Koller v. Harris

312 F. Supp. 3d 814
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedApril 20, 2018
DocketCase No. 5:16–cv–07069–EJD
StatusPublished

This text of 312 F. Supp. 3d 814 (Koller v. Harris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Koller v. Harris, 312 F. Supp. 3d 814 (N.D. Cal. 2018).

Opinion

EDWARD J. DAVILA, United States District Judge

Plaintiff Vinzenz J. Koller ("Plaintiff"), a former Presidential Elector, alleges he was forced, coerced and intimidated by California officials to register his 2016 electoral vote for the Democratic candidates for those offices, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Timothy Kaine. He brought this action against Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Secretary of State Alex Padilla in their official capacities (the "Official Capacity Defendants"), and against Secretary Padilla and former Attorney General Kamala Harris in their individual capacities (the "Individual Capacity Defendants") for a judgment declaring California Elections Code §§ 6906 and 18002 unconstitutional and for violations of 28 U.S.C. § 1983.

Presently before the court are three Motions to Dismiss Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint ("FAC"): one filed by the Official Capacity Defendants, one filed by the Individual Capacity Defendants, and one filed by Intervenor California Republican Party. Dkt. Nos. 87, 88, 94. Though the court previously found there exists "equally plausible opposing views" on Elections Code § 6906 and 18002, and a "serious question" on the merits of the constitutional issue raised by Plaintiff ( Koller v. Brown, 224 F.Supp.3d 871, 879 (N.D. Cal. 2016) ), these motions raise doctrines not previously addressed. The application of these doctrines prevents this action from proceeding further. Thus, the Motions to Dismiss will be granted and all of Plaintiff's causes of action will be dismissed for the reasons explained below.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Presidential Electors, The Constitution, and The Federalist Papers

The FAC begins with reference to the Constitution, and in particular the process it provides for the election of the President. Plaintiff alleges that since the Constitution was signed in 1787, it has never "called for election to the office of President by popular vote of the citizens of this country." FAC, at ¶ 13. Instead, the Constitution has always "called for election to the office of President by Presidential Electors selected by the respective states." Id. at ¶ 14. These electors meet every four years, vote by ballot for two persons, make a list of all the persons voted for, and the number of votes cast for each person. Id. at ¶ 16.1 The signed and certified list is then directed to the President of the Senate. Id. at ¶¶ 16-17.

*819Plaintiff also alleges what the Constitution does not permit. In Plaintiff's opinion, the Constitution never "reduced the weighty responsibility" of choosing the President "to a media circus on the second Tuesday of November every four years." Id. at ¶ 18. Additionally, Plaintiff alleges the Constitution has never allowed "for foreign influences, threats, or intimidation to restrain or dictate the votes" of electors. Id. at ¶ 19.

Aside from the Constitution, Plaintiff also references Federalist No. 68 and its discussion of how the President should be selected and the role of Presidential Electors. Id. at ¶ 46. Federalist No. 68 states, in pertinent part:

It was desirable that the sense of the people should operate in the choice of the person to whom so important a trust was to be confided. This end will be answered by committing the right of making it, not to any preestablished body, but to men chosen by the people for the special purpose, and at the particular conjuncture.
It was equally desirable, that the immediate election should be made by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice. A small number of persons, selected by their fellow-citizens from the general mass, will be most likely to possess the information and discernment requisite to such complicated investigations.

Id.

B. California Statutes Regulating Presidential Electors

Two California statutes applicable to electors are placed at issue by the FAC. The first is Elections Code § 6906, which provides:

The electors, when convened, if both candidates are alive, shall vote by ballot for that person for President and that person for Vice President of the United States, who are, respectively, the candidates of the political party which they represent, one of whom, at least, is not an inhabitant of this state.

The second is Elections Code § 18002, which states:

Every person charged with the performance of any duty under any law of this state relating to elections, who willfully neglects or refuses to perform it, or who, in his or her official capacity, knowingly and fraudulently acts in contravention or violation of any of those laws, is, unless a different punishment is prescribed by this code, punishable by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for 16 months or two or three years, or by both that fine and imprisonment.

C. The 2016 Presidential Election

The Democratic candidates for President and Vice President in 2016 were Hillary Rodham Clinton and Timothy Kaine, respectively. Id. at ¶ 28. The Republican candidates for those offices were Donald J. Trump and Michael Pence. Id. at ¶ 29. Election day was November 8, 2016. Id. at ¶ 35. Plaintiff describes the outcome of the election in the FAC as follows:

Though the Democratic nominees for President and Vice-President won the nationwide popular vote by over 3 million votes, and won the California popular vote by a large margin, the various state-by-state popular votes indicated *820that Donald Trump and Michael Pence (the Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees) would win the majority of electoral college votes on December 19, 2016 if the electors in each state vote consistent with the popular vote in their respective states.

Id. at ¶ 35.

Plaintiff alleges, however, that subsequent to election day but before the vote of the electors on December 19, 2016, "U.S. intelligence agencies confirmed that they possessed evidence showing foreign influence in the presidential election with the purpose of favoring Donald J. Trump and undermining Hillary R. Clinton in that election." Id. at ¶ 32. Plaintiff considered the possibility of foreign interference to be of "grave importance" and sought additional information from the government. Id. at ¶ 33.

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312 F. Supp. 3d 814, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/koller-v-harris-cand-2018.