Wade v. Nolan

414 P.2d 689, 1966 Alas. LEXIS 184
Alaska Supreme Court·Decided May 20, 1966·No. 731·Published·Cited by 21 cases

Opinions

[690] NESBETT, Chief Justice.

The principal question presented by this :appeal is whether the Governor of Alaska ■was authorized by the Alaska Constitution -to reapportion the Alaska Senate on an interim basis after United States Supreme •Court decisions had declared invalid “froz■en” area apportionment plans such as that •provided by Section 2, Article XIV of the Alaska Constitution.

In the historic decision of Baker v. Carr,1 decided by the Supreme Court of the United States on March 26, 1962 it ■was held that the apportionment of a state legislature was subject to review by the •courts for a violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment2 for effecting a gross disproportion of representation to voting population.

In Reynolds v. Sims,3 decided two years later on June 15, 1964, the United States .Supreme Court held that the equal protection clause requires that the seats in both houses of a bicameral state legislature be .apportioned on a population basis. In accordance with the foregoing, the court held •that the three reapportionment plans for .Alabama which were being considered were •unconstitutional and that upon the legislature’s failure to act effectively to revise the invalid plans, the United States District Court acted properly in ordering its own temporary reapportionment plan into effect so that a reapportioned legislature could act effectively to adopt a permanent valid plan.

The decision in Reynolds v. Sims immediately posed the question of whether the Alaska State Senate was constitutionally apportioned on a population basis since Section 2, Article VI of the Alaska Constitution provides that members of the Senate shall be elected by the voters of the senate districts as set forth in Section 2 of Article XIV,4 which latter section establishes senate districts based on area, defined by combining various house districts established by Section 1 of Article XIV, and prescribes the number of senators to be elected from each senate district.5 Further, Section 7 of Article VI provides that the senate districts can be modified to reflect changes in house election districts, but that a senate district shall nevertheless retain its total number of senators and its approximate perimeter.6

Section 3 of Article VI provides that the Governor shall reapportion the House of Representatives immediately following each decennial United States census upon the basis of civilian population in each house election district as reported by the census.7 [691] Section 4 of Article VI provides basically that reapportionment should be by the method of equal proportions.8

Sections 5 and 6, Article VI provide that the Governor, in carrying out his reapportionment duties, can change the size and area of house election districts within prescribed limits, and prescribes other criteria for reapportioning to maintain representation by equal proportions.

Section 8, Article VI requires the Governor to appoint a five member, non-political, area representative, Reapportionment Board to act in an advisory capacity to him.9

Sections 9 and 10, Article VI provides-some basic organization and procedure for the Board and require it, acting on its own initiative, to submit to the Governor a plan for redistricting and reapportionment with[692] in ninety days following each decennial ■census. Within ninety days after receipt ■of the plan the Governor is required to issue a proclamation of reapportionment and redistrieting, explaining his reasons for •changing any part of the Board’s plan.10

Section 11, Article VI permits any qualified voter to apply to the superior court to compel the Governor to perform his reapportionment duties or to correct any ■error in reapportionment or redistrieting.

It is clear from the foregoing provisions that the Governor, with the assistance of the Reapportionment Board, must reapportion representation in the House of Representatives on a method of equal proportions, every ten years; that he must explain any deviation from the reapportionment plan submitted to him by the Board and that any qualified voter can invoke the power of the courts to compel him to reapportion or to correct any error made by him in reapportioning or redistricting.

No specific provision is made for reapportioning the Senate. In carrying out his reapportionment of the House, the Governor is empowered to modify senate districts to reflect changes made in house election districts, but each senate district must retain its total number of senators and its approximate perimeters.11 It is clear therefore, that representation in the Senate is determined by area rather than population, with no specific provision made for changing this plan.

Approximately two months after Reynolds v. Sims and on August 17, 1964, the Attorney General of Alaska, in response to a request from the Governor, issued an opinion advising that in his opinion the Governor had authority to reapportion the Alaska Senate. On August 18, 1964 the Governor issued a “Proclamation Concerning Reapportionment and Redistrieting” which called the advisory board on reapportionment established by the Alaska Constitution into session. After holding publicized hearings throughout the state, the Reapportionment Board submitted a plan to the Governor on December 10, 1964. On March 6, 1965 the Governor issued a second proclamation which reconvened the Reapportionment Board for another publicized ninety days of hearings and study for the purpose of reconsidering its Senate reapportionment plan in the light of recent United States Supreme Court decisions. On June 8, 1965 the Reapportionment Board submitted a second plan to the Governor, who, on September 3, 1965, issued the Proclamation of Reapportionment and Redistrieting which was intended to be applicable to the 1966 primary and general elections and which is the subject of this suit.

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Wade v. Nolan, 414 P.2d 689, 1966 Alas. LEXIS 184 (Ala. 1966).

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Wade v. Nolan
414 P.2d 689 (Alaska Supreme Court, 1966)