Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/103846/sosna-vs-iowa
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 13:03:15+00:00

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Appellant's petition for divorce was dismissed by an Iowa trial court for lack of jurisdiction because she failed to meet the Iowa statutory requirement that a petitioner in a divorce action be a resident of the State for one year preceding the filing of the petition. Appellant then brought a class action under Fed.Rule Civ.Proc. 23 in the Federal District Court against appellees State and state trial judge, asserting that Iowa's durational residency requirement violated the Federal Constitution on equal protection and due process grounds and seeking injunctive and declaratory relief. After certifying that appellant represented the class of persons residing in Iowa for less than a year who desired to initiate divorce actions, the three-judge District Court upheld the constitutionality of the statute.
1. The fact that appellant had long since satisfied the durational residency requirement by the time the case reached this Court does not moot the case, since the controversy remains very much alive for the class of unnamed persons whom she represents and who, upon certification of the class action, acquired a legal status separate from her asserted interest. Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U. S. 330 . Pp. 419 U. S. 397 -403.
(a) Where, as here, the issue sought to be litigated escapes full appellate review at the behest of any single challenger, the case does not inexorably become moot by the intervening resolution of the controversy as to the named plaintiffs. P. 419 U. S. 401 .
(b) At the time the class action was certified, appellant demonstrated a "real and immediate" threat of injury and belonged to the class that she sought to represent. Pp. 419 U. S. 402 -403.
(c) The test of Rule 23(a) that the named representative in a class action "fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class," is met here, where it is unlikely that segments of the class represented would have interests conflicting with appellant's, and the interests of the class have been competently urged at each level of the proceeding. P. 419 U. S. 403 .
2. The Iowa durational residency requirement for divorce is not unconstitutional. Pp. 419 U. S. 404 -410.
(a) Such requirement is not unconstitutional on the alleged ground that it establishes two classes of persons and discriminates against those who have recently exercised their right to travel to Iowa. Appellant was not irretrievably foreclosed from obtaining some part of what she sought, and such requirement may reasonably be justified on grounds of the State's interest in requiring those seeking a divorce from its courts to be genuinely attached to the State, as well as of the State's desire to insulate its divorce decrees from the likelihood of successful collateral attack. Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U. S. 618 ; Dunn, supra; Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U. S. 250 , distinguished. Pp. 419 U. S. 406 -409.
(b) Nor does the durational residency requirement violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment on the asserted ground that it denies a litigant the opportunity to make an individualized showing of bona fide residence, and thus bars access to the divorce courts. Even if appellant could make an individualized showing of physical presence plus the intent to remain, she would not be entitled to a divorce, for Iowa requires not merely "domicile" in that sense, but residence in the State for one year. See Vlandis v. Kline, 412 U. S. 441 , 412 U. S. 452 . Moreover, no total deprivation of access to divorce courts, but only delay in such access, is involved here. Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U. S. 371 , distinguished. Pp. 419 U. S. 409 -410.
REHNQUIST, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and DOUGLAS, STEWART, BLACKMUN, and POWELL, JJ., joined. WHITE, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 419 U. S. 410 . MARSHALL, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BRENNAN, J., joined, post, p. 419 U. S. 418 .
its divorce jurisdiction violated the United States Constitution. She sought both injunctive and declaratory relief against the appellees in this case, one of which is the State of Iowa, [ Footnote 2 ] and the other of whom is the judge of the District Court of Jackson County, Iowa, who had previously dismissed her petition.
"whether the United States District Court should have proceeded to the merits of the constitutional issue presented in light of Younger v. Harris, 401 U. S. 37 (1971) and related cases."
"class of those residents of the State of Iowa who have resided therein for a period of less than one year and who desire to initiate actions for dissolution of marriage or legal separation, and who are barred from doing so by the one-year durational residency requirement embodied in Sections 598.6 and 598.9 of the Code of Iowa. [ Footnote 4 ]"
Court in a pretrial order. [ Footnote 5 ] After the submission of briefs and proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law by the parties, the three-judge court, by a divided, vote upheld the constitutionality of the statute.
will not be completed until after the plaintiff has satisfied the residency requirement about which complaint was originally made.
If appellant had sued only on her own behalf, both the fact that she now satisfies the one-year residency requirement and the fact that she has obtained a divorce elsewhere would make this case moot, and require dismissal. Alton v. Alton, 207 F.2d 667 (CA3 1953), dismissed as moot, 347 U. S. 610 (1954); SEC v. Medical Committee for Human Rights, 404 U. S. 403 (1972). But appellant brought this suit as a class action and sought to litigate the constitutionality of the durational residency requirement in a representative capacity. When the District Court certified the propriety of the class action, the class of unnamed persons described in the certification acquired a legal status separate from the interest asserted by appellant. [ Footnote 8 ] We are of the view that this factor significantly affects the mootness determination.
evading review." That situation is not presented in appellant's case, for the durational residency requirement enforced by Iowa does not at this time bar her from the Iowa courts. Unless we were to speculate that she may move from Iowa, only to return and later seek a divorce within one year from her return, the concerns that prompted this Court's holdings in Southern Pacific and Moore do not govern appellant's situation. But even though appellees in this proceeding might not again enforce the Iowa durational residency requirement against appellant, it is clear that they will enforce it against those persons in the class that appellant sought to represent and that the District Court certified. In this sense, the case before us is one in which state officials will undoubtedly continue to enforce the challenged statute and yet, because of the passage of time, no single challenger will remain subject to its restrictions for the period necessary to see such a lawsuit to its conclusion.
is " capable of repetition, yet evading review.'""
405 U.S. at 405 U. S. 333 n. 2. Although the Court did not expressly note the fact, by the time it decided the case, Blumstein had resided in Tennessee for far more than a year.
that the same exigency that justifies this doctrine serves to identify its limits. In cases in which the alleged harm would not dissipate during the normal time required for resolution of the controversy, the general principles of Art. III jurisdiction require that the plaintiff's personal stake in the litigation continue throughout the entirety of the litigation.
Our conclusion that this case is not moot in no way detracts from the firmly established requirement that the judicial power of Art. III courts extends only to "cases and controversies" specified in that Article. There must not only be a named plaintiff who has such a case or controversy at the time the complaint is filed, and at the time the class action is certified by the District Court pursuant to Rule 23, [ Footnote 11 ] but there must be a live controversy at the time this Court reviews the case. [ Footnote 12 ] SEC v. Medical Committee for Human Rights, supra. The controversy may exist, however, between a named defendant and a member of the class represented by the named plaintiff, even though the claim of the named plaintiff has become moot.
named plaintiff in a class action must show that the threat of injury in a case such as this is "real and immediate," not "conjectural" or "hypothetical." O'Shea v. Littleton, 414 U. S. 488 , 414 U. S. 494 (1974); Golden v. Zwickler, 394 U. S. 103 , 394 U. S. 109 -110 (1969). A litigant must be a member of the class which he or she seeks to represent at the time the class action is certified by the district court. Bailey v. Patterson, 369 U. S. 31 (1962); Rosario, supra; Hall v. Beals, 396 U. S. 45 (1969). Appellant Sosna satisfied these criteria.
This conclusion does not automatically establish that appellant is entitled to litigate the interests of the class she seeks to represent, but it does shift the focus of examination from the elements of justiciability to the ability of the named representative to "fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class." Rule 23(a). Since it is contemplated that all members of the class will be bound by the ultimate ruling on the merits, Rule 23(c)(3), the district court must assure itself that the named representative will adequately protect the interests of the class. In the present suit, where it is unlikely that segments of the class appellant represents would have interests conflicting with those she has sought to advance, [ Footnote 13 ] and where the interests of that class have been competently urged at each level of the proceeding, we believe that the test of Rule 23(a) is met. We therefore address ourselves to the merits of appellant's constitutional claim.
"The State . . . has absolute right to prescribe the conditions upon which the marriage relation between its own citizen shall be created, and the causes for which it may be dissolved,"
and the same view was reaffirmed in Simms v. Simms, 175 U. S. 162 , 175 U. S. 167 (1899).
The statutory scheme in Iowa, like those in other States, sets forth in considerable detail the grounds upon which a marriage may be dissolved and the circumstances in which a divorce may be obtained. Jurisdiction over a petition for dissolution is established by statute in "the county where either party resides," Iowa Code § 598.2 (1973), and the Iowa courts have construed the term "resident" to have much the same meaning as is ordinarily associated with the concept of domicile. Korsrud v. Korsrud, 242 Iowa 178, 45 N.W.2d 848 (1951). Iowa has recently revised its divorce statutes, incorporating the no-fault concept, [ Footnote 14 ] but it retained the one-year durational residency requirement.
Appellant contends that the Iowa requirement of one year's residence is unconstitutional for two separate reasons: first, because it establishes two classes of persons and discriminates against those who have recently exercised their right to travel to Iowa, thereby contravening the Court's holdings in Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U. S. 618 (1969); Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U. S. 330 (1972); and Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U. S. 250 (1974); and, second, because it denies a litigant the opportunity to make an individualized showing of bona fide residence, and therefore denies such residents access to the only method of legally dissolving their marriage. Vlandis v. Kline, 412 U. S. 441 (1973); Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U. S. 371 (1971).
State statutes imposing durational residency requirements were, of course, invalidated when imposed by States as a qualification for welfare payments, Shapiro, supra; for voting, Dunn, supra; and for medical care, Maricopa County, supra. But none of those cases intimated that the States might never impose durational residency requirements, and such a proposition was, in fact, expressly disclaimed. [ Footnote 19 ] What those cases had in common was that the durational residency requirements they struck down were justified on the basis of budgetary or recordkeeping considerations which were held insufficient to outweigh the constitutional claims of the individuals. But Iowa's divorce residency requirement is of a different stripe. Appellant was not irretrievably foreclosed from obtaining some part of what she sought, as was the case with the welfare recipients in Shapiro, the voters in Dunn, or the indigent patient in Maricopa County. She would eventually qualify for the same sort of adjudication which she demanded virtually upon her arrival in the State. Iowa's requirement delayed her access to the courts, but, by fulfilling it, she could ultimately have obtained the same opportunity for adjudication which she asserts ought to have been hers at an earlier point in time.
divorce would usually include provisions for their custody and support. With consequences of such moment riding on a divorce decree issued by its courts, Iowa may insist that one seeking to initiate such a proceeding have the modicum of attachment to the State required here.
sort of determination that a State in the exercise of its domestic relations jurisdiction is entitled to make.
"be construed to deny a State the right to impose on a student, as one element in demonstrating bona fide residence, a reasonable durational residency requirement."
Iowa requires not merely "domicile" in that sense, but residence in the State for a year in order for its courts to exercise their divorce jurisdiction.
In Boddie v. Connecticut, supra, this Court held that Connecticut might not deny access to divorce courts to those persons who could not afford to pay the required fee. Because of the exclusive role played by the State in the termination of marriages, it was held that indigents could not be denied an opportunity to be heard "absent a countervailing state interest of overriding significance." 401 U.S. at 401 U. S. 377 . But the gravamen of appellant Sosna's claim is not total deprivation, as in Boddie, but only delay. The operation of the filing fee in Boddie served to exclude forever a certain segment of the population from obtaining a divorce in the courts of Connecticut. No similar total deprivation is present in appellant's case, and the delay which attends the enforcement of the one-year durational residency requirement is, for the reasons previously stated, consistent with the provisions of the United States Constitution.
"Except where the respondent is a resident of this state and is served by personal service, the petition for dissolution of marriage, in addition to setting forth the information required by section 598.5, must state that the petitioner has been for the last year a resident of the state, specifying the county in which the petitioner has resided, and the length of such residence therein after deducting all absences from the state; and that the maintenance of the residence has been in good faith and not for the purpose of obtaining a marriage dissolution only."
Iowa Code § 598.9 (1973) requires dismissal of the action "[i]f the averments as to residence are not fully proved."
In their answer to the complaint, appellees asserted that the court lacked jurisdiction over the State by virtue of the Eleventh Amendment, but thereafter abandoned this defense to the action. While the failure of the State to raise the defense of sovereign immunity in the District Court would not have barred Iowa from raising that issue in this Court, Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U. S. 651 (1974); Ford Motor Co. v. Department of Treasury of Indiana, 323 U. S. 459 (1945), no such defense has been advanced in this Court. The failure of Iowa to raise the issue has likewise left us without any guidance from the parties' briefs as to the circumstances under which Iowa law permits waiver of the defense of sovereign immunity by attorneys representing the State. Our own examination of Iowa precedents discloses, however, that the Iowa Supreme Court has held that the State consents to suit and waives any defense of sovereign immunity by entering a voluntary appearance and defending a suit on the merits. McKeown v. Brown, 167 Iowa 489, 499, 149 N.W. 593, 597 (1914). The law of Iowa on the point therefore appears to be different from the law of Indiana treated in Ford, supra.
Our request that the parties address themselves to Younger v. Harris, 401 U. S. 37 (1971), and related cases, indicated our concern as to whether either this Court or the District Court should reach the merits of the constitutional issue presented by the parties in light of appellant Sosna's failure to appeal the adverse ruling of the State District Court through the state appellate network. In response to our request, both parties urged that we reach the merits of appellant's constitutional attack on Iowa's durational residency requirement.
Since jurisdiction was predicated on 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3), this case presents no problem of aggregation of claims in an attempt to satisfy the requisite amount in controversy of 28 U.S.C. § 1331(a). Cf. Zahn v. International Paper Co., 414 U. S. 291 (1973); Snyder v. Harris, 394 U. S. 332 (1969). Although the complaint did not so specify, the absence of a claim for monetary relief and the nature of the claim asserted disclose that a Rule 23(b)(2) class action was contemplated. Therefore, the problems associated with a Rule 23(b)(3) class action, which were considered by this Court last Term in Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin, 417 U. S. 156 (1974), are not present in this case.
The defendant state court judge neither raised any claims of immunity as a defense to appellant's action, nor questioned the propriety of the appellant's effort to represent a state-wide class against a judge like him who apparently sat in a single county or judicial district within the State.
"termination of plaintiff's deferral period . . . would not render this case moot, since the cause before us is a class action, and the court is confronted with the reasonable likelihood that the problem will occur to members of the class of which plaintiff is currently a member."
Counsel for appellant disclosed at oral argument that appellant has, in fact, obtained a divorce in New York. Tr. of Oral Arg. 22.
The certification of a suit as a class action has important consequences for the unnamed members of the class. If the suit proceeds to judgment on the merits, it is contemplated that the decision will bind all persons who have been found at the time of certification to be members of the class. Rule 23(c)(3); Advisory Committee Note, 2 U.S.C.App. pp. 7765-7766. Once the suit is certified as a class action, it may not be settled or dismissed without the approval of the court. Rule 23(e).
This view draws strength from the practical demands of time. A blanket rule under which a class action challenge to a short durational residency requirement would be dismissed upon the intervening mootness of the named representative's dispute would permit a significant class of federal claims to remain unredressed for want of a spokesman who could retain a personal adversary position throughout the course of the litigation. Such a consideration would not itself justify any relaxation of the provision of Art. III which limits our jurisdiction to "cases and controversies," but it is a factor supporting the result we reach if consistent with Art. III. For the reasons stated in the text, infra we believe that our holding here does comport with both the language of Art. III and our prior decisions.
This has been the prevailing view in the Circuits. See, e.g., Cleaver v. Wilcox, 499 F.2d 940 (CA9 1974); Rivera v. Freeman, 469 F.2d 1159 (CA9 1972); Conover v. Montemuro, 477 F.2d 1073 (CA3 1972); Roberts v. Union Co., 487 F.2d 387 (CA6 1973); Shiffman v. Askew, 359 F.Supp. 1225 (MD Fla.1973), aff'd sub nom. Makres v. Askew, 500 F.2d 577 (CA5 1974); Moss v. Lane Co., Inc., 471 F.2d 853 (CA4 1973). Contra: Watkins v. Chicago Housing Authority, 406 F.2d 1234 (CA7 1969); cf. Norman v. Connecticut State Board of Parole, 458 F.2d 497 (CA2 1972).
There may be cases in which the controversy involving the named plaintiffs is such that it becomes moot as to them before the district court can reasonably be expected to rule on a certification motion. In such instances, whether the certification can be said to "relate back" to the filing of the complaint may depend upon the circumstances of the particular case and especially the reality of the claim that otherwise the issue would evade review.
When this Court has entertained doubt about the continuing nature of a case or controversy, it has remanded the case to the lower court for consideration of the possibility of mootness. Indiana Employment Div. v. Burney, 409 U. S. 540 (1973).
There are frequently cases in which it appears that the particular class a party seeks to represent does not have a sufficient homogeneity of interests to warrant certification. Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U. S. 32 , 311 U. S. 44 (1940); Phillips v. Klossen, 163 U.S.App.D.C. 360, 502 F.2d 362 (1974), cert. denied, post, p 996. In this case, however, it is difficult to imagine why any person in the class appellant represents would have an interest in seeing Iowa Code § 598.6 (1973) upheld.
See generally Peters, Iowa Reform of Marriage Termination, 20 Drake L.Rev. 211 (1971).
"if a spouse has established and maintained a residence in a parish of this state for a period of twelve months, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that he has a domicile in this state in the parish of such residence."
Wash.Laws 1973, 1st Ex.Sess., c. 157. Among the other 48 States, the durational residency requirements are of many varieties, with some applicable to all divorce actions, others only when the respondent is not domiciled in the State, and still others applicable depending on where the grounds for divorce accrued. See the 50-state compilation issued by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, Divorce, Annulment and Separation in the United States (1973).
See, e.g., Idaho Code § 32-701 (1963); Nev.Rev.Stat. § 125.20 (1973).
See, e.g., R.I.Gen.Laws Ann. § 15-5-12 (1970); Mass.Gen.Laws Ann., c. 208, §§ 4-5 (1958 and Supp. 1974).
A majority of the States impose a one-year residency requirement of some kind. Divorce, Annulment and Separation in the United States, supra, n 15.
Shapiro, 394 U.S. at 394 U. S. 638 n. 21; Maricopa County, 415 U.S. at 415 U. S. 258 -259.
"[T]he requirements of full faith and credit bar a defendant from collaterally attacking a divorce decree on jurisdictional grounds in the courts of a sister State where there has been participation by the defendant in the divorce proceedings, where the defendant has been accorded full opportunity to contest the jurisdictional issues, and where the decree is not susceptible to such collateral attack in the courts of the State which rendered the decree."
Our Brother MARSHALL argues in dissent that the Iowa durational residency requirement "sweeps too broadly," since it is not limited to ex parte proceedings and could be narrowed by a waiver provision. Post at 419 U. S. 425 . But Iowa's durational residency requirement cannot be tailored in this manner without disrupting settled principles of Iowa practice and pleading. Iowa's rules governing special appearances make it impossible for the state court to know, either at the time a petition for divorce is filed or when a motion to dismiss for want of jurisdiction is filed, whether or not a respondent will appear and participate in the divorce proceedings. Iowa Rules Civ.Proc. 66, 104. The fact that the state legislature might conceivably adopt a system of waivers and revise court rules governing special appearances does not make such detailed rewriting appropriate business for the federal judiciary.
"a verity that tends to safeguard them against the suspicious eyes of other states' prosecutorial authorities, the suspicions of private counsel in other states, and the post-decree dissatisfactions of parties to the divorce who wish a second bite. Such a reputation for validity of divorce decrees is not, then, merely cosmetic."
Makres v. Askew, 500 F.2d 577, 579 (1974), aff'g 359 F.Supp. 1225 (MD Fla.1973).
"The fundamental aspect of standing is that it focuses on the party seeking to get his complaint before a federal court, and not on the issues he wishes to have adjudicated. The 'gist of the question of standing' is whether the party seeking relief has"
" Baker v. Carr, 369 U. S. 186 , 369 U. S. 204 (1962). In other words, when standing is placed in issue in a case, the question is whether the person whose standing is challenged is a proper party to request an adjudication of a particular issue, and not whether the issue itself is justiciable."
Flast v. Cohen, supra, at 392 U. S. 99 -100 (footnote omitted).
"if none of the named plaintiffs purporting to represent a class establishes the requisite of a case or controversy with the defendants, none may seek relief on behalf of himself or any other member of the class."
O'Shea v. Littleton, supra, at 414 U. S. 494 (footnote omitted).
The Court nevertheless holds that, once a case is certified as a class action, the named plaintiff may lose that status which had qualified him to bring the suit and still be acceptable as a party to prosecute the suit to conclusion on behalf of the class. I am unable to agree. The appellant now satisfies the Iowa residence requirement, and has secured a divorce. She retains no real interest whatsoever in this controversy, certainly not an interest that would have entitled her to be a plaintiff in the first place, either alone or as representing a class. In reality, there is no longer a named plaintiff in the case, no member of the class before the Court. The unresolved issue, the attorney, and a class of unnamed litigants remain. None of the anonymous members of the class is present to direct counsel and ensure that class interests are being properly served. For all practical purposes, this case has become one-sided, and has lost the adversary quality necessary to satisfy the constitutional "case or controversy" requirement. A real issue unquestionably remains, but the necessary adverse party to press it has disappeared.
No prior decision supports the Court's broad rationale. In cases in which the inadequacy of the named representative's claim has become apparent prior to class certification, the Court has been emphatic in rejecting the argument that the class action could still be pursued. O'Shea v. Littleton, supra, at 414 U. S. 494 -495; Bailey v. Patterson, 369 U. S. 31 , 369 U. S. 32 -33 (1962). Cf. Richardson v. Ramirez, 418 U. S. 24 (1974); Hall v. Beals, 396 U. S. 45 , 396 U. S. 48 -49 (1969).
It is true that Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U. S. 330 , 405 U. S. 333 n. 2 (1972), looks in the other direction. There, by the time the Court rendered its decision, the class representative in an action challenging a durational residency requirement for voting had satisfied the requirement and was eligible to vote in the next election. The Court indicated that the case was not moot, saying that the issue was "capable of repetition, yet evading review." But the question was not contested between the parties and was noted only in passing. Its ramifications for the question of mootness in a class action setting were not explored. Although I joined the opinion in that case, I do not deem it dispositive of the jurisdictional issue here, especially in light of Indiana Employment Division v. Burney, 409 U. S. 540 (1973). There, the class representative's claim had been fully settled, and the Court remanded the case to the District Court for consideration of mootness, a course which the majority, relying on Dunn, rejects here. As I see it, the question of whether a class action survives after the representative's claim has been mooted remains unsettled by prior decisions. Indeed, what authority there is provides more support for a conclusion that, when the personal stake of the named plaintiff terminates, the class action fails.
"of the opportunity of members to signify whether they consider the representation fair and adequate, to intervene and present claims or defenses, or otherwise to come into the action"
of absent persons. . . ." [ Footnote 2/3 ] Class litigation is most often characterized by its complexity and concomitant flexibility of a court in managing it, and emphasis upon one point in the process flies in the face of that reality.
with appellees. This is not true; but even if it were, the Court is left with the problem of determining whether the class action is still a good one, and whether, under Rule 23(a)(4), appellant is a fair and adequate representative of the class. That appellant can no longer in any realistic sense be considered a member of the class makes these determinations imperative. The Court disposes of the problem to its own satisfaction by saying that it is unlikely that segments of the class appellant represents would have conflicting interests with those she has sought to advance, and that, because the interests of the class have been competently urged at each level of the proceeding, the test of Rule 23(a)(4) is met. The Court cites no authority for this retrospective decision as to the adequacy of representation which seems to focus on the competence of counsel, rather than a party plaintiff who is a representative member of the class. [ Footnote 2/5 ] At the very least, the case should be remanded to the District Court, where these considerations could be explored and the desirability of issuing orders under Rule 23(d) to protect the class might be considered.
the Court perceives the need for a general rule which will eliminate the problem. Article III, however, is an "awkward" limitation. It prevents all federal courts from addressing some important questions; there is nothing surprising in the fact that it may permit only the lower federal courts to address other questions. Article III is not a rule always consistent with judicial economy. Its overriding purpose is to define the boundaries separating the branches and to keep this Court from assuming a legislative perspective and function. See Flast v. Cohen, 392 U. S. 83 , 392 U. S. 96 (1968). The ultimate basis of the Court's decision must be a conclusion that the issue presented is an important and recurring one which should be finally resolved here. But this notion cannot override constitutional limitations.
The Court contends that its rationale is the prevailing view in the circuits, and lists five Circuits in support and two opposing. Ante at 419 U. S. 401 -402, n. 10. Of the five decisions cited in support, four are without weight or inapposite in the present context. Conover v. Montemuro, 477 F.2d 1073, 1081-1082 (CA3 1973), contains only dictum. Makres v. Askew, 500 F.2d 577 (CA5 1974), is only an affirmance of a District Court decision, without discussion of mootness. Two other cases, Moss v. Lane Co., Inc., 471 F.2d 853 (CA4 1973), and Roberts v. Union Co., 487 F.2d 387 (CA6 1973), deal with claims of racial and sexual discrimination, respectively, in employment practices, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 78 Stat. 253, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. In such cases, Congress has expressed an intention and provided that any person "claiming to be aggrieved" could bring suit under Title VII to challenge discriminatory employment practices. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5; Trafficante v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 409 U. S. 205 , 409 U. S. 209 (1972). Since any discrimination in employment based upon sexual or racial characteristics aggrieves an employee or an applicant for employment having such characteristics by stigmatization and explicit or implicit application of a badge of inferiority, Congress gave such persons standing by statute to continue an attack upon such discrimination even though they fail to establish particular injury to themselves in being denied employment unlawfully. Cf. Trafficante, supra. Congress has expressed no similar intention as to the subject matter of the instant litigation, that is, to allow suits by " private attorneys general in vindicating a policy that Congress considered to be of the highest priority,'" 409 U.S. at 409 U. S. 211 , nor are the circumstances present here analogous to a case of racial or sexual discrimination which inherently is class-based. Hence, these cases provide no authority for the Court's expansive construction of Art. III's "case or controversy" requirement.
See 7A C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1785, pp. 137-138 (1972); 3B J. Moore, Federal Practice Ĺš 23.50, p. 23-1103 (1974).
See 7A Wright & Miller, supra, n. 2, §§ 1793, 1974; 3B Moore, supra, n. 2, Ĺš 23.72-23.74.
"[i]n such instances, whether the certification can be said to 'relate back' to the filing of the complaint may depend upon the circumstances of the particular case, and especially the reality of the claim that otherwise the issue would evade review."
Ante at 419 U. S. 402 n. 11. If certification is not the factor which saves the case from mootness, it appears that the Court is satisfied that the case is a live controversy as long as an issue would otherwise not be reviewable here. The Court does not say whether the same flexible standard of mootness applies to cases appealable to the courts of appeals.
"[q]uality of representation embraces both the competence of the legal counsel of the representatives and the stature and interest of the named parties themselves."
7 Wright & Miller, supra, n. 2, § 1766, pp. 632-633 (footnotes omitted). The decisions in the past have rested on several considerations. See id. at 633-635.
The Court today departs sharply from the course we have followed in analyzing durational residency requirements since Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U. S. 618 (1969). Because I think the principles set out in that case and its progeny compel reversal here, I respectfully dissent.
upon the exercise of the right to travel interstate, [ Footnote 3/1 ] we held that free medical aid, like voting, see Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U. S. 330 (1972), and welfare assistance, see Shapiro v. Thompson, supra, was of such fundamental importance that the State could not constitutionally condition its receipt upon long-term residence. After examining Arizona's justifications for restricting the availability of free medical services, we concluded that the State had failed to show that, in pursuing legitimate objectives, it had chosen means that did not impinge unnecessarily upon constitutionally protected interests.
with marriage and divorce have repeatedly been accorded particular deference, and the right to marry has been termed "one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men." Loving v. Virginia, 388 U. S. 1 , 388 U. S. 12 (1967). In Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U. S. 371 (1971), we recognized that the right to seek dissolution of the marital relationship was closely related to the right to marry, as both involve the voluntary adjustment of the same fundamental human relationship. Id. at 401 U. S. 383 . Without further laboring the point, I think it is clear beyond cavil that the right to seek dissolution of the marital relationship is of such fundamental importance that denial of this right to the class of recent interstate travelers penalizes interstate travel within the meaning of Shapiro, Dunn, and Maricopa County.
U.S. 1 , 411 U. S. 109 (1973) (MARSHALL, J., dissenting); Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U. S. 471 , 397 U. S. 520 -522 (1970) (MARSHALL, J., dissenting). But whatever the ultimate resting point of the current readjustments in equal protection analysis, the Court has clearly directed that the proper standard to apply to cases in which state statutes have penalized the exercise of the right to interstate travel is the "compelling interest" test. Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. at 394 U. S. 634 , 394 U. S. 638 ; Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U. S. 112 , 400 U. S. 238 (1970) (opinion of BRENNAN, WHITE and MARSHALL, JJ.); Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. at 405 U. S. 342 -343; Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U.S. at 415 U. S. 262 -263.
The Court proposes three defenses for the Iowa statute: first, the residency requirement merely delays receipt of the benefit in question -- it does not deprive the applicant of the benefit altogether; second, since significant social consequences may follow from the conferral of a divorce, the State may legitimately regulate the divorce process; and third, the State has interests both in protecting itself from use as a "divorce mill" and in protecting its judgments from possible collateral attack in other States. In my view, the first two defenses provide no significant support for the statute in question here. Only the third has any real force.
It is not enough to recite the State's traditionally exclusive responsibility for regulating family law matters; some tangible interference with the State's regulatory scheme must be shown. Yet, in this case, I fail to see how any legitimate objective of Iowa's divorce regulations would be frustrated by granting equal access to new state residents. [ Footnote 3/4 ] To draw on an analogy, the States have great interests in the local voting process and wide latitude in regulating that process. Yet one regulation that the States may not impose is an unduly long residency requirement. Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U. S. 330 (1972). To remark, as the Court does, that, because of the consequences riding on a divorce decree "Iowa may insist that one seeking to initiate such a proceeding have the modicum of attachment to the State required here"
is not to make an argument, but merely to state the result.
The majority notes that, in Williams v. North Carolina, 325 U. S. 226 (1945), the Court held that for ex parte divorces one State's finding of domicile could, under limited circumstances, be challenged in the' courts of another. From this, the majority concludes that, since Iowa's findings of domicile might be subject to collateral attack elsewhere, it should be permitted to cushion its findings with a one-year residency requirement.
For several reasons, the year's waiting period seems to me neither necessary nor much of a cushion. First, the Williams opinion was not aimed at States seeking to avoid becoming divorce mills. Quite the opposite, it was rather plainly directed at States that had cultivated a "quickie divorce" reputation by playing fast and loose with findings of domicile. See id. at 325 U. S. 236 -237; id. at 325 U. S. 241 (Murphy, J., concurring). If Iowa wishes to avoid becoming a haven for divorce seekers, it is inconceivable that its good faith determinations of domicile would not meet the rather lenient full faith and credit standards set out in Williams.
I conclude that the course Iowa has chosen in restricting access to its divorce courts unduly interferes with the right to "migrate, resettle, find a new job, and start a new life." Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. at 394 U. S. 629 . I would reverse the judgment of the District Court and remand for entry of an order granting relief if the court finds that there is a continuing controversy in this case. See Steffel v. Thompson, 415 U. S. 452 (1974); Johnson v. New York State Education Dept., 409 U. S. 75 , 409 U. S. 79 n. 7 (1972) (MARSHALL, J., concurring).
Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U.S. at 415 U. S. 256 -259; see also Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. at 394 U. S. 638 n. 21.
The majority also relies on its "mere delay" distinction to dispose of Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U. S. 371 (1971), see ante at 419 U. S. 410 . Yet even though the majority in Boddie relied on due process, rather than equal protection, I am fully convinced that, if the Connecticut statute in question in that case had required indigents to wait a year for a divorce, the statute would still have been constitutionally infirm, see 401 U.S. at 401 U. S. 383 -386 (DOUGLAS, J., concurring in result), a point the Court implicitly rejects today.
The majority identifies marital status, property rights, and custody and support arrangements as the important concerns commonly resolved by divorce proceedings. But by declining to exercise divorce jurisdiction over its new citizens, Iowa does not avoid affecting these weighty social concerns; instead, it freezes them in an unsatisfactory state that it would not require its long-time residents to endure.
A durational requirement such as Iowa's 90-day conciliation period would not, of course, be subject to an equal protection challenge, as it is required uniformly of all divorce petitioners.
Appellees do not rely on these factors to support the Iowa statute. In their brief, appellees argue that the legislature's determination to impose a one-year residency requirement was reasonable "in the light of the interest of the State of Iowa in a dissolution proceeding." Brief for Appellees 8. The full faith and credit argument is mentioned only in the middle of a long quotation from another court's opinion, id. at 9. This is hardly sufficient to meet the requirement of a "clear showing that the burden imposed is necessary to protect a compelling and substantial governmental interest." Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U. S. 112 , 400 U. S. 238 (1970) (opinion of BRENNAN, WHITE, and MARSHALL, JJ.); Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U. S. 398 , 374 U. S. 406 -409 (1963).
The availability of a less restrictive alternative such as a domicile requirement weighs heavily in testing a challenged state regulation against the "compelling interest" standard. See Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. at 394 U. S. 638 ; Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U. S. 330 , 405 U. S. 342 , 405 U. S. 350 -352 (1972); Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U.S. at 415 U. S. 267 ; Shelton v. Tucker, 364 U. S. 479 , 364 U. S. 488 (1960). Since the Iowa courts have, in effect, interpreted the residency statute to require proof of domicile as well as one year's residence, see Korsrud v. Korsrud, 242 Iowa 178, 45 N.W.2d 848 (1951); Julson v. Julson, 255 Iowa 301, 122 N.W.2d 329 (1963), a shift to a "pure" domicile test would impose no new burden on the State's factfinding process.
This problem could be cured in large part if the State waived its year's residency requirement whenever the respondent agreed to consent to the court's jurisdiction.
See Hinds v. Hinds, 1 Iowa 36 (1855); Williamson v. Williamson, 179 Iowa 489, 495, 161 N.W. 482, 485 (1917); Korsrud v. Korsrud, supra; Schaefer v. Schaefer, 245 Iowa 1343, 1350, 66 N.W.2d 428, 433 (1954); cf. White v. White, 138 Conn.1, 81 A.2d 450 (1951); Wyman v. Wyman, 212 N.W.2d 368 (Minn.1973); Camp v. Camp, 21 Misc.2d 908, 189 N.Y.S.2d 561 (1959) (construing Florida law). While the Williams case establishes that collateral attack can always be mounted against the divorcing State's finding of domicile, other States have provided that failure to meet the durational residency requirement is not jurisdictional, and thus does not provide an independent basis for collateral attack, see, e.g., Schreiner v. Schreiner, 502 S.W.2d 840 (Tex.Ct. Civ.App. 1973); Hammond v. Hammond, 45 Wash.2d 855, 278 P.2d 387 (1954) (construing Idaho law).
The majority argues that, since most States require a year's residence for divorce, Iowa gains refuge from the risk of collateral attack in the understanding solicitude of States with similar laws. Of course, absent unusual circumstances, a judgment by this Court striking down the Iowa statute would similarly affect the other States with one- and two-year residency requirements. For the same reason, the risk of subjecting Iowa to an invasion of divorce seekers seems minimal. If long residency requirements are held unconstitutional, Iowa will not stand conspicuously alone without a residency requirement "defense." Moreover, its 90-day conciliation period, required of all divorce petitioners in the State, would still serve to discourage peripatetic divorce seekers who are looking for the quickest possible adjudication.

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