Karcher v. Daggett 83 1526, A-740

• Decision Date: 30 March 1984
• Docket Number: No. A-740,A-740
• Citation: 80 L.Ed.2d 165,104 S.Ct. 1691,466 U.S. 910
• Parties: Alan J. KARCHER, Speaker, New Jersey Assembly, et al., appellants, v. George T. DAGGETT et al (83-1526)
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

466 U.S. 910

104 S.Ct. 1691

80 L.Ed.2d 165

Alan J. KARCHER, Speaker, New Jersey Assembly, et al., appellants,

v George T. DAGGETT et al

No. A-740 (83-1526)

Supreme Court of the United States

March 30, 1984

The application for stay presented to JUSTICE BRENNAN and by him referred to the Court is denied.

Justice STEVENS, concurring.

In Karcher v. Daggett, 462 U.S. ----, 103 S.Ct. 2653, 77 L.Ed.2d 133 (1983), we held that the reapportionment plan which had been adopted by New Jersey after the 1980 census was unconstitutional. On remand, the parties, by stipulation, asked the three-judge District Court to select which of a number of proposed redistricting plans should be employed in place of the plan which had been adjudicated unconstitutional. The District Court rejected the "Senate Plan," and selected the "Forsythe Plan." The District Court chose the Forsythe Plan because it achieved lower population deviations and more compact districts than the Senate Plan. Appellants claim that the District Court was obligated to accept the Senate Plan because it most closely conformed to the State's original plan while eliminating unconstitutional population variances. They have, accordingly, filed an application for a stay of the District Court's order, as well as an appeal. Since there is currently no apportionment plan in effect in New Jersey and elections are imminent, what appellants really seek is an injunction from this Court ordering use of the Senate Plan pending disposition of the appeal.

Once a constitutional violation has been found, a District Court has broad discretion to fashion an appropriate remedy. E.g., Milliken v. Bradley, 433 U.S. 267, 280-288, 97 S.Ct. 2749, 2757-2761, 53 L.Ed.2d 745 (1977). I do not believe there is a sufficient likelihood that the District Court abused that discretion by selecting the Forsythe Plan to justify the relief appellants seek. Because the Forsythe Plan contained lower population variances, it more completely redressed the constitutional violation. Nor was it an abuse of discretion to consider the fact that the Forsythe Plan created more compact districts; our previous opinion acknowledged that this is a legitimate consideration in reapportionment. See 462 U.S., at ----, 103 S.Ct., at 2663. We also stated that efforts to inhibit gerrymandering are a legitimate part of the reapportionment process, see id., at ----, n. 6, 103 S.Ct., at 2660, n. 6; here the District Court found that the plan advocated by appellants constituted "an intentional gerrymander in favor of certain Democratic representatives." App. to Juris. Statement 13a. While a District Court should not unnecessarily ignore state policies when fashioning a remedy, White v. Weiser, 412 U.S. 783, 795-797, 93 S.Ct. 2348, 2354-2355, 37 L.Ed.2d 335 (1973), there the District Court rejected a plan implementing "decisions [ ] made by the legislature in pursuit of what were deemed important state interests," id., at 796, 93 S.Ct., at 2355, and did not explain why the plan it had rejected was "unconstitutional or even undesirable." Id., at 797, 93 S.Ct., at 2355. Here the District Court identified legitimate considerations justifying its choice, and appellants have identified no state policy to which the District Court should have deferred that justifies the bizarre district lines in the original reapportionment plan. See 462 U.S., at ---- and n. 12, 103 S.Ct., at 2664, n. 12.

Accordingly, I concur in the Court's decision to deny the application for stay.

Justice BRENNAN, with whom Justice WHITE and Justice MARSHALL join, dissenting.

Before the Court is an application seeking to stay an order of a three-judge District Court pending final disposition of an appeal to this Court under 28 U.S.C. § 1253. The challenged order directs the State of New Jersey to conduct upcoming elections for Members of the House of Representatives pursuant to a reapportionment plan adopted by the District Court as a remedy for the constitutional violation found in New Jersey's 1982 reapportionment plan. See Karcher v. Daggett, 462 U.S. ----, 103 S.Ct. 2653, 77 L.Ed.2d 133 (1983), aff'g 535 F.Supp. 978 (D.C.N.J.1982). Because I believe that the District Court has acted beyond the scope of its authority in correcting the relevant constitutional violation, I would grant the application for stay and remand the case to the District Court for implementation of an alternative plan. I therefore dissent.

I

Following the 1980 decennial census, the State of New Jersey was required to decrease its membership in the United States House of Representatives from 15 to 14. To satisfy this requirement, the State enacted a congressional reapportionment scheme in January 1982 (hereinafter referred to as the Feldman Plan) that eliminated one of the State's congressional districts and substantially changed the geographical boundaries used to define the re- maining districts. Although the Feldman Plan contained the requisite 14 districts, it suffered from significant numerical inequalities in population between each of those districts. In particular, given an "ideal" district population of 526,059, the average deviation from the norm was 0.1384%, or 726 people. Moreover, the difference between the largest district and the smallest district was 3,674 people, or 0.6984% of the average district.

The Feldman Plan was challenged by several interested parties and, primarily because of these population variances, was declared unconstitutional by the District Court. Daggett v. Kimmelman, 535 F.Supp. 978 (D.C.N.J.1982). That order was stayed pending appeal to this Court, 455 U.S. 1303, 102 S.Ct. 1298, 71 L.Ed.2d 635 (1982) (BRENNAN, J., in chambers), leaving the plan in effect during the 1982 congressional elections. We noted probable jurisdiction, 457 U.S. 1131, 102 S.Ct. 2955, 73 L.Ed.2d 1347 (1982), and subsequently affirmed the decision and order of the District Court, Karcher v. Daggett, 462 U.S. ----, 103 S.Ct. 2653, 77 L.Ed.2d 133 (1983).

In Karcher, this Court reaffirmed that Article I, § 2 of the Constitution " 'permits only the limited population variances which are unavoidable despite a good-faith effort to achieve absolute equality, or for which justification is shown.' " Id., at ----, 103 S.Ct., at 2658 (quoting Kirkpatrick v. Preisler, 394 U.S. 526, 531, 89 S.Ct. 1225, 1229, 22 L.Ed.2d 519 (1969)); see White v. Weiser, 412 U.S. 783, 790, 93 S.Ct. 2348, 2352, 37 L.Ed.2d 335 (1973). Applying that standard to the Feldman Plan, we concluded that the numerical variances described above, when combined with evidence that alternative plans available to the State contained smaller maximum deviations, demonstrated that New Jersey had not come "as nearly as practicable" to population equality among districts. 462 U.S., at ----, ---- - ----, 103 S.Ct., at 2663, 2662-2663; Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1, 7-8, 18, 84 S.Ct. 526, 529-530, 535, 11 L.Ed.2d 481 (1964). Nor was the State able to prove that each significant variance among its districts was necessary to achieve some legitimate state objective. 462 U.S., at ---- - ----, 103 S.Ct., at 2663-2664. We therefore concluded that the population inequalities existing under the Feldman Plan were both constitutionally significant and unjustified by legitimate state goals. Accordingly, we affirmed the District Court's holding that the plan was unconstitutional.

On remand from our decision, the three-judge District Court allowed the State until February 3, 1984 to enact another redistricting plan that would meet constitutional requirements. Although the State Legislature adopted an alternative plan (Senate Bill 3564, hereinafter referred to as the Senate Plan), it was vetoed by the Governor and had insufficient support for reenactment over that veto. Given this failure by the State's political process, the District Court convened a hearing on February 7, 1984 to choose a proper remedy for the uncorrected constitutional violation. See App. to Juris. Statement in No. 83-1526, at 1a-13a. At that hearing, all parties agreed that the court should select a redistricting plan from among several alternatives offered by interested parties rather than allow the upcoming congressional elections to proceed on an at-large basis. Id., at 4a-5a. Cf. 2 U.S.C. § 2a(c).

At least six separate redistricting proposals were advanced by various parties before the District Court. Most important for present purposes were the Senate Plan and a plan submitted by various Republican congressional candidates who were the original plaintiffs in this litigation (hereinafter referred to as the Forsythe Plan).¹ In its discussion of the Senate Plan, the court first noted that its districts "are virtually identical" to those included in the unconstitutional Feldman Plan. Slight geographical changes had been made, however, resulting in an average deviation from the ideal district of less than 12 people and a maximum variation between the largest and smallest districts of only 67 people. Despite this apparent success in eliminating numerical inequalities, the court refused to accept the Senate Plan as a remedy for the constitutional violation we found last Term in Karcher v. Daggett, supra. In particular, the court found that the plan not only failed to "achieve as small an overall or mean deviation as other plans," but also retained the "most glaring defects in the Feldman Plan," including "an obvious absence of compactness, and an intentional gerrymander in favor of certain Democratic representatives." App. to Juris. Statement at 7a-8a.

In contrast, the Forsythe Plan produced a maximum variation of only 25 people. And, although the plan required the splitting of two municipalities, its "two great advantages . . . over any of the others are the achievement of smaller population deviations, and the creation of more compact districts." Id., at 12a. Thus, the court concluded, the Forsythe Plan "most nearly fits the appropriate criteria for a court...