Howe v. Brown

319 F. Supp. 862, 30 Ohio Misc. 19, 57 Ohio Op. 2d 18, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9486
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedNovember 18, 1970
DocketC-70-905
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 319 F. Supp. 862 (Howe v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Howe v. Brown, 319 F. Supp. 862, 30 Ohio Misc. 19, 57 Ohio Op. 2d 18, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9486 (N.D. Ohio 1970).

Opinions

OPINION

CELEBREZZE, Circuit Judge.

The Plaintiffs, Joseph B. Howe and his wife, Doris L., who lived in the State of Ohio for less than one year as of November 3, 1970, the date of certain statewide, non-Presidential elections, brought this action to enjoin Ted W. Brown, Secretary of the State of Ohio, and the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections from preventing the Plaintiffs from registering and voting in those elections. This Court entered temporary restraining orders allowing the Plaintiffs to register and vote, their marked ballots to be retained by the Board, and not counted, pending this Court’s final disposition on the merits. At issue is whether Article V, Section 1 of the Ohio State Constitution (Page’s ed. 1969 Supp.)1 and Sections 3503.01, et seq. of the Ohio Revised Code (Page’s ed., 1969 Supp.), which provide a one-year residency requirement for voting and registering to vote in state elections,2 are in violation of the Constitution of the United States. A three-judge panel has been convened, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. [864]*864§§ 2281, 2284 (1964), to adjudicate the substantial constitutional question raised. See, e. g., Bailey v. Patterson, 369 U.S. 31, 33, 82 S.Ct. 549, 7 L.Ed.2d 512 (1962). This Court’s jurisdiction has been properly invoked under 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3) and (4) for alleged violations of the Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights. Section 1, Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1964).

The facts are undisputed. Within one year prior to the November 3, 1970 elections, the Plaintiffs moved from without the State of Ohio to their present home in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, with the intention of residing there indefinitely. With the sole exception of duration of residency, the Plaintiffs were qualified under the Constitution and Laws of Ohio to register and vote in Ohio. Ohio Rev. Code §§ 3503.01, 3503.07, 3503.02 (Page’s ed. 1960), as amended, (Supp. 1969). On September 16, 1970, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections denied the Plaintiffs’ personal applications to be registered as electors.

The Plaintiffs’ challenge to the one-year residency requirement for voting in non-Presidential elections is on essentially two fronts: first, the Plaintiffs allege that the residency requirement deprives them of equal protection of the laws; second, the Plaintiffs contend that the residency requirement impinges upon their constitutional right to move freely interstate.

I.

In view of the principle, implicit in the federal concept, that the states have broad powers to legislate in areas of their competence, the Supreme Court of the United States has historically exercised restraint in reviewing state legislation creating reasonable classifications of individuals in order to promote legitimate state interests. Thus, as a General Rule, where a state legislates within areas of its competence, where its legislation is nondiscriminatory on its face and as applied, and where its legislation does not impinge upon the federal constitutional rights of any citizens, any classification created by the legislation survives scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause so long as the classification is “rationally related” to promoting a legitimate state interest, and is reasonable. This general standard for reviewing state legislation challenged under the Equal Protection Clause, is known as the “rational relation” test. It was well articulated by Mr. Chief Justice Warren in his opinion for the Court in McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420, 425, 81 S.Ct. 1101, 1105, 6 L.Ed.2d 393 (1961):

“Although no precise formula has been developed, the Court has held that the Fourteenth Amendment permits the States a wide scope of discretion in enacting laws which affect some groups of citizens differently than others. The constitutional safeguard is offended only if the classification rests on grounds wholly irrelevant to the achievement of the State’s objective. State legislatures are presumed to have acted within their constitutional power despite the fact that, in practice, their laws result in some inequality. A statutory discrimination will not be set aside if any state of facts reasonably may be conceived to justify it.”

This general equal protection rule, however, is not without exception. Also implicit in our concept of federalism is the principle that the states surrender certain of their powers to the federal government. One obvious qualification to a state’s power to enact valid laws is where its legislation creates classifications that impinge upon individuals’ federally-secured constitutional rights. Where a state classification impinges upon citizens’ constitutional rights, the Supreme Court has consistently required that it come under “more exacting scrutiny” than the “rational relation” test provides. Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618, 89 S.Ct. 1322, 22 L.Ed.2d 600 (1969), discussed infra; McLaughlin v. Florida, 379 U.S. 184, 192, 85 S.Ct. 283, 13 L.Ed.2d 222 (1964); Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. [865]*865214, 216, 65 S.Ct. 193, 89 L.Ed. 194 (1944). This “more exacting” equal protection formula, applied to state legislation creating classifications which impinge upon citizens’ constitutional rights, has become known as the “compelling state interest” test. This test requires, first, that the classification be “necessary” to promote an articulated state interest; second, that the articulated state interest promoted be a “compelling state interest.”

Until very recently, it was generally accepted that the states could determine those within its jurisdiction who were qualified to vote in state and local elections, so long as the “conditions of suffrage” they imposed were nondiscriminatory on their face and as applied, and so long as the classifications they created were “rationally related” to promoting a legitimate state interest. The conditions of suffrage that have been held constitutional by the Supreme Court: age; literacy, Lassiter v. Northampton County Board of Elections, 360 U.S. 45, 79 S.Ct. 985, 3 L.Ed.2d 1072 (1959); no previous criminal record, Davis v. Beason, 133 U.S. 333, 345-348, 10 S.Ct. 299, 33 L.Ed. 637 (1890); citizenship of the United States; and one-year residency, Pope v. Williams, 193 U.S. 621, 24 S.Ct. 573, 48 L.Ed. 817 (1904).

The rationale for applying the “rational relation” test to these uniformly-applied and reasonable conditions of suffrage, was the Court’s consistent belief that the power to determine who is qualified to vote in state and local elections was one that the states did not surrender to the federal government. See Pope v. Williams, 193 U.S. 621, 24 S.Ct. 573, 48 L.Ed. 817 (1904); Davis v.

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Bluebook (online)
319 F. Supp. 862, 30 Ohio Misc. 19, 57 Ohio Op. 2d 18, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9486, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/howe-v-brown-ohnd-1970.