Tullier v. Giordano, 17450.
Decision Date | 24 March 1959 |
Docket Number | No. 17450.,17450. |
Citation | 265 F.2d 1 |
Parties | Albert J. TULLIER, Sr., Appellant, v. Frank GIORDANO, Registrar of Voters for the Parish of Plaquemines, Appellee. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Jacob H. Morrison, New Orleans, La., for appellant.
Sidney W. Provensal, Jr., New Orleans, La., for appellee.
Before RIVES, CAMERON and WISDOM, Circuit Judges.
Appellant sued appellee for injunctive relief and money damages, claiming that he had a right to register as a voter in the Parish of Plaquemines, Louisiana, and that such right had been denied to him by the appellee. The first question is whether the district court had jurisdiction.
The complaint, after averring that the defendant is the Registrar of Voters for Plaquemines Parish and detailing the plaintiff's qualifications as a voter in that Parish, alleges that the defendant denied registration to the plaintiff and to a considerable number of other named persons upon the applicant's failure or refusal to meet a requirement by the defendant that the applicant interpret in writing certain selected clauses or sections of the Constitution of Louisiana and of the Constitution of the United States. The complaint alleges that the defendant registrar "has never hesitated to register without any constitutional interpretations or readings those voters of his own political faction, party or alignment"; that the defendant is "systematically discriminating against all voters hostile to him or nonsympathetic with his political faction"; that a deputy registrar informed plaintiff ; and further "that the above described practices and actions of defendant in discriminating against him while permitting others to register who were unable to pass any constitutional test has had the effect of depriving him of his right to vote not only for candidates in primary elections but also in federal elections, i. e., for Congress, United States Senator and President."
The district court concluded: ." We agree.
The Congress has granted to the district courts original jurisdiction of a civil action to redress the deprivation under color of any State law of any rights, privileges or immunities secured by the Constitution of the United States.1
Under our federal system the qualification of voters is left to the several states subject to some limitations imposed by the United States Constitution. As originally adopted, the Constitution contained few provisions on the subject of voting rights. Article I, Section 2, Clause 1 provided:
"The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature."
Section 4, Clause 1 of that Article provided:
"The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of choosing Senators."
Touching the elective franchise possibly in an indirect or remote way was Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, later amended by the Twelfth Amendment, prescribing the procedure for electing the President and Vice President.
Amendments since the War Between the States have considerably extended the scope of federal power to regulate the elective franchise. The Fifteenth Amendment has no application to this case, since the complaint shows that the plaintiff is a white man. Nor is the Nineteenth, or Woman Suffrage, Amendment involved. The Seventeenth Amendment provides for the direct election of Senators by electors in each State having the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
That the complaint does state a case within the jurisdiction of the district court to redress the deprivation of rights, privileges or immunities secured by the Constitution of the United States does not require an elaborate discussion of the rights of suffrage and of the extent to which those rights are secured by the Constitution of the United States. Brief quotations from two leading cases will suffice to demonstrate that the complaint states a case within the jurisdiction of the district court.
On the merits, the district court found that, "Plaintiff failed to make out his case." Again, we agree.
According to the plaintiff's own testimony, the defendant had told him that, if he would come back he would, without any commitment, not have to answer the questions to which he objected. That was before any election involving candidates for Congress, United States Senator, or Presidential Elector.
Further, the plaintiff testified that the only reason he was given a test on the Constitution was because of the fact that he had a place of business across the street from a similar business operated by the defendant's brother.
I agree with the opinion of the majority that the appellant failed to make out a case on the merits. But I disagree with the conclusion it announces that the District Court of the United States had jurisdiction to try the case. Since my difference with the majority relates to a vital question touching the relationship of the states with the federal government in an important field, I am impelled to state briefly the reasons for my dissent.
The majority opinion pays lip service to the principle that "Under our federal system the qualification of voters is left to the several states subject to some limitations imposed by the United States Constitution." But it intimates that the jurisdiction of the states over the...
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