Langmeyer v. State

• Decision Date: 23 December 1982
• Docket Number: No. 13610,13610
• Parties: Leslie LANGMEYER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. STATE of Idaho, and Bonner County, a political subdivision, Defendants- Respondents.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

Page 114

656 P.2d 114

104 Idaho 53

Leslie LANGMEYER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. STATE of Idaho, and Bonner County, a political subdivision, Defendants- Respondents.

No. 13610.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

Dec. 23, 1982.

Stephen L. Pevar, Denver, Colo., for plaintiff-appellant.

David H. Leroy, Atty. Gen., Lynn E. Thomas, Sol. Gen., Robie G. Russell, Deputy Atty. Gen., Boise, for defendants-respondents.

DONALDSON, Justice.

Plaintiff-Appellant Langmeyer, a three-year resident of Bonner County, sought appointment to the Bonner County Planning and Zoning Commission. ¹ Because Langmeyer did not meet the five-year residency requirement prerequisite for appointment, I.C. § 67-6504, he brought an action for declaratory judgment requesting that the five-year residency requirement of that provision be declared unconstitutional. The district court denied plaintiff's motion for summary judgment and later granted summary judgment in favor of the State. Langmeyer appeals alleging that the five-year residency requirement of I.C. § 67-6504 violates both the equal protection and due process clauses of the United States and Idaho Constitutions.

I.

We first consider the challenges to the five-year durational residency requirement of the statute which are based upon the equal protection clauses of the United States and Idaho Constitutions. U.S.Const. amend. XIV; ID.Const. art. 1, § 2. "[W]e must examine the character of the classification in question, the importance of the individual interests at stake, and the state interests asserted in support of the classification." Illinois State Board of Elections v. Socialist Workers Party, 440 U.S. 173, 183, 99 S.Ct. 983, 989, 59 L.Ed.2d 230 (1979); see also Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U.S. 250, 253-54, 94 S.Ct. 1076, 1079-80, 39 L.Ed.2d 306 (1974); Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330, 335, 92 S.Ct. 995, 999, 31 L.Ed.2d 274 (1972).

The statute classifies those eligible for appointment on the basis of their length of residency in the county. Only those who have resided in the county for five or more years are eligible for appointment. Langmeyer argues that the classification impinges upon his constitutionally protected right to travel. He argues that the law impermissibly burdens his fundamental right to travel in violation of the equal protection clauses and therefore must be subjected to strict scrutiny. If this standard were applied, the State would have to demonstrate that the classification was necessary to further a compelling State interest. See, e.g., Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618, 89 S.Ct. 1322, 22 L.Ed.2d 600 (1969). We are not convinced that this strict standard need be applied for the reasons set forth below.

The nature of the right to travel vis-a-vis durational residency requirements has been considered by many courts. E.g., Sosna v. Iowa, 419 U.S. 393, 95 S.Ct. 553, 42 L.Ed.2d 532 (1975) (divorce laws); Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U.S. 250, 94 S.Ct. 1076, 39 L.Ed.2d 306 (1974) (nonemergency medical care); Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330, 92 S.Ct. 995, 31 L.Ed.2d 274 (1972) (right to vote); Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618, 89 S.Ct. 1322, 22 L.Ed.2d 600 (1969) (welfare benefits); Beil v. City of Akron, 660 F.2d 166 (6th Cir.1981) (upholding durational residency requirement of one year for candidacy); Hawaii Boating Association v. Water Transportation Facilities Division, Department of Transportation, State of Hawaii, 651 F.2d 661 (9th Cir.1981) (boat mooring rates); Wellford v. Battaglia, 485 F.2d 1151 (3d Cir.1973) (five-year durational residency requirement for mayor); Sununu v. Stark, 383 F.Supp. 1287 (D.N.H.1974) (seven-year durational residency requirement for state senator), aff'd mem., 420 U.S. 958, 95 S.Ct. 1346, 43 L.Ed.2d 434 (1975); Alexander v. Kammer, 363 F.Supp. 324 (D.Mich.1973) (durational residency requirement for city commissioner); Chimento v. Stark, 353 F.Supp. 1211 (D.N.H.), aff'd mem., 414 U.S. 802, 94 S.Ct. 125, 38 L.Ed.2d 39 (1973) (seven-year durational residency requirement for governor); Walker v. Yucht, 352 F.Supp. 85 (D.Del.1972) (three-year durational requirement for state representative); McKinney v. Kaminsky, 340 F.Supp. 289 (D.Ala.1972) (five-year durational residency requirement for county commissioner); Mogk v. City of Detroit, 335 F.Supp. 698 (D.Mich.1971) (three-year durational residency requirement for city charter revision commission); Thompson v. Mellon, 9 Cal.3d 96, 507 P.2d 628 (1973) (two-year durational residency requirement for city councilmen); Bay Area Women's Coalition v. City and County of San Francisco, 78 Cal.App.3d 961, 144 Cal.Rptr. 591 (1978) (five-year durational residency requirement for appointive position); Cowan v. City of Aspen, 181 Colo. 343, 509 P.2d 1269 (1973) (three-year durational residency requirement for municipal candidates); Castner v. Clerk of City of Grosse Pointe Park, 86 Mich.App. 482, 272 N.W.2d 693 (1978) (durational residency requirement for municipal judge); Hatcher v. Bell, 521 S.W.2d 799 (Tenn.1974) (five-year durational requirement for circuit judge); Lawrence v. City of Issaquah, 84 Wash.2d 146, 524 P.2d 1347 (1974) (one-year durational residency requirement for city councilman).

This Court has previously accepted the premise that the nature of the right to travel is fundamental. Miller v. Stauffer Chemical Co., 99 Idaho 299, 302, 581 P.2d 345, 348 (1978). See also, Jones v. Helms, 452 U.S. 412, 101 S.Ct. 2434, 2439, 69 L.Ed.2d 118 (1981); Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618, 629-31, 89 S.Ct. 1322, 1329, 22 L.Ed.2d 600 (1969); United States v. Guest, 383 U.S. 745, 757-59, 86 S.Ct. 1170, 1177-79, 16 L.Ed.2d 239 (1966). Although considered fundamental, classifications which impact on this right to travel are not necessarily subjected to strict scrutiny under the equal protection doctrine. See Sosna v. Iowa, 419 U.S. 393, 406, 95 S.Ct. 553, 560-61, 42 L.Ed.2d 532 (1975); Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U.S. 250, 258-59, 94 S.Ct. 1076, 1082-83, 39 L.Ed.2d 306 (1974); Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618, 638 n. 21, 89 S.Ct. 1322, 1333, 22 L.Ed.2d 600 (1969).

In Shapiro v. Thompson, supra, the United States Supreme Court considered a constitutional challenge to statutes which established minimum residency requirements before individuals could qualify for welfare benefits. The Shapiro Court found the statutes unconstitutional. The statutes impermissibly penalized the right to travel and the asserted governmental interests were not compelling. The Court stated that "in moving from State to State ... appellees were exercising a constitutional right, and any classification which serves to penalize the exercise of that right, unless shown to be necessary to promote a compelling governmental interest, is unconstitutional." Shapiro v. Thompson, supra at 634, 89 S.Ct. at 1331. The Shapiro Court did not establish that any burden on the right to travel was per se unconstitutional. Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, supra at 256-57, 94 S.Ct. at 1081; Shapiro v. Thompson, supra at 638, n. 21, 89 S.Ct. at 1333.

Later, in Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330, 92 S.Ct. 995, 31 L.Ed.2d 274 (1972), the Court applied strict scrutiny to durational residency requirements which acted as a penalty on the exercise of the right to travel of potential voters. Then in Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U.S. 250, 94 S.Ct. 1076, 39 L.Ed.2d 306 (1974), the Court held unconstitutional a statute which conditioned receipt of nonemergency medical care by an indigent on the basis of a durational residency requirement. The statute created an invidious classification which was unconstitutional as a violation of equal protection. However, the Memorial Court explained the broad language of Shapiro with respect to durational residency requirements and the right to travel:

"Although any durational residence requirement impinges to some extent on the right to travel, the Court in Shapiro did not declare such a requirement to be per se unconstitutional. The Court's holding was conditioned ... by the caveat that some 'waiting-period or residence requirements ... may not be penalties upon the exercise of the constitutional right of interstate travel.' The amount of impact required to give rise to the compelling-state-interest test was not made clear. The Court spoke of the requisite impact in two ways. First, we considered whether the waiting period would deter migration .... Second, the Court considered the extent to which the residence requirement served to penalize the exercise of the right to travel." Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U.S. 250, 256-57, 94 S.Ct. 1076, 1081, 39 L.Ed.2d 306 (1974) (citation and footnote omitted).

The denial of welfare benefits ("basic necessities of life") in Shapiro, the denial of the franchise to vote in Dunn, and the denial of nonemergency medical care to an indigent ("a basic necessity of life") in Maricopa County served as penalties to the right to travel. The statutes imposing the durational residency requirements were tested by the compelling state interest test and found unconstitutional.

In Sosna v. Iowa, 419 U.S. 393, 95 S.Ct. 553, 42 L.Ed.2d 532 (1975), the Supreme Court implicitly tested a one-year durational residency requirement before a divorce proceeding could be instituted in Iowa under the rational basis test and found it constitutional. The Sosna Court acknowledged that neither Shapiro, Dunn nor Maricopa County "intimated that the States might never impose durational residency requirements, and such a proposition was in fact expressly disclaimed." Id. at 406, 95 S.Ct. 560-61.

The State argues and we agree that it is unlikely that the durational residency requirement at issue would deter a potential new resident from migrating into Bonner County. One does not migrate in anticipation of possible appointment to a purely advisory nonpaying governmental commission. We agree with the district court's conclusion that the relationship...