Fulani v. League of Women Voters Educ. Fund, 88 Civ. 1441 (RWS).
| Decision Date | 12 April 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 88 Civ. 1441 (RWS).,88 Civ. 1441 (RWS). |
| Citation | 684 F. Supp. 1185 |
| Parties | Dr. Lenora B. FULANI; Lenora B. Fulani's Committee for Fair Elections; and Virginia Sinclair, Plaintiffs, v. LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS EDUCATION FUND; League of Women Voters of the United States; League of Women Voters of the City of New York Education Fund, Inc.; James Baker III, Secretary of the Treasury, Roscoe L. Egger, Jr., Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Arthur R. Block, New York City, for plaintiffs.
Arnold & Porter, Washington, D.C. (Brooksley Born, of counsel), for defendants.
Arnold & Porter, New York City (Kenneth V. Handal, of counsel), for League defendants.
Rulolph W. Giuliani, U.S. Atty., S.D.N.Y., New York City (Paul K. Milmed, Asst. U.S. Atty., of counsel), for Government defendants.
Plaintiffs Dr. Lenora B. Fulani ("Fulani"), Lenora B. Fulani's Committee for Fair Elections, and Virginia Sinclair have moved for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction (a) against defendants League of Women Voters Education Fund (the "League"), League of Women Voters for the United States, and League of Women Voters of the City of New York, Inc. (collectively, the "League organizations"), restraining them from conducting any presidential primary debate to which they do not invite Fulani to participate on equal terms with the other candidates and (b) against defendants Secretary of the Treasury (the "Secretary") and Commissioner of Internal Revenue (the "Commissioner") (collectively, the "federal defendants") enjoining them to take action to cause the League to conduct the debates in a nonpartisan manner or, in the alternative, to revoke the League's exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (the "Code"). Following the submission of briefs, affidavits and exhibits, oral argument was held on April 1, 1988. Upon the findings and conclusions set forth below, the motion is denied.
The complaint alleges that the exclusion of Fulani from the League's primary season debates violates her rights under the First Amendment. The complaint also asserts that Fulani's exclusion is a partisan act in violation of Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3), 26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(3) (1987 Supp.), and a discriminatory act on the basis of race and sex in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and the League's obligations under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000d-2000d-4 (1981) and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681-1686 (1978). Finally, the complaint alleges a breach of contract claim against the League organizations for their alleged failure to be nonpartisan and to promote the inclusion of minorities and women to the fullest extent possible in the electoral process. With respect to the federal defendants, the complaint alleges that the failure of the Secretary and the Commissioner to revoke the tax exemption of the League violates both their duties under the Code and plaintiffs' rights to freedom of speech and association and to equal protection of the laws under the First and Fifth Amendments.
Fulani is an African-American woman who was born and raised in Chester, Pennsylvania. She received an undergraduate degree from Hofstra University, a Master's Degree in educational psychology from Columbia University Teachers College, and a Ph.D in developmental psychology from the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York. Fulani has been active in electoral politics for many years, having run as an independent candidate for Lt. Governor of New York in 1982, Mayor of New York City in 1985 and Governor of New York State in 1986.
On June 24, 1987, Fulani publicly announced her candidacy for President of the United States. She is not seeking the nomination of the Democratic or Republican parties. Running as an independent, Fulani is seeking to attain a place on the ballot in all fifty states and the District of Columbia by (a) meeting petition requirements in a number of states to have her name on the ballot as an independent, and (b) winning the nomination of several minor parties, such as the New Alliance Party, which is organized in twenty-six states, the Illinois Solidarity Party, the Peace and Freedom Party of California and the Labor Farm Party of Wisconsin, that either have a permanent ballot position or will be petitioning to attain a ballot position in 1988. As her campaign progresses, Fulani has been invited to numerous speaking engagements, forums, and interviews, at the community and local level. She has submitted unrebutted evidence that she has personally made approximately 210 campaign appearances in thirty-four states and the District of Columbia, and has appeared on thirty-eight local and regional television programs at forty-two stations based in eighteen states; eight national television programs; 174 local and regional radio programs on 158 stations based in thirty-two states; and ten nationally-syndicated radio programs. She and her campaign have been the subject of 173 articles in local and regional newspapers and ten articles in national newspapers and magazines.
On January 28, 1988, Fulani was certified by the Federal Election Commission ("FEC") as eligible for presidential primary matching funds ("primary matching funds") based on Fulani's "threshold submission," filed with the FEC pursuant to the Federal Primary Matching Payment Account Act, 26 U.S.C. § 9033 (1987 Supp.), documenting that she had received matchable contributions exceeding $5,000 from residents of at least twenty states in amounts not exceeding $250 from any one contributor. She is the only woman who has received primary matching funds in connection with the 1988 election. She is the first black woman ever to qualify for matching funds. At the time of oral argument on the instant motion, Fulani was one of sixteen candidates to have qualified for federal primary matching funds, eight of whom had terminated their candidacies.
The League is a private, non-for-profit charitable trust exempt from federal income taxes. Its goal is to foster voter education and participation in the electoral process. Since its founding in 1957, the League has sponsored four Democratic presidential primary debates, one vice-presidential general election debate, and three presidential general election debates. In 1980, the League sponsored three Republican presidential primary debates and two presidential general election debates. In 1984, the League sponsored four Democratic presidential primary debates, one vice-presidential general election debate, and two presidential general election debates. The League's debates have always included only candidates who are competing against one another in a particular election or set of elections: the Democratic presidential nomination process, the Republican presidential nomination process, or the presidential general election.
Part of the League's funding consists of grants from federal agencies. The League has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy in the amount of $274,287. This grant is for the purpose of conducting an education project concerning nuclear energy. The League has also received a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") in the amount of $100,000 for the purpose of conducting a drinking-water survey. None of the funds from these grants has been or will be used in any way in connection with the League's presidential debates. The League is not currently the recipient of any other federal funds.
The League is the sole sponsor of two presidential primary debates that Fulani seeks to enjoin by her application for a preliminary injunction. The League has scheduled a debate among the candidates running in the Democratic Party primaries for April 16, 1988 in Rochester, New York, and a debate among the candidates running in the Democratic Party primaries for June 5, 1988 in Torrance, California.1 The purpose of the League's primary debates is to educate the nation's electorate about the issues in the primary election campaigns and about the positions of the candidates running in those elections and to stimulate increased voter interest and participation in the electoral process. The League scheduled separate Democratic and Republican primary debates in order to permit the voters to hear debate among the candidates who are competing against one another and in order to assist voters in making an informed choice among them.2
The League invited candidates to participate in the presidential primary election debates after applying participant selection criteria adopted by the Board of Trustees of the League on April 2, 1987. The basic criteria the League adopted for selection of participants in the presidential primary debates are as follows:
Under the first criterion, only Democratic candidates have been invited to participate in the Democratic primary debates, and only Republican candidates have been invited to participate in the Republican primary debates. In assessing the significance of a candidacy, the League considers a number of factors, including:
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