Fortson v. Toombs

379 U.S. 621, 85 S. Ct. 598, 13 L. Ed. 2d 527, 1965 U.S. LEXIS 2009

• Court: Supreme Court of the United States
• Decided: January 18, 1965
• Docket: 300
• Status: Published

Opinions

Per Curiam.

The District Court, having held that the Georgia Legislature was malapportioned (Toombs v. Fortson, 205 F. Supp. 248), enjoined appellants, election officials, “from placing on the ballot to be used in the General Election to be held on November 3, 1964, pr at any subsequent election until the General Assembly is reapportioned in accordance with constitutional standards, the question whether a constitutional amendment purporting to amend the present state constitution by substituting an entirely new constitution therefor shall be adopted.”

* Appellants challenge that provision on the merits. Appellees, while defending it on the merits, suggest alternatively that the issue has become moot.

The situation has changed somewhat since the 1964 election, as both the Senate and the House have new members, and appellees, for whose benefit the challenged provision was added, say it is now highly speculative as to what the 1965 legislature will do and suggest the paragraph in question be vacated as moot.

We vacate this part of the decree and remand to the District Court, to whom we give a wide range in mould-ing a decree (United States v. Crescent Amusement Co., 323 U. S. 173, 185; International Boxing Club v. United States, 358 U. S. 242, 253), for reconsideration of the desirability and need for the on-going injunction in light of the results of the 1964 election and the representations of appellees.

It is so ordered.

The entire paragraph reads as follows:

“The defendants are hereby enjoined from placing on the ballot to be used in the General Election to be held on November 3, 1984, or at any subsequent election until the General Assembly is reapportioned in accordance with constitutional standards, the question whether a constitutional amendment purporting to amend the present state constitution by substituting an entirely new constitution therefor shall be adopted; provided, however, nothing in this order shall prevent the submission of amendments to the Constitution of the State of Georgia which are separate as to subject matter, in accordance with Article XIII, Section I, Article 1, of the Constitution of the State of Georgia, 1945. (See Hammond v. Clarke, 136 Ga. 313, for a discussion by the Georgia Supreme Court of what constitutes separate amendments). Nor shall anything in this order prevent the calling by the General Assembly of a ‘convention of the people to revise, amend or change the constitution’ if the representation ‘in the convention is based on population as near as practicable’ with the members being elected by the people (see Article XIII, Section I, Article 2). Constitution of the State of Georgia, 1945.”