Preisler v. Secretary of Missouri

W.D. Missouri

Preisler v. Secretary of Missouri

341 F. Supp. 1158, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14996

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri

DecidedFebruary 22, 1972

DocketCiv. A. No. 1716

StatusPublished

Cited by4 cases

This text of 341 F. Supp. 1158 (Preisler v. Secretary of Missouri) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Preisler v. Secretary of Missouri, 341 F. Supp. 1158, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14996 (W.D. Mo. 1972).

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Opinions

FINDINGS OF FACT CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND JUDGMENT ADOPTING JUDICIAL PLAN FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS

PER CURIAM:

This is an equitable action filed on July 6, 1971, by nine citizens¹ of the [1160]*1160United States and of the State of Missouri against the Governor, the Secretary of State and the Attorney General of Missouri, in their official capacities.

The plaintiffs seek (1) a judgment declaring the 1969 Missouri statutes dividing the State of Missouri into ten Congressional districts to be unconstitutional, (2) an injunction restraining the defendant Secretary of State from authorizing and permitting electoral processes including future primary and general elections for Congress of the United States from the districts established by the 1969 Act and (3) a judicial redistricting of the State of Missouri into ten constitutional Congressional districts for the preliminary election processes and for the primary and general elections beginning in 1972. (The injunction sought presumably would continue until the General Assembly of Missouri enacts a constitutionally permissible plan of Congressional redistricting.)

The District Judge before whom the action was pending determined the necessity for convening a Three-Judge Court as required by § 2281, Title 28, United States Code, and requested that the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit convene this court pursuant to § 2284, Title 28, U.S.C. On August 12, 1971, in response to this request the Honorable M. C. Matthes, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit convened this Three-Judge Court.

Venue and jurisdiction to hear and determine this action on the merits exists under § 1391(b), § 1343(3), § 2201, Title 28, U.S.C., and under § 1983 and § 1988, Title 42, U.S.C.

In April 1969, the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed a district court decision holding the 1967 Missouri Congressional Redistricting Act unconstitutional. Kirkpatrick v. Preisler, 394 U.S. 526, 89 S.Ct. 1225, 22 L.Ed.2d 519. Following this decision the Missouri General Assembly in 1969 enacted the Congressional Redistricting Act under attack in this action. Section 128.204 to Section 128.306, inclusive, Chapter 128 RSMo. In 1970 Congressional elections were held under this 1969 Act.

When the results of the 1970 decennial census became available it was readily apparent that the districts created by the 1969 Act had become constitutionally impermissible in 1971. See Congressional District Data, Districts of the 92d Congress, Missouri, CDD-92-93, June 1971 (a United States Department of Commerce Publication). The facts underlying this conclusion have been verified as a result of the pretrial and trial proceedings herein. Because of population growth and shifts between 1960 and 1970 the disparities between Congressional districts in Missouri, and the variations from the ideal are illustrated by the following uncontroverted tabulation from the currently available 1970 census figures:

Number of Congressional Seats: 10

Total Population: 4,677,399

Ideal Population for Each Congressional District: 467,740

Actual Population for Each District Created by 1969 Act:

District

Actual Population Per 1970 Census

Variation from Ideal

First 377,097 - 90,643

Second 508,745 + 41,005

Third 376,211 - 91,529

Fourth 527,990 + 60,250

Fifth 379,619 -88,121

Sixth 462,024 - 5,716

Seventh 481,313 + 13,573

Eighth 604,525 +136,785

Ninth 551,132 + 83,392

Tenth 408,743 -58,997

None of the minor corrections in the preliminary 1970 census data substantially affects these figures.

On the basis of these 1970 census population figures, we conclude, without disagreement by any formal party, amicus curiae or any other interested person, that the 1969 Missouri Congressional Redistricting Act, supra, is unconstitutional and that no present or future Congressional preliminary election processes or primary or general elections may be held thereunder.

[1161]*1161In early recognition of this inevitable conclusion the 76th General Assembly of Missouri at its regular session in 1971 considered legislation calculated to create in time for the 1972 elections ten new constitutionally permissible Congressional districts. Until November 22, 1971, we refrained from further judicial action with the hope that the Missouri General Assembly would be called into special session and would cause to be enacted into law, in time for the 1972 election processes a constitutionally permissible Congressional redistricting plan.

On November 22, 1971, we held a plenary evidentiary hearing to secure a basic record for action on the merits of this case when a decision was required. To give the Missouri General Assembly further time to act, action herein was stayed until January 31, 1972, when final hearings herein were held and the cause submitted. Unfortunately, no new Missouri Congressional Redistricting Act has been enacted into law as of mid-February 1972, the latest practicable time for legislative action. Now most formal and interested parties agree that we must render a decision in this case on the basis of the pretrial and trial.

So left with no alternative, reluctantly we proceed to establish by judicial action a constitutionally permissible Congressional redistricting plan for Missouri under which future primary and general elections for Congressional seats must be held until there is enacted into law by the General Assembly of Missouri a constitutionally permissible Congressional redistricting act. In doing so we will give effect as far as is practicable and legal to what we believe to be the will of the majority of the people of Missouri, as far as it can be discerned.

The federal law requires, and we willingly follow the federal standard that Article I, § 2 of the Constitution of the United States requires that “as nearly as is practicable one man’s vote in a congressional election is to be worth as much as another’s”. This rule was enunciated in Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1, 84 S.Ct. 526, 11 L.Ed.2d 481, and further defined in Kirkpatrick v. Preisler, supra.

In addition to this federal standard, Section 45 of Article III of the Missouri Constitution, V.A.M.S., requires that the Congressional districts “. . . be composed of contiguous territory as compact and as nearly equal in population as may be.” In devising a judicial plan of Congressional redistricting we respect and follow this state standard, as a matter of law and comity.

Some evidence of the will of the people of Missouri in some respects is found in the alignment of Congressional districts in the now obsolete 1969 Missouri Congressional Redistricting Act. To the extent practicable we give consideration to the salvageable portions of that Act.

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