Minnesota State Senate v. Beens 8212 1024, 71 8212 1145

• Citation: 406 U.S. 187,92 S.Ct. 1477,32 L.Ed.2d 1
• Decision Date: 29 April 1972
• Docket Number: Nos. 71,SIXTY-SEVENTH,s. 71
• Parties: MINNESOTA STATE SENATE v. Richard A. BEENS et al. —1024, 71—1145
• Court: United States Supreme Court

406 U.S. 187

92 S.Ct. 1477

32 L.Ed.2d 1

SIXTY-SEVENTH MINNESOTA STATE SENATE

v Richard A. BEENS et al.

Nos. 71—1024, 71—1145.

April 29, 1972.

PER CURIAM.

These two appeals are taken by the Minnesota State Senate from orders of a three-judge Federal District Court, Beens v. Erdahl, 336 F.Supp. 715 reapportioning the Minnesota Legislature. The appeals do not challenge the District Court's conclusion that the legislature is now malapportioned. And at this point they are not concerned with population variances or with other issues of the type customarily presented in reapportionment litigation. The controversy focuses, instead, on (a) the District Court's refusal to honor the Minnesota statute fixing the number of the State's legislative districts at 67 and (b) the court's proceeding, over the initial opposition of all parties (but upon the suggestion of two amici, the Lieutenant Governor and a representative), to reduce the number of legislative districts to 35, the number of senators by almost 50%, and the number of representatives by nearly 25%. We conclude that the District Court erred in its rulings. Accordingly, we summarily vacate the court's orders and remand the cases for further proceedings promptly to be pursued.

I

The Minnesota Bicameral Legislature was last effectively apportioned in 1966. Ex.Sess.Laws 1966, c. 1.¹ Section 2.021 of Minn.Stat. (1969), the very first section of the 1966 Act, states that, 'until a new apportionment shall have been made,' the State's senate shall consist of 67 members and its house of representatives of 135 members.² Section 2.031, subd. 1, from the second section of the 1966 Act, prescribes 67 legislative districts for both the senate and the house.³ Sections 2.041 2.711, inclusive, then delineate these 67 districts.⁴ The State's Constitution, Art. IV, § 2, provides a legislator-population minimum ratio (one senator for every 5,000 inhabitants and one representative for every 2,000 inhabitants) and states, 'The representation in both houses shall be apportioned equally throughout the different sections of the State, in proportion to the population thereof.'

The 1970 federal census took place in due course. The Minnesota Legislature did not produce a reapportionment act during its regular session in 1971. One was passed on October 29, 1971, during the reconvening of an extra session called that year. The lawmakers adjourned sine die on October 30. The Governor, however, vetoed the act on November 1 and this 1971 reapportionment endeavor failed to become law.⁵ The Governor has not called the legislature to another extra session for more work on reapportionment,⁶ and it is not scheduled to meet again in regular session until January 1973. Minn.Const., Art. IV, § 1; Minn.Stat. § 3.01 (1969). The 1972 primary and general elections will take place in the interim. Minn.Stat. §§ 202.02 and 203.02 (1969). Thus, the 1966 statute remains as the State's last effective legislative apportionment.

II

The original plaintiffs, who are among the appellees here, are three qualified voters of the State. By their complaint, filed in April 1971 and asserting jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1343(3) and (4) and 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988, they sought (a) a declaratory judgment that the 1966 Act apportioning the legislature violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, (b) an injunction restraining the Minnesota Secretary of State and all county auditors from conducting future elections for legislators pursuant to that Act, and (c) reapportionment of the legislature by the federal court itself. The three-judge court was convened. The appellant, the Sixty-seventh Minnesota State Senate, intervened as a party defendant under Fed.Rules Civ.Proc. 24(a).

The District Court, after hearings and with the assistance of stipulations, issued three significant orders:

A. On November 15, 1971, it made appropriate findings, not challenged here as to their basic provisions and declared the 1966 Act in its entirety, Minn.Stat. §§ 2.021 2.712 (1969), inclusive, violative of the Federal Constitution, enjoined the Secretary of State and the county auditors from conducting future elections under the Act, and appointed two Special Masters (a third was named later) to aid the court in formulating a new apportionment plan. See 336 F.Supp. 715, 718 719.

B. On December 3 it found 'that it best can fulfill its duty of apportioning the Minnesota Legislature in accordance with the Constitution of the United States and with due regard for State policy' by dividing the State into 35 senatorial districts and dividing each senatorial district into three house districts, and ordered that the parties, intervenors, and amici could present plans for apportioning the legislature accordingly. In an accompanying memorandum the court said, 'The only serious questions . . . are whether we have the authority to change the size of the Legislature; and if so, to what extent.' It answered the first of these questions in the affirmative, quoting the following sentence from Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1, 91 S.Ct. 1267, 28 L.Ed.2d 554 (1971):

'Once a right and a violation have been shown, the scope of a district court's equitable powers to remedy past wrongs is broad, for breadth and flexibility are inherent in equitable remedies.' 402 U.S., at 15, 91 S.Ct., at 1276.

The court stated that the legislature could not be apportioned into 67 senate districts and 135 house districts without violating either the Federal Constitution or the Minnesota Constitution; that the existing practice of dividing one senate district into three house districts and all others into two cannot be continued without violating the requirements of equal protection; that the greater the population of each district, the more closely can the one man, one vote standard be met and still give effect to the state policy of adhering to the boundaries of political subdivisions; that state policy with respect to the legislature's size 'is difficult to discern'; that the Governor had recommended a reduction in size; that there is merit in having an odd-numbered senate and house where, as in Minnesota, the State has 'two strong and rather evenly divided political parties'; that federal constitutional and state policy requirements can best be harmonized by having 35 senate districts and by dividing each senate district into three house districts; that there are persuasive arguments that 'positive benefits to the State will accrue by substantially reducing the size of the Senate and moderately reducing the size of the House'; and that 'it is not our desire to fix for the future the size of the Senate and the House in Minnesota,' for the legislature, if it wishes, may appropriately reapportion. See 336 F.Supp. 720—721.

C. On January 25, 1972, it entered its 'Final Order and Plan of Apportionment' by which it adopted a plan therein described. The court also modified its injunction of November 15 so as to enjoin the state secretary and county auditors from conducting any future elections for the legislature under any plan other than the one adopted by the court 'or a constitutional plan adopted after this date by the State of Minnesota.' In accord with Minn.Const., Art. IV, § 24, 1972 elections under the new plan for all positions in the senate and house were ordered. 336 F.Supp. 715, 732.

The senate, as intervenor, first appealed from the orders of November 15, 1971, and December 3, 1971 (case No. 71—1024), and then from the order of January 25, 1972 (case No. 71—1145). Both appeals are under 28 U.S.C. § 1253. We denied the senate's motion to expedite the appeals, but granted its motion to consoli- date them. 405 U.S. 985, 92 S.Ct. 1256, 31 L.Ed.2d 451 (1972). We then granted its application for a temporary stay pending further order of the Court. 406 U.S. 905, 92 S.Ct. 1608, 1612, 31 L.Ed.2d 815 (1972).

III

The appellees have moved to dismiss. Two grounds are asserted:

A. That the senate lacks authority and standing to prosecute the appeals. It is said that the senate's authorizing resolution does not entitle its counsel to take the appeals; that the resolution relates only to legislative district bound-aries and not to their number; that the Office of Senate Counsel speaks only for certain members of the senate and not for the whole; that it is the legislature, and not just the senate, that is the legal entity concerned for purposes of the appeals; and that only the legislature has standing.

The authorizing senate resolution, however, is in broad terms:

'BE IT RESOLVED, by the Senate of the State of Minnesota, that the Office of Senate Counsel be and it is hereby authorized and directed to take such steps as may be necessary to represent the interests and will of this body to the extent deemed necessary in both state and federal court actions involving the prescription of the bounds of senatorial and representative districts, the apportionment of senators and representatives among those districts, and the orderly process of elections therefrom . . ..' Journal of the Minnesota Senate 1971, 39th Day, p. 460.

The resolution was adopted July 31, 1971, by a 56-to-0 vote. A motion to reconsider made two and a half months later failed by a vote of 33—31. Id., 40th day, at 492.

We are not inclined to read this authorizing resolution restrictively, as the appellees suggest. Certainly the present appeals are in a federal court action that concerns apportionment 'and the orderly process of elections therefrom.' And certainly the senate is directly affected by the District Court's orders. That the senate is an appropriate legal entity for purpose of intervention and, as a consequence, of an appeal in a case of this kind is settled by our affirmance of Silver v. Jordan, 241 F.Supp. 576 (S.D.Cal.1964), aff'd, 381 U.S. 415, 85 S.Ct. 1572, 14 L.Ed.2d 689 (1965), where it was said:

'The California State Senate's motion...