Holt Civic Club v. City of Tuscaloosa

439 U.S. 60, 99 S. Ct. 383, 58 L. Ed. 2d 292, 1978 U.S. LEXIS 141, 26 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 635
Supreme Court of the United States·Decided November 28, 1978·No. 77-515·Published·Cited by 320 cases

Opinions

Mr. Justice Rehnquist

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Holt is a small, largely rural, unincorporated community located on the northeastern outskirts of Tuscaloosa, the fifth largest city in Alabama. Because the community is within the three-mile police jurisdiction circumscribing Tuscaloosa’s corporate limits, its residents are subject to the city’s “police [and] sanitary regulations.” Ala. Code § 11-40-10 (1975).1 Holt residents are also subject to the criminal jurisdiction of the city’s court, Ala. Code § 12-14-1 (1975),2 and to the city’s [62] power to license businesses, trades, and professions, Ala. Code § 11-51-91 (1975).3 Tuscaloosa, however, may collect from businesses in the police jurisdiction only one-half of the license fee chargeable to similar businesses conducted within the corporate limits. Ibid.

In 1973 appellants, an unincorporated civic association and seven individual residents of Holt, brought this statewide class action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama,'4 challenging the constitutionality of these Alabama statutes. They claimed that the city’s extraterritorial exercise of police powers over Holt residents, without a concomitant extension of the franchise on an equal footing with those residing within the corporate limits, denies resi[63] dents of the police jurisdiction rights secured by the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. The District Court denied appellants’ request to convene a three-judge court pursuant to 28 U. S. C. § 2281 (1970 ed.) and dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Characterizing the Alabama statutes as enabling Acts, the District Court held that the statutes lack the requisite statewide application necessary to convene a three-judge District Court. On appeal the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ordered the convening of a three-judge court, finding that the police jurisdiction statute embodies “ ‘a policy of statewide concern.’ ” Holt Civic Club v. Tuscaloosa, 525 F. 2d 653, 655 (1975), quoting Spielman Motor Sales Co. v. Dodge, 295 U. S. 89, 94 (1935).

A three-judge District Court was convened, but appellants’ constitutional claims fared no better on the merits. Noting that appellants sought a declaration that extraterritorial regulation is unconstitutional per se rather than an extension of the franchise to police jurisdiction residents, the District Court held simply that “[e]qual protection has not been extended to cover such contention.” App. to Juris. Statement 2a. The court rejected appellants’ due process claim without comment. Accordingly, appellees’ motion to dismiss was granted.

Unsure whether appellants’ constitutional attack on the Alabama statutes satisfied the requirements of 28 U. S. C. § 2281 (1970 ed.) for convening a three-judge district court, we postponed consideration of the jurisdictional issue until the hearing of the case on the merits. 435 U. S. 914 (1978). We now conclude that the three-judge court was properly convened and that appellants’ constitutional claims were properly rejected.

I

Before its repeal,5 28 U. S. C. §2281 (1970 ed.) required that a three-judge district court be convened in any case in [64] which a preliminary or permanent injunction was sought to restrain “the enforcement, operation or execution of any State statute by restraining the action of any officer of such State in the enforcement or execution of such statute . . . .” Our decisions have interpreted § 2281 to require the convening of a three-judge district court “where the challenged statute or regulation, albeit created or authorized by a state legislature, has statewide application or effectuates a statewide policy.” Board of Regents v. New Left Education Project, 404 U. S. 541, 542 (1972). Relying on Moody v. Flowers, 387 U. S. 97 (1967), appellees contend, and the original single-judge District Court held, that Alabama's police jurisdiction statutes lack statewide impact.

A three-judge court was improperly convened in Moody because the challenged state statutes had “limited application, concerning only a particular county involved in the litigation . . . .” Id., at 104. In contrast, appellants’ constitutional attack focuses upon a state statute that creates the statewide system under which Alabama cities exercise extraterritorial powers. In mandatory terms, the statute provides that municipal police and sanitary ordinances “shall have force and effect in the limits of the city or town and in the police jurisdiction thereof and on any property or rights-of-way belonging to the city or town.” 6 Clearly, Alabama’s police [65] jurisdiction statutes have statewide application. See, e. g., Sailors v. Board of Education, 387 U. S. 105, 107 (1967). That the named defendants are local officials is irrelevant where, as here, those officials are “functioning pursuant to a statewide policy and performing a state function.” Moody v. Flowers, supra, at 102; Spielman Motor Sales Co. v. Dodge, supra, at 94-95. The convening of a three-judge District Court was proper.

II

Appellants’ amended complaint requested the District Court to declare the Alabama statutes unconstitutional and to enjoin their enforcement insofar as they authorize the extraterritorial exercise of municipal powers. Seizing on the District Court’s observation that “ [appellants] do not seek extension of the franchise to themselves,” appellants suggest that their complaint was dismissed because they sought the wrong remedy.

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Holt Civic Club v. City of Tuscaloosa, 439 U.S. 60, 99 S. Ct. 383, 58 L. Ed. 2d 292, 1978 U.S. LEXIS 141, 26 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 635 (1978).

439 U.S. 60 (Holt Civic Club v. City of Tuscaloosa) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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