Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/402/137/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 20:32:11+00:00

Document:
Appellees, who are eligible for low-cost public housing, challenged the requirement of Art. XXXIV of the California Constitution that no low-rent housing project be developed, constructed, or acquired by any state public body without the approval of a majority of those voting at a community election, as violative of the Supremacy, Privileges and Immunities, and Equal Protection Clauses of the United States Constitution. A three-judge District Court enjoined the enforcement of the referendum provision on the ground that it denied appellees equal protection of the laws, relying chiefly on Hunter v. Erickson, 393 U. S. 385.
Held: The California procedure for mandatory referendums, which is not limited to proposals involving low-cost public housing, ensures democratic decisionmaking, and does not violate the Equal Protection Clause. Hunter v. Erickson, supra, distinguished. Pp. 404 U. S. 140-143.
313 F.Supp. 1, reversed and remanded.
BLACK, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and HARLAN, STEWART, and WHITE, JJ., joined. MARSHALL, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BRENNAN and BLACKMUN, JJ., joined, post, p. 404 U. S. 143. DOUGLAS, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of the cases.
equal protection of the laws, and it enjoined its enforcement. 313 F.Supp. 1 (ND Cal.1970). Two appeals were taken from the judgment, one by the San Jose City Council and the other by a single member of the council. We noted probable jurisdiction of both appeals. 398 U.S. 949 (1970); 399 U.S. 925 (1970). For the reasons that follow, we reverse.
The three-judge court found the Supremacy Clause argument unpersuasive, and we agree. By the Housing Act of 1937, the Federal Government has offered aid to state and local governments for the creation of low-rent public housing. However, the federal legislation does not purport to require that local governments accept this or to outlaw local referendums on whether the aid should be accepted. We also find the privileges and immunities argument without merit.
"Because the core of the Fourteenth Amendment is the prevention of meaningful and unjustified official distinctions based on race, [citing a group of racial discrimination cases] racial classifications are 'constitutionally suspect,' . . . and subject to the 'most rigid scrutiny.'. . . They 'bear a far heavier burden of justification' than other classifications."
Id. at 393 U. S. 391-392. The Court concluded that Akron had advanced no sufficient reasons to justify this racial classification, and hence that it was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Unlike the Akron referendum provision, it cannot be said that California's Article XXXIV rests on "distinctions based on race." Id. at 393 U. S. 391. The Article requires referendum approval for any low-rent public housing project, not only for projects which will be occupied by a racial minority. And the record here would not support any claim that a law seemingly neutral on its face is in fact, aimed at a racial minority. Cf. Gomillion v. Lightfoot, 364 U. S. 339 (1960). The present case could be affirmed only by extending Hunter, and this we decline to do.
contend that Article XXXIV denies them equal protection because it demands a mandatory referendum, while many other referendums only take place upon citizen initiative. They suggest that the mandatory nature of the Article XXXIV referendum constitutes unconstitutional discrimination, because it hampers persons desiring public housing from achieving their objective when no such roadblock faces other groups seeking to influence other public decisions to their advantage. But, of course, a lawmaking procedure that "disadvantages" a particular group does not always deny equal protection. Under any such holding, presumably a State would not be able to require referendums on any subject unless referendums were required on all, because they would always disadvantage some group. And this Court would be required to analyze governmental structures to determine whether a gubernatorial veto provision or a filibuster rule is likely to "disadvantage" any of the diverse and shifting groups that make up the American people.
Furthermore, an examination of California law reveals that persons advocating low income housing have not been singled out for mandatory referendums while no other group must face that obstacle. Mandatory referendums are required for approval of state constitutional amendments, for the issuance of general obligation long-term bonds by local governments, and for certain municipal territorial annexations. See Cal.Const., Art. XVIII; Art. XIII, § 40; Art. XI, § 2(b). California statute books contain much legislation first enacted by voter initiative, and no such law can be repealed or amended except by referendum. Cal.Const., Art. IV, § 24(c). Some California cities have wisely provided that their public parks may not be alienated without mandatory referendums, see, e.g., San Jose Charter § 1700.
own vote to require referendum approval of low-rent public housing projects. This procedure ensures that all the people of a community will have a voice in a decision which may lead to large expenditures of local governmental funds for increased public services and to lower tax revenues. [Footnote 4] It gives them a voice in decisions that will affect the future development of their own community. This procedure for democratic decisionmaking does not violate the constitutional command that no State shall deny to any person "the equal protection of the laws."
The judgment of the three-judge court is reversed, and the cases are remanded for dismissal of the complaint.
Housing Authority v. Superior Court, 35 Cal.2d 550, 557-558, 219 P.2d 457, 460-461 (1950).
"Section l. No low rent housing project shall hereafter be developed, constructed, or acquired in any manner by any state public body until a majority of the qualified electors of the city, town or county, as the case may be, in which it is proposed to develop, construct, or acquire the same, voting upon such issue, approve such project by voting in favor thereof at an election to be held for that purpose, or at any general or special election."
"For the purposes of this article the term 'low rent housing project' shall mean any development composed of urban or rural dwellings, apartments or other living accommodations for persons of low income, financed in whole or in part by the Federal Government or a state public body or to which the Federal Government or a state public body extends assistance by supplying all or part of the labor, by guaranteeing the payment of liens, or otherwise. . . ."
"For the purposes of this article only 'persons of low income' shall mean persons or families who lack the amount of income which is necessary (as determined by the state public body developing, constructing, or acquiring the housing project) to enable them, without financial assistance, to live in decent, safe and sanitary dwellings, without overcrowding."
See, e.g., W. Crouch, The Initiative and Referendum in California (1950).
Public low-rent housing projects are financed through bonds issued by the local housing authority. To be sure, the Federal Government contracts to make contributions sufficient to cover interest and principal, but the local government body must agree to provide all municipal services for the units and to waive all taxes on the property. The local services to be provided include schools, police, and fire protection, sewers, streets, drains, and lighting. Some of the cost is defrayed by the local governing body's receipt of 10% of the housing project rentals, but of course the rentals are set artificially low. Both appellants and appellees agree that the building of federally financed low-cost housing entails costs to the local community. Appellant Shaffer's Brief 34-35. Appellees' Brief 47. See also 42 U.S.C. §§ 1401-1430.
MR. JUSTICE MARSHALL, whom MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN and MR. JUSTICE BLACKMUN join, dissenting.
persons of low income, financed in whole or in part by the Federal Government or a state public body or to which the Federal Government or a state public body extends assistance by supplying all or part of the labor, by guaranteeing the payment of liens, or otherwise."
"persons or families who lack the amount of income which is necessary . . . to enable them, without financial assistance, to live in decent, safe and sanitary dwellings, without overcrowding."
In my view, Art. XXXIV, on its face, constitutes invidious discrimination which the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment plainly prohibits.
"The States, of course, are prohibited by the Equal Protection Clause from discriminating between 'rich' and 'poor' as such in the formulation and application of their laws."
classification on the basis of poverty -- a suspect classification which demands exacting judicial scrutiny, see McDonald v. Board of Election, 394 U. S. 802, 394 U. S. 807 (1969); Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, 383 U. S. 663 (1966); Douglas v. California, supra.
The Court, however, chooses to subject the article to no scrutiny whatsoever and treats the provision as if it contained a totally benign, technical economic classification. Both the appellees and the Solicitor General of the United States as amicus curiae have strenuously argued, and the court below found, that Art. XXXIV, by imposing a substantial burden solely on the poor, violates the Fourteenth Amendment. Yet after observing that the article does not discriminate on the basis of race, the Court's only response to the real question in these cases is the unresponsive assertion that "referendums demonstrate devotion to democracy, not to bias, discrimination, or prejudice." It is far too late in the day to contend that the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits only racial discrimination; and to me, singling out the poor to bear a burden not placed on any other class of citizens tramples the values that the Fourteenth Amendment was designed to protect.
* California law authorizes the formation of Renewal Area Agencies whose purposes include the construction of "low income, middle income and normal market housing," Cal.Health & Safety Code § 33701 et seq. Only low income housing programs are subject to the mandatory referendum provision of Art. XXXIV even though all of the agencies' programs may receive substantial governmental assistance.

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