Republican State Central Committee of Arizona v. Ripon Society Inc

• Decision Date: 16 August 1972
• Docket Number: No. A-179,A-179
• Citation: 409 U.S. 1222,34 L.Ed.2d 717,93 S.Ct. 1475
• Parties: The REPUBLICAN STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF ARIZONA et al. v. The RIPON SOCIETY INC. et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

409 U.S. 1222

93 S.Ct. 1475

34 L.Ed.2d 717

The REPUBLICAN STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF ARIZONA et al.

v The RIPON SOCIETY INC. et al.

No. A-179.

Decided Aug. 16, 1972.

Mr. Justice REHNQUIST, Circuit Justice.

I am asked to stay the effect of an injunction entered by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, which prohibited the Republican National Party's 1972 Convention from adopting a certain mode of allocating delegates to that party's convention in 1976. On August 11, 1972, Mr. Justice Douglas denied a stay, and that application has been renewed to me.

Since 1948 the Republican National Party has adopted at each presidential nominating convention a formula for allocating among the States delegates to the next convention. This formula has included a 'bonus' of six delegates awarded to each State that cast its electoral college votes for the Republican presidential nominee in the previous presidential election, or has elected a Republican senator, governor, or majority of its congressional delegation at any election within the previous four years. Respondents filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, asking for a declaratory judgment that such a 'bonus' system of allocating delegates was unconstitutional, and asking that the Republican National Party be enjoined from adopting such a formula at its 1972 nominating convention. The District Court, 343 F.Supp. 168, in reliance upon Georgia v. National Democratic Party, 145 U.S.App.D.C. 102, 447 F.2d 1271 (1971), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 858, 92 S.Ct. 109, 30 L.Ed.2d 101 (1971), and Bode v. National Democratic Party, 146 U.S.App.D.C. 373, 452 F.2d 1302, (1971), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 1019, 92 S.Ct. 684, 30 L.Ed.2d 668 (1972), held that allocation of delegates was state action, and that the complaint before it was justiciable. Agreeing with the Republican National Party that, for a system that elects Presidents by casting a State's electoral votes in a bloc, a bonus system of delegate allocation is reasonable to encourage Republican victories within each State, the District Court nonetheless held the allocation of six delegates without regard to the size of the State or its electoral college votes, to be a denial of equal protection. It therefore entered the following injunction:

'That Defendants are hereby enjoined from adopting at the 1972 Republican National Convention a formula for apportionment of delegates to the 1976 Convention which would allocate a uniform number of bonus delegates to states qualifying for them, with no relation to the state's electoral college votes, Republican votes cast in certain specified elections, or some combination of these factors.'

After an appeal was perfected these applicants moved the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for leave to intervene and for a stay of the District Court's injunction. Intervention was granted, but a divided panel of the District of Columbia Circuit, on August 3, denied a stay without opinion. Respondents do not now challenge the right of the applicants, state central committees of the Republican National Party, to seek a stay from this Court. With the Republican National Convention scheduled to commence August 21, prompt action is requested on the ground that an unreviewed court injunction threatens direct intervention with the conduct of the convention, in a manner similar to that confronting this Court in O'Brien v. Brown, 409 U.S. 1, 92 S.Ct. 2718, 34 L.Ed.2d 1 (1972).

As we said in O'Brien, supra, an application for a stay calls 'for a weighing of three basic factors: (a) whether irreparable injury may occur absent a stay; (b) the probability that the (District Court) was in error in holding that the merits of these controversies were appropriate for decision by federal courts; and (c) the public interests that may be affected by the operation of the (injunction).' Applicants contend that to leave the injunction in effect will work irreparable injury because the Republican National Party has always allocated delegates to its next convention at the current convention, and has no machinery for amending that formula. Therefore, they say, the injunction will permanently preclude the adoption of a 'bonus' formula, regardless of whether the District Court is reversed. Respondents allege that no irreparable injury will occur, because the convention can either provide amendatory procedures for use in the event that the bonus formula is not vindicated on appeal, or it can adopt a contingent delegate allocation plan, to take into account the pending federal court proceedings. But to allow the injunction to stand would have at least some impact on the deliberations and decisions of the Republican National Convention akin if not identical to that we found in O'Brien, supra:

'Absent a stay, the mandate of the Court of Appeals denies to the Democratic National Convention its traditional power to pass on the credentials of the California delegates in question. The grant of a stay, on the other hand, will not foreclose the Con- vention's...