Republican Party of Texas v. Dietz

• Decision Date: 28 February 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-0555,96-0555
• Citation: 940 S.W.2d 86
• Parties: 40 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 384 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OF TEXAS and Thomas W. Pauken, State Chairman, and Barbara Jackson, Executive Director, Relators, v. The Honorable John K. DIETZ, Respondent.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

Page 86

940 S.W.2d 86

40 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 384

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OF TEXAS and Thomas W. Pauken, State Chairman, and Barbara Jackson, Executive Director, Relators, v. The Honorable John K. DIETZ, Respondent.

No. 96-0555.

Supreme Court of Texas.

Argued June 19, 1996.

Decided Feb. 28, 1997.

Lalon C. Peale, William Charles Bundren, Dallas, for Relators.

J. Patrick Wiseman, Austin, for Respondent.

ABBOTT, Justice, delivered the opinion of the Court, in which PHILLIPS, Chief Justice, and HECHT, CORNYN, ENOCH, OWEN and BAKER, Justices, joined.

On June 14, 1996, a Travis County district court issued a temporary injunction that essentially required the Republican Party of Texas to provide a convention booth and program advertisement space to the Log Cabin Republicans at the 1996 Republican Party of Texas Convention. In a per curiam opinion issued on June 19, 1996, we stayed the district court's temporary injunction because we were "tentatively of the opinion that state action is required for there to have been a violation of the constitutional rights asserted by the Log Cabin Republicans and that such action was not present under the facts of this case; that the contract claims of the Log Cabin Republicans do not warrant the relief granted by the district court; and that mandamus relief may be appropriate under the unique and compelling circumstances of this case." 924 S.W.2d 932, 932-33. The stay order was premised on considerations similar to those that led the United States Supreme Court to issue a stay in O'Brien v. Brown, 409 U.S. 1, 92 S.Ct. 2718, 34 L.Ed.2d 1 (1972)(per curiam), including the importance of the questions presented, the limited time before the controversy would be mooted, whether irreparable injury would occur in the absence of a stay, and the probability that the lower court was in error. Id. at 3, 92 S.Ct. at 2719-20. We retained jurisdiction to issue an opinion explaining in detail the rationale for the stay order.

I

The Log Cabin Republicans of Texas and the Texas Log Cabin Republicans, Inc. (collectively LCR) are Texas non-profit corporations of Republicans who support equal civil rights for gay and lesbian individuals. In April 1996, LCR applied for an exhibitor's booth at the 1996 Republican Party of Texas Convention which began on June 20. As part of the booth application, LCR agreed to abide by the rules and regulations issued by the Republican Party of Texas for the convention. One of these rules allowed the Republican Party "the right to restrict exhibits which, because of undue noise, method of operation, material, content, or any other reason, become objectionable."

The Exhibits Chairman for the convention orally informed LCR's President, Dale Carpenter, that the group's booth application was approved. The Republican Party also cashed the $400 check Carpenter submitted for the booth. On May 15, 1996, LCR submitted to the Republican Party an advertisement to be included in the convention program along with a $750 check for the cost of the advertisement. The advertisement asserted LCR's beliefs that equal rights should be provided for gay and lesbian individuals. On May 21, 1996, the Republican Party Executive Director sent a letter to LCR rejecting the advertisement and the booth request. The Party returned the $750 check and refunded the cost of the booth.

On May 30, 1996, LCR filed this lawsuit in Travis County seeking injunctive relief. LCR alleged that the Republican Party's actions unconstitutionally infringed upon LCR's rights to free speech, equal rights, and due course of law under the Texas Constitution. LCR also claimed a right to specific performance of its contract with the Republican Party of Texas for a booth and an advertisement. The district court held a hearing on Friday, June 14, 1996. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court issued a temporary injunction precluding the Republican Party from refusing to provide the booth and advertisement.

On Monday, June 17, 1996, the Republican Party filed with this Court a motion for leave to file a petition for writ of mandamus and an emergency motion to stay the district court's temporary injunction order. The next day, we requested an expedited response from LCR, and set oral argument for June 19, 1996--one day before the convention began. After hearing oral argument, we granted the emergency stay in a per curiam opinion. We now explain why we concluded that the Republican Party was entitled to extraordinary relief.

II

Mandamus is an "extraordinary" remedy that is "available only in limited circumstances." Walker v. Packer, 827 S.W.2d 833, 840 (Tex.1992). Mandamus relief is appropriate "only to correct a clear abuse of discretion or the violation of a duty imposed by law when there is no other adequate remedy by law." Johnson v. Fourth Court of Appeals, 700 S.W.2d 916, 917 (Tex.1985). In analyzing whether the Republican Party was entitled to mandamus relief, we must determine whether the district court clearly abused its discretion in granting LCR an injunction and whether the Republican Party had an adequate remedy at law.

A

The district court's injunction was based on a finding that LCR would probably prevail on its breach of contract claims and its free speech, equal rights, and due course of law claims under the Texas Constitution. ¹ The Republican Party urges that LCR's state constitutional claims cannot be maintained because the Party's conduct did not constitute "state action." The Party further argues that there is no basis for LCR's breach of contract claims.

1. STATE ACTION

Under the "state action" doctrine developed by the federal courts, the United States constitutional guarantees of free speech, equal protection, and due process impose restrictions or obligations only on "state actors." As such, United States constitutional civil rights protect only against governmental action, either actual or constructive, in the shape of laws, customs, or judicial or executive proceedings. ² The rights and liberties guaranteed by the United States Constitution therefore "erec[t] no shield against merely private conduct." Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1, 13, 68 S.Ct. 836, 842, 92 L.Ed. 1161 (1948); see also Hudgens v. NLRB, 424 U.S. 507, 513, 96 S.Ct. 1029, 1033, 47 L.Ed.2d 196 (1976).

However, LCR's claims do not arise under provisions in the United States Constitution; rather, LCR's causes of action are based on guarantees contained in article I of the Texas Constitution, which is known as the Texas Bill of Rights. Thus, we must decide whether the "state action" doctrine applied in federal courts is required for a party to maintain a claim for a violation of the Texas free speech, equal rights, and due course of law guarantees. Several Texas courts of appeals have concluded that some quantum of state action is required before a litigant can maintain a lawsuit for the deprivation of a Texas constitutional right, see, e.g., Weaver v. AIDS Services of Austin, Inc., 835 S.W.2d 798, 802 (Tex.App.--Austin 1992, writ denied); Jones v. Memorial Hosp. System, 746 S.W.2d 891, 894-95 (Tex.App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1988, no writ); but this Court has never squarely confronted the issue before today. See Diamond Shamrock Ref. & Mktg. Co. v. Mendez, 844 S.W.2d 198, 203 n. 1 (Tex.1992)(Gonzalez, J., concurring & dissenting)("The application of the state action doctrine to the Texas Constitution has not been conclusively established by this Court.").

(a)

We first turn our attention to whether the constitutional claims advanced by LCR require state action. When interpreting our state Constitution, we rely heavily on its literal text, Edgewood Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Kirby, 777 S.W.2d 391, 394 (Tex.1989), and are to give effect to its plain language. City of Beaumont v. Bouillion, 896 S.W.2d 143, 148 (Tex.1995). We also may consider such things as the purpose of the constitutional provision, the historical context in which it was written, the collective intent, if it can be ascertained, of the framers and the people who adopted it, our prior judicial decisions, the interpretations of analogous constitutional provisions by other jurisdictions, and constitutional theory. See City of Sherman v. Henry, 928 S.W.2d 464, 472 (Tex.1996), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 1098, 137 L.Ed.2d 230 (1997); see also Davenport v. Garcia, 834 S.W.2d 4, 10 (Tex.1992); Ex parte Tucci, 859 S.W.2d 1, 18 n. 3 (Tex.1993)(Phillips, C.J., concurring)(quoting Davenport, 834 S.W.2d at 30 (Hecht, J., concurring)).

The text of our state charter demonstrates that the guarantees of the Texas Bill of Rights generally apply only against the government. The Texas Constitution contains a specific provision, article I, section 29, that defines the scope and application of the Texas Bill of Rights. Section 29 is titled "Provisions of Bill of Rights excepted from powers of government; to forever remain inviolate" and provides as follows:

To guard against transgressions of the high powers herein delegated, we declare that everything in this "Bill of Rights" is excepted out of the general powers of government, and shall forever remain inviolate, and all laws contrary thereto, or to the following provisions, shall be void.

TEX. CONST. art. I, § 29. The first clause of section 29 establishes that the purpose of the Texas Bill of Rights is to "guard against transgressions of the high powers" delegated to the state government by the Texas Constitution. Nowhere does the Texas Constitution contain similar language indicating an intent to have the Bill of Rights generally guard against transgressions by individuals. Further, the provisions in section 29 excepting everything in the Bill of Rights "out of the general powers of government" and providing that "all laws" contrary to the Bill of Rights shall be void demonstrates that the Bill of Rights serves as a shield against the powers and laws of government. Similar protections do not exist for actions by private...