Foley v. Connelie

419 F. Supp. 889, 14 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 593, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14230, 13 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 11,603
District Court, S.D. New York·Decided July 8, 1976·No. 75-Civ. 4548 (MP)·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinions

OPINION

WERKER, District Judge.

Plaintiff Edmund Foley, a citizen of the Republic of Ireland, is living in the State of New York as an alien, lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States. Plaintiff applied for an appointment as a New York state trooper and was refused permission to take the competitive examination because he is not a United States citizen. Plaintiff brought this suit as a class action for a declaration that Section 215(3) of the Executive Law of the State of New York insofar as it excludes aliens from employment as New York state troopers is a violation of the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States and for an injunction against its enforcement. The purported class is identified as the plaintiff and all other alien residents of the State of New York who have applied or will apply for the position of state trooper, and who have been or will be refused permission to take the competitive examination and who have been or will be denied consideration for the position on the grounds of alienage.

[891] The defendants are William G. Connelie, individually and in his capacity as Superintendent of the New York State Police, and S. A. Smith, individually and in his capacity as Director of Personnel of the New York State Police.

The parties have entered into several stipulations. First they have agreed that the action should proceed as a class action and that Edmund Foley is the representative of that class. Second they agreed that a three-judge court should be convened. The parties also agreed that the plaintiff be permitted to take the competitive examination scheduled for September 20, 1975. On September 19, 1975 the Honorable Milton Pollack entered an order which incorporated the parties’ agreement as to the examination with the additional proviso that the test results not be implemented and no rights attach therefrom unless and until the court so directs. Judge Pollack also entered an order on December 30, 1975 authorizing the action to proceed as a class action with plaintiff as its representative and requiring the convening of a three-judge court. Upon the hearing of this matter on April 15, 1976, the parties agreed to submit the matter to the court on the record as it had been constituted on that date1 for a final resolution on the merits, and both parties waived their right to offer any additional evidence. For the reasons set out below we uphold the constitutionality of § 215(3).

New York Executive Law § 215(3) (McKinney 1972) reads in pertinent part:

“No person shall be appointed to the New York State police force unless he shall be a citizen of the United States.”

The statute clearly excludes aliens from employment as state troopers,2 and the State admittedly adheres strictly to its mandate. If an alien wishes to become a New York state trooper he must give up his foreign citizenship and become an American citizen.

As early as 1886, the Supreme Court held that aliens are “persons” within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment and are thus protected by the Equal Protection Clause against discriminatory state action. Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 6 S.Ct. 1064, 30 L.Ed. 220 (1886). That holding has been affirmed many times since and is no longer open to dispute. In re Griffiths, 413 U.S. 717, 93 S.Ct. 2851, 37 L.Ed.2d 910 (1973); Sugarman v. Dougall, 413 U.S. 634, 93 S.Ct. 2842, 37 L.Ed.2d 853 (1973); Graham v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 365, 91 S.Ct. 1848, 29 L.Ed.2d 534 (1971); Takahashi v. Fish & Game Commission, 334 U.S. 410, 68 S.Ct. 1138, 92 L.Ed. 1478 (1948).

The Supreme Court has on four recent occasions had an opportunity to examine employment prohibitions against aliens, and consideration of the statute under attack here must begin with a discussion of those four cases.

In Sugarman v. Dougall, 413 U.S. 634, 93 S.Ct. 2842, 37 L.Ed.2d 853 (1973), the Supreme Court invalidated section 53(1) of the New York Civil Service Law which made any person who was not a citizen of the United States ineligible for appointment to the competitive branch of the New York civil service. Relying on Graham v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 365, 91 S.Ct. 1848, 29 L.Ed.2d 534 (1971), the Supreme Court classified aliens as a “discrete and insular minority” and thus held that classifications based on alienage are subject to strict scrutiny. The Court stated that there were narrow limits on a state’s power to apply its laws exclusively to alien inhabitants. See Takahashi v. Fish & Game Commission, 334 U.S. 410, 68 S.Ct. 1138, 92 L.Ed. 1478 (1948). The Court, in evaluating the statute, looked to the substantiality of the state’s interest [892] in enforcing it and to the narrowness of the limits within which the discrimination was confined. The Court was clear in defining alienage as a suspect classification and in requiring a compelling state interest to justify any discrimination based upon it. However, to apply this case properly to the case at bar, it is equally important to distinguish the factual circumstances that the Court confronted in Sugarman and those which are before us today and to recognize the limits which the Supreme Court explicitly put on its Sugarman holding.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Foley v. Connelie, 419 F. Supp. 889, 14 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 593, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14230, 13 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 11,603 (S.D.N.Y. 1976).

419 F. Supp. 889 (Foley v. Connelie) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Dixon v. McMullen
527 F. Supp. 711 (N.D. Texas, 1981)
Reidy v. Connelie
82 A.D.2d 986 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1981)
Shedlock v. Connelie
66 A.D.2d 433 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1979)
Foley v. Connelie
435 U.S. 291 (Supreme Court, 1978)
Di Franco v. City of New York
88 Misc. 2d 852 (New York Supreme Court, 1976)
Foley v. Connelie
419 F. Supp. 889 (S.D. New York, 1976)