Ellis v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore

• Decision Date: 20 October 1964
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 14555.
• Citation: 234 F. Supp. 945
• Parties: Frank J. ELLIS, to his own right and on behalf of numerous other voters of Baltimore City who are similarly situated, Plaintiff, v. MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, and Board of Supervisors of Elections of Baltimore City, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

234 F. Supp. 945

Frank J. ELLIS, to his own right and on behalf of numerous other voters of Baltimore City who are similarly situated, Plaintiff, v. MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, and Board of Supervisors of Elections of Baltimore City, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 14555.

United States District Court D. Maryland.

October 20, 1964.

Archie D. Williams, Baltimore, Md., for plaintiff.

Joseph Allen, City Sol., Clayton A. Dietrich, and Harold I. Glaser, Asst. City Sols., Baltimore, Md., for defendants Mayor and City Council of Baltimore.

Thomas B. Finan, Atty. Gen. of Md., Robert F. Sweeney, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore, Md., for defendant Bd. of Supervisors of Elections.

Before THOMSEN, Chief Judge, and NORTHROP and WINTER, District Judges.

WINTER, District Judge.

By his Second Amended Complaint plaintiff, a resident and registered voter of Baltimore City, sues on his own behalf and on behalf of all of the voters of Baltimore City who are similarly situated, for declaratory and injunctive relief that (a) the apportionment of city councilmen as presently prescribed in Section 16 of the Charter and Public Local Laws of Baltimore City (1949 Ed.) (hereafter called "Baltimore City Charter") is in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and (b) that Resolution No. 9 of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, approved May 30, 1963 (hereafter called the "Resolution"), to redistrict the City of Baltimore and to reapportion the City Council, would, if adopted, similarly violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Unless enjoined by this Court, the Resolution will be submitted to the voters of Baltimore City for adoption or rejection at the general election to be held November 3, 1964. Plaintiff's latter prayer for relief rests upon alternative major contentions that (a) the Resolution is invalid, because adopted by a City Council unconstitutionally apportioned, and (b) if validly adopted, and if approved by the voters, the Resolution would violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

The Court has jurisdiction by virtue of 28 U.S.C.A. § 1343(3) and 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 1983 and 1988. There is no claim that a statutory three-judge court is required by virtue of the provisions of 28 U.S.C.A. § 2281, because only the validity of a municipal resolution is involved, and only local officials are sought to be enjoined.¹ The case was called for trial and evidence taken before a single judge on September 22, 1964, but, when it became apparent that certain parties having a potential interest in the case had no knowledge of its existence, that the parties had not submitted all of the evidence needed to decide the case, and that the case involved a question of great local interest, an order was entered directing the parties to present proof which the Court needed for final disposition of the case, the order was served on a number of potentially interested persons, and additional judges of this Court were invited to hear and to participate in its decision. The case was subsequently reheard on October 5, 1964.

Suit was initially filed on April 5, 1963. At that time the principal relief requested was a declaration that Section 16 of the Baltimore City Charter, which fixes the number and election of members of the City Council,² was invalid for violation of the Equal Protection Clause, and that the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore be required to effect an apportionment of city councilmen among the several councilmanic districts so as to give the plaintiff, and others similarly situated, equal representation in the City Council of Baltimore City. At about the time of the filing of the suit, the then Mayor of Baltimore City appointed a commission of legislative, business and civic representatives to propose and present to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore and, ultimately, to the voters of Baltimore, a redistricting proposal providing for substantially equal representation in the City Council. Plaintiff amended his Complaint to allege that the appointment of the commission was a political gesture, engaged in for the purpose of deceiving the Court, and that any redistricting and/or reapportionment undertaken at a time at which plaintiff was not adequately represented would violate his constitutional rights. Plaintiff added another prayer to his requested relief, i. e., that the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore be restrained from proceeding to redistrict the city until such time as a valid reapportionment had been accomplished.

A hearing in this Court was not pressed, and the commission (hereafter called the "Bard Commission")³ carried on its proceedings and drafted a redistricting plan (commonly referred to as "Plan X"). The report of the Bard Commission was dated April 23, 1963. Thereafter, Resolution No. 2572 was introduced in the City Council, embodying the recommendations of Plan X. With amendments satisfactory to the Bard Commission, the Resolution was passed unanimously on May 16, 1963, and is now known as Resolution No. 9 of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, approved May 30, 1963.⁴ By its terms it would submit to the voters of Baltimore City, at the November, 1964 general election, proposed amendments to Sections 16 and 20 of the Charter of Baltimore City. Section 16 of the Charter, as it presently exists, is set forth in the margin.⁵ The Resolution would amend this section to provide that councilmanic districts having not more than 70,000 voters would elect three members of the City Council, while councilmanic districts having more than 70,000 voters would elect four members to the City Council.⁶ Section 20 of the Charter, as it now exists, fixes the boundaries of the councilmanic districts as set forth in the Land Records of Baltimore City lodged with the Clerk of the Superior Court of Baltimore City.⁷ The Resolution proposes an amendment to Section 20 to restate the councilmanic districts by actual description contained in the Resolution.

Notwithstanding that the Resolution was finally adopted on May 16, 1963, plaintiff did not undertake to file his Second Amended Complaint until March 4, 1964.

Plaintiff contends, firstly, that the present apportionment of the City Council of Baltimore is unconstitutional. This conclusion is said to result from the terms and provisions of Section 16 of the Charter, in that the formula specified in Section 16 lacks rational basis, and it is theoretically possible that under this formula a councilmanic district having a very small number of residents and an even smaller number of registered voters would elect not less than three councilmen, while a district having a very large number of inhabitants and voters would elect not more than four councilmen. The present invalidity of Section 16 is also urged when its impact on the present population and voter registration among the several councilmanic districts in relation to the number of councilmen elected by each of those districts is considered.

Stemming from the conclusion that the City Council is presently unconstitutionally apportioned, the plaintiff argues, secondly, that Modified Plan X is invalid because it was adopted by a City Council which was unconstitutionally apportioned, so that plaintiff's ultimate vote through his designated representatives in the City Council did not receive its proper weight. In other words, plaintiff contends that he has a constitutional right through his designated representatives to participate in any redistricting plan which the City Council may propose to the voters of Baltimore City by way of Charter amendment on an equal basis with other citizens and voters, and this right is violated when a redistricting plan is submitted to the voters by an unconstitutionally apportioned City Council. Thus, plaintiff argues that the City Council must be first reapportioned in such manner as to meet the requirements of the Equal Protection Clause as a condition precedent to its valid adoption of any proposal for redistricting.

Assuming that he prevails in his first contention, but his second contention is found to lack merit, plaintiff thirdly argues that Modified Plan X is invalid. This third contention is three-fold in nature. Like one of the facets of the first contention, plaintiff argues, again, that the formula prescribed in the amendment to Section 16 of the Charter, proposed by Modified Plan X, is unconstitutional on its face because of what might happen under this formula, namely, that a district having a few inhabitants and fewer registered voters can never elect less than three representatives to the City Council, while a district having any number of inhabitants and registered voters in excess of 70,000 can never elect more than four members of the City Council. As a second subsidiary contention, plaintiff argues that, as related to the present distribution of inhabitants and registered voters among the several councilmanic districts of Baltimore City, Modified Plan X, if put into effect, would result in malapportionment of the City Council such as to violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. As a third subsidiary contention, plaintiff argues that, if otherwise valid, Modified Plan X results in a denial of equal protection because it unduly postpones its corrective action. In other words, plaintiff argues that Modified Plan X if adopted by the voters at the forthcoming general election should go into effect immediately thereafter and a special councilmanic election should be held no later than May, 1965 to reconstitute the City Council on a constitutional basis.

I

There can be no question but that plaintiff's first contention is meritorious when the application of the provisions of Section 16 to present distribution of citizens...