Fahey v. Laxalt

313 F. Supp. 417, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11877
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedApril 30, 1970
DocketCiv. No. LV-1272
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 313 F. Supp. 417 (Fahey v. Laxalt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fahey v. Laxalt, 313 F. Supp. 417, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11877 (D. Nev. 1970).

Opinion

OPINION

ROGER D. FOLEY, District Judge:

This is a class action commenced by four residents and qualified electors1 of the State of Nevada and of its Educational Supervision District No. 5, seeking. declaratory judgment and an injunction to redress alleged deprivation of rights guaranteed to them and to others of their class by the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States,

This Court has jurisdiction. 28 U.S. C. § 2201 et seq.; 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3); 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983,1988.

The defendants are the Governor and the Secretary of State of Nevada, the [418]*418Nevada State Board of Education, and the individual members thereof.

Plaintiffs contend that Sections 385.280 and 385.020 of the Nevada Revised Statutes, as amended, are unconstitutional and seek a declaration of unconstitutionality by this Court, together with an injunction against the application of the said statutes to the forthcoming 1970 primary and general elections.

We hold that this special three-judge district court was properly convened under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2281-2284.

Section 385.280 N.R.S. is set forth in Footnote 2.2

Section 385.020 N.R.S., as amended, Chapter 625, p. 1224, Statutes of Nevada, 1969 Regular Session, Vol. 2, is set forth in Footnote 3.3

It has been stipulated between counsel for the plaintiffs and defendants that the 1967 estimates of population for the State of Nevada and for the counties comprising its six educational supervision districts, set forth in 385.280 N.R. S., as prepared by the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census, are reliable population estimates and are reasonably accurate estimates of the 1967 population of the state and of [419]*419the counties comprising the six educational supervision districts. In view of this stipulation, the 1967 estimates of population will be used as our yardstick in this case.

If allowed to govern the 1970 primary and general elections, Sections 385.280 and 385.020 N.R.S. will, based upon the 1967 estimated population figures, produce the following results:

DISTRICTS COUNTIES POPULATION ELECTED MEMBERS PERCENTAGE OF STATE POPULATION PER MEMBER
1 Elko 16,050 3.2%
2 White Pine, Nye, Esmeralda, Eureka 17,796 3.6%
3 Humboldt, Pershing, Lander 13,460 2.7%
4 Washoe, Churchill 136,103 27.4%
5 Clark, Lincoln 272,707 27.45%
6 Storey, Ormsby, Douglas, Lyon, Mineral 40,331 8.1%
Total State Population 496,447

The weight given the vote of each voter in the counties comprising District No. 3 (having 2.7% of the population of the state) is equal to the weight given the vote of each voter in District No. 4 (having 27.4% of the population of the state). The voters of Districts 1, 2, 3 and 6, having a total population of only 87,637 persons, or a mere 17.65% of the population of the state, elect four members of the board. Four elected members control the board. One vote cast in District 3 is approximately equal to ten votes cast in Districts 4 and 5.

In the Nevada legislative reapportionment case, Dungan v. Sawyer (1965), 250 F.Supp. 480, this Court stated in part, pages 486 and 487:

“Dilution of political power between thinly and heavily populated counties of a state is no longer permissible. (Gray v. Sanders, 372 U.S. 368, 83 S.Ct. 801, 9 L.Ed.2d 821 (1963).) “Where votes of citizens are ‘watered-down’ solely because of their residence in one political subdivision rather than another, such difference in weight of vote is an invidious discrimination against the least favored voter, and unconstitutional because violative of the Equal Protection Clause * * * which require(s), stated in shorthand, ‘one man, one vote.’ Gray v. Sanders, supra.”

The six educational districts established in Subsection 1 of Section 385.280 N.R.S. and the provisions in Subsections 1 and 2 of Section 385.020 N.R.S., as amended, for the election of seven members of the State Board of Education invidiously discriminate in favor of the four small rural districts and contain built in bias against the two large and principally urban districts.4

The defendants have not urged that the portions of the statutes in question [420]*420pass muster under the one man, one vote rule of Baker v. Carr (1962), 369 U.S. 186, 82 S.Ct. 691, 7 L.Ed.2d 663; Wesberry v. Sanders (1964), 376 U.S. 1, 84 S.Ct. 526, 11 L.Ed.2d 481; Reynolds v. Sims (1964), 377 U.S. 533, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 12 L.Ed.2d 506, and their progeny. Rather, it has been the defendants’ position that the one man, one vote rule does not apply to the State Board of Education. The State Attorney General has relied upon Sailors v. Board of Education (1967), 387 U.S. 105, 87 S.Ct. 1549, 18 L.Ed.2d 650, and Hadley v. Junior College (Mo.1968), 432 S.W.2d 328, and has attempted to distinguish Avery v. Midland County, Texas (1967), 390 U.S. 474, 88 S.Ct. 1114, 20 L.Ed.2d 45. At the time this case was submitted to the Court for decision, December 5, 1969, the Attorney General’s argument had certain appeal.

However, the matter has since been laid to rest. On February 25, 1970, the Supreme Court of the United States, in Hadley v. Junior College District, 397 U.S. 50, 90 S.Ct. 791, 25 L.Ed.2d 45, reversed the Missouri Supreme Court. We believe this latest pronouncement to be directly in point and controlling in our case.

The high court stated in part, and we quote:

“This Court has consistently held in a long series of cases, that in situations involving elections, the States are required to insure that each person’s vote counts as much, insofar as it is practicable, as any other person’s. We have applied this principle in congressional elections, state legislative elections, and local elections. The consistent theme of those decisions is that the right to vote in an election is protected by the United States Constitution against dilution or debasement.

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313 F. Supp. 417, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11877, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fahey-v-laxalt-nvd-1970.