Karcher v. Daggett
Decision Date | 15 March 1982 |
Docket Number | No. A-783,A-783 |
Citation | 71 L.Ed.2d 635,102 S.Ct. 1298,455 U.S. 1303 |
Parties | Alan J. KARCHER, Speaker, New Jersey Assembly, et al. v. George T. DAGGETT, et al |
Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Applicants, the Speaker of the New Jersey Assembly, the President of the New Jersey Senate, and eight Members of the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey, have applied to me for a stay pending this Court's review on appeal of the judgment of a three-judge District Court for the District of New Jersey entered March 3, 1982. Daggett v. Kimmelman, 535 F.Supp. 978. The judgment declared unconstitutional 1982 N.J.Laws, ch. 1, which creates districts for the election of the United States Representatives from New Jersey, and enjoined the defendant state officers from conducting primary or general congressional elections under the terms of that statute.
On the basis of the 1980 decennial census, the number of United States Representatives to which New Jersey is entitled has been decreased from 15 to 14. Consequently the New Jersey Legislature was required to apportion 14 congressional districts. Chapter 1 is the product of the state legislature's effort to meet that requirement. The District Court found that in drafting ch. 1, the legislature was concerned not only with drawing districts of equal population as an "aspirational" goal but also with recognizing such factors as the preservation of the cores of pre-existing districts, the preservation of municipal boundary lines, and the preservation of the districts of incumbent Democratic Congressmen. Chapter 1 creates 14 congressional districts with an overall absolute range of deviation of 3,674 people and an overall relative range of deviation of 0.6984% from the "ideal" map of 14 districts of 526,059 persons each. There were, however, several other proposals brought before the legislature that yielded total deviations of less than 0.6984%. The opinion for the majority of the District Court says of these:
All three judges of the District Court agreed that the constitutionality of 1982 N.J.Laws, ch. 1, was to be determined under the standard announced in Kirkpatrick v. Preisler, 394 U.S. 526, 89 S.Ct. 1225, 22 L.Ed.2d 519 (1969), and its progeny, e.g., White v. Weiser, 412 U.S. 783, 93 S.Ct. 2348, 37 L.Ed.2d 335 (1973). But the judges divided 2 to 1 on what that standard is. The majority read Kirkpatrick as holding that, even if 0.6984% was to be regarded as a de minimis variance,
The dissenting judge, on the other hand, read Kirkpatrick to suggest:
The appeal would thus appear...
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Karcher v. Daggett
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O'SULLIVAN v. Brier, 82-1335
...to avoid fragmenting political subdivisions. See 394 U.S. at 533, 89 S.Ct. at 1230. In granting a stay in Karcher v. Daggett, ___ U.S. ___, 102 S.Ct. 1298, 1300, 71 L.Ed.2d 635 (1982), Justice Brennan, who wrote for the Court in Kirkpatrick, regards as unsettled whether decision-makers may ......
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Daggett v. Kimmelman
...Justice Brennan stayed the district court's order pending appeal to the Supreme Court. Karcher v. Daggett, 455 U.S. 1303, 102 S.Ct. 1298, 71 L.Ed.2d 635 (1982) (Brennan, Circuit Justice, in chambers). Appellants' motions to vacate this stay and to expedite the docketing of the state defenda......
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Daggett v. Kimmelman, Civ. A. No. 82-297
...Justice Brennan, as Circuit Justice, stayed the district court's order pending appeal to the Supreme Court. Karcher v. Daggett, 455 U.S. 1303, 102 S.Ct. 1298, 71 L.Ed.2d 635 (1982). Plaintiffs' motions to vacate the stay and expedite the docketing of the appeal were denied, 456 U.S. 901, 10......