must set forth that the signers are qualified voters of the congressional district for which they desire to nominate a candidate. N.J.S. 19:23-7. For congressional primaries two hundred signatures are required. N. J.S. 19:23-8. Petitions must be filed with the Secretary of State before 4:00 P.M. on the fortieth day next preceding the holding of the primary election. Since that election is scheduled for June 6, 1972, N.J.S. 19:23-40, the last filing date would be April 27, 1972.
We have held that the congressional districting plan is unconstitutional. Since the first step in the congressional electoral process is the filing of nominating petitions signed by party members who are residents of a congressional district, and since the present congressional districts are unconstitutionally constituted, no valid step may be taken with respect to nomination of congressional candidates.
In this action the plaintiffs, citizens, residents, and registered voters of New Jersey, suing on their own behalf and on behalf of all those similarly situated, sought a declaration of unconstitutionality and an injunction against enforcement of N.J.S. 19:46-3, which creates districts for the election of United States Representatives from New Jersey. Jurisdiction is asserted under 28 U.S.C. § 1343. The initial defendants were the Governor of the State, the Secretary of State, the Superintendent of Elections of Essex County and the Essex County Board of Elections. The Attorney General of New Jersey appeared on behalf of these defendants. On motion this court permitted incumbent members1 of the House of Representatives from New Jersey to intervene as defendants. The Democratic members, James J. Howard, Frank Thompson, Jr., Robert A. Roe, Henry Helstoski, Peter W. Rodino, Jr., Joseph G. Minish, Dominick V. Daniels and Edward J. Patten are represented by Warren, Goldberg & Berman, Esqs. The Republican members, John E. Hunt, Charles W. Sandman, Peter Frelinghuysen, Edwin B. Forsythe, William B. Widnall and Florence P. Dwyer, are represented by Farley & Rush, Esqs. All defendants have stipulated that the plaintiffs have standing and are appropriate class representatives. All parties joined in a stipulation of facts, and all conceded that they would offer no evidence except for that contained in the stipulation of facts bearing upon the constitutionality of the congressional districting plan set forth in N.J.S. 19:46-3.
We held that the congressional districting plan set forth in N.J.S. 19:46-3 was, under the standards announced in Kirkpatrick v. Preisler, 394 U.S. 526, 89 S.Ct. 1225, 22 L.Ed.2d 519 (1969) and Wells v. Rockefeller, 394 U.S. 542, 89 S.Ct. 1234, 22 L.Ed.2d 535 (1969), patently unconstitutional. We enjoined the defendants from taking any steps pending the further order of this court, looking toward the nomination of candidates in the primary election or the election of candidates in the general election for the office of member of the House of Representatives from the districts set forth in N.J.S. 19:46-3. We set the case down for a hearing, beginning on April 3, 1972, with respect to other or further relief, and invited the parties to submit for our consideration any plan or program whereby we could approve or initiate a method for carrying out the primary and general elections for members of the House of Representatives for New Jersey. Pursuant to that invitation the intervening Democratic congressmen, the incumbent Republican congressmen, the Secretary of State of New Jersey, the plaintiffs, a number of interested citizens, and a labor organization submitted districting plans for consideration. We permitted the filing of each of these plans, and we have examined all of them. At the hearing a number of interested citizens and one labor organization moved to intervene as parties. We denied these last minute motions to intervene but suggested that any witnesses which might be available in support of any...
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...District as Area A. 3. On April 26, 1972, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, in the case of David v. Cahill, 342 F.Supp. 463 (D.N.J.1972), (three-judge court), ordered that Governor William T. Cahill and all election officials of the State of New Jersey "shall ......
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