Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/390/474/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 02:02:53+00:00

Document:
The Midland County, Texas, Commissioners Court is the governing body for that county, and, like other such bodies, is established by the State's Constitution and statutes. It consists of five members -- a County Judge, elected at large from the entire county, and four commissioners, one elected from each of the four districts (precincts) into which the county is divided. Commissioners courts exercise broad governmental functions in the counties, including the setting of tax rates, equalization of assessments, issuance of bonds, and allocation of funds, and they have wide discretion over expenditures. One district of Midland County, which includes almost all the City of Midland, had a population of 67,906, according to 1963 estimates. The others, all rural areas, had populations respectively, of about 852; 414, and 828. In this action challenging the County's districting, petitioner alleged that the gross disparity in population distribution among the four districts violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Three of the four commissioners testified at trial that population was not a major factor in the districting process. The trial court ruled for petitioner that each district under the State's constitutional apportionment standard should have "substantially the same number of people." An intermediate appellate court reversed. The State Supreme Court reversed that judgment, holding that, under the Federal and State Constitutions, the districting scheme was impermissible "for the reasons stated by the trial court." It held, however, that the work actually done by the County Commissioners "disproportionately concerns the rural areas," and that such factors as "number of qualified voters, land areas, geography, miles of county roads, and taxable values" could justify apportionment otherwise than on a basis of substantially equal populations.
Held: Local units with general governmental powers over an entire geographic area may not, consistently with the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, be apportioned among single member districts of substantially unequal population. Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U. S. 533 (1964). Pp. 390 U. S. 478-486.
(a) The Equal Protection Clause reaches the exercise of state power, whether exercised by the State or a political subdivision. P. 390 U. S. 479.
(b) Although the state legislature may itself be properly apportioned, the Fourteenth Amendment requires that citizens not be denied equal representation in political subdivisions which also have broad policymaking functions. P. 390 U. S. 481.
(c) The commissioners court performs some functions normally thought of as "legislative," and others typically characterized in other terms; but, regardless of the labels, this body has the power to make a large number of decisions having a broad impact on all the citizens of the county. Pp. 390 U. S. 482-483.
(d) Though the Midland County Commissioners may concentrate their attention on rural roads, their decisions also affect citizens in the City of Midland. P. 390 U. S. 484.
406 S.W.2d 422, vacated and remanded.
not necessarily violate the Fourteenth Amendment. We granted review, 388 U.S. 905 (1967), because application of the one man, one vote principle of Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U. S. 533 (1964), to units of local government is of broad public importance. We hold that petitioner, as a resident of Midland County, has a right to a vote for the Commissioners Court of substantially equal weight to the vote of every other resident.
Midland County has a population of about 70,000. The Commissioners Court is composed of five members. One, the County Judge, is elected at large from the entire county, and in practice casts a vote only to break a tie. The other four are Commissioners chosen from districts. The population of those districts, according to the 1963 estimates that were relied upon when this case was tried, was respectively 67,906; 852; 414, and 828. This vast imbalance resulted from placing in a single district virtually the entire city of Midland, Midland County's only urban center, in which 95% of the county's population resides.
"is the general governing body of the county. It establishes a courthouse and jail, appoints numerous minor officials such as the county health officer, fills vacancies in the county offices, lets contracts in the name of the county, builds roads and bridges, administers the county's public welfare services, performs numerous duties in regard to elections, sets the county tax rate, issues bonds, adopts the county budget, and serves as a board of equalization for tax assessments."
The court is also authorized, among other responsibilities, to build and run a hospital, Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann., Art. 4492 (1966), an airport, id., Art. 2351 (1964), and libraries, id. Art. 1677 (1962). It fixes boundaries of school districts within the county, id. Art. 2766 (1965), may establish a regional public housing authority, id., Art. 1269k, § 23a (1963), and determines the districts for election of its own members, Tex.Const., Art. V, § 18.
Petitioner sued the Commissioners Court and its members in the Midland County District Court, alleging that the disparity in district population violated the Fourteenth Amendment and that he had standing as a resident, taxpayer, and voter in the district with the largest population. Three of the four commissioners testified at the trial, all telling the court (as indeed the population statistics for the established districts demonstrated) that population was not a major factor in the districting process. The trial court ruled for petitioner. It made no explicit reference to the Fourteenth Amendment, but said the apportionment plan in effect was not "for the convenience of the people," the apportionment standard established by Art. V, 18, of the Texas Constitution. The court ordered the defendant commissioners to adopt a new plan in which each precinct would have "substantially the same number of people."
The Texas Court of Civil Appeals reversed the judgment of the District Court and entered judgment for the respondents, 397 S.W.2d 919 (1965). It held that neither federal nor state law created a requirement that Texas county commissioners courts be districted according to population.
The Texas Supreme Court reversed the Court of Civil Appeals, 406 S.W.2d 422 (1966). It held that, under "the requirements of the Texas and the United States Constitutions," the present districting scheme was impermissible "for the reasons stated by the trial court." 406 S.W.2d at 425. However, the Supreme Court disagreed with the trial court's conclusion that precincts must have substantially equal populations, stating that such factors as "number of qualified voters, land areas, geography, miles of county roads and taxable values" could be considered. 406 S.W.2d at 428. It also decreed that no Texas courts could redistrict the Commissioners Court.
"This is the responsibility of the commissioners court, and is to be accomplished within the constitutional boundaries we have sought to delineate."
The Equal Protection Clause reaches the exercise of state power however manifested, whether exercised directly or through subdivisions of the State.
equal protection of the laws; whatever the agency of the State taking the action. . . ."
Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U. S. 1, 358 U. S. 17 (1958). Although the forms and functions of local government and the relationships among the various units are matters of state concern, it is now beyond question that a State's political subdivisions must comply with the Fourteenth Amendment. [Footnote 5] The actions of local government are the actions of the State. A city, town, or county may no more deny the equal protection of the laws than it may abridge freedom of speech, establish an official religion, arrest without probable cause, or deny due process of law.
than those of others; in both cases, the equal protection of the laws has been denied.
produced a staggering number of governmental units -- the preliminary calculation by the Bureau of the Census for 1967 is that there are 81,304 "units of government" in the United States [Footnote 8] -- and an even more staggering diversity. Nonetheless, while special purpose organizations abound and in many States the allocation of functions among units results in instances of overlap and vacuum, virtually every American lives within what he and his neighbors regard as a unit of local government with general responsibility and power for local affairs. In many cases, citizens reside within and are subject to two such governments, a city and a county.
The Midland County Commissioners Court is such a unit. While the Texas Supreme Court found that the Commissioners Court's legislative functions are "negligible," 406 S.W.2d at 426, the court does have power to make a large number of decisions having a broad range of impacts on all the citizens of the county. It sets a tax rate, equalizes assessments, and issues bonds. It then prepares and adopts a budget for allocating the county's funds, and is given by statute a wide range of discretion in choosing the subjects on which to spend. In adopting the budget, the court makes both long-term judgments about the way Midland County should develop -- whether industry should be solicited, roads improved, recreation facilities built, and land set aside for schools -- and immediate choices among competing needs.
affecting definable groups of constituents more than other constituents, we would have to confront the question whether such a body may be apportioned in ways which give greater influence to the citizens most affected by the organization's functions. That question, however, is not presented by this case, for while Midland County authorities may concentrate their attention on rural roads, the relevant fact is that the powers of the Commissioners Court include the authority to make a substantial number of decisions that affect all citizens, whether they reside inside or outside the city limits of Midland. The Commissioners maintain buildings, administer welfare services, and determine school districts both inside and outside the city. The taxes imposed by the court fall equally on all property in the county. Indeed, it may not be mere coincidence that a body apportioned with three of its four voting members chosen by residents of the rural area surrounding the city devotes most of its attention to the problems of that area, while paying for its expenditures with a tax imposed equally on city residents and those who live outside the city. And we might point out that a decision not to exercise a function within the court's power -- a decision, for example, not to build an airport or a library, or not to participate in the federal food stamp program -- is just as much a decision affecting all citizens of the county as an affirmative decision.
permits no substantial variation from equal population in drawing districts for units of local government having general governmental powers over the entire geographic area served by the body.
This Court is aware of the immense pressures facing units of local government, and of the greatly varying problems with which they must deal. The Constitution does not require that a uniform straitjacket bind citizens in devising mechanisms of local government suitable for local needs and efficient in solving local problems. Last Term, for example, the Court upheld a procedure for choosing a school board that placed the selection with school boards of component districts even though the component boards had equal votes and served unequal populations. Sailors v. Board of Education, 387 U. S. 105 (1967). The Court rested on the administrative nature of the area school board's functions and the essentially appointive form of the scheme employed. In Dusch v. Davis, 387 U. S. 112 (1967), the Court permitted Virginia Beach to choose its legislative body by a scheme that included at-large voting for candidates, some of whom had to be residents of particular districts, even though the residence districts varied widely in population.
geographic area not be apportioned among single member districts of substantially unequal population.
The judgment below is vacated, and the case is remanded for disposition not inconsistent with this opinion.
Interpretive Commentary, Vernon's Ann.Tex.Const., Art. V, § 18 (1955). See also W. Benton, Texas: Its Government and Politics 360-370 (1966); Municipal and County Government (J. Claunch ed.1961); C. McCleskey, The Government and Politics of Texas (1966).
The Texas Supreme Court determined that neither the State nor the Federal Constitution requires that population be the sole basis for apportioning the Midland County Commissioners Court. There is therefore no independent state ground for the refusal to award the relief requested by petitioner. And since the Supreme Court opinion contemplated no further proceedings in the lower Texas courts, a "final judgment" that population does not govern the apportionment of the Commissioners Court is before us. See Mercantile Nat. Bank v. Langdeau, 371 U. S. 555 (1963); Construction Laborers v. Curry, 371 U. S. 542 (1963); Radio Station WOW v. Johnson, 326 U. S. 120 (1945).
Cases in which the highest state courts applied the principles of Reynolds v. Sims to units of local government include Miller v. Board of Supervisors, 63 Cal.2d 343, 405 P.2d 857, 46 Cal.Rptr. 617 (1965); Montgomery County Council v. Garrott, 243 Md. 634, 222 A.2d 164 (1966); Hanlon v. Towey, 274 Minn. 187, 142 N.W.2d 741 (1966); Armentrout v. Schooler, 409 S.W.2d 138 (Mo.1966); Seaman v. Fedourich, 16 N.Y.2d 94, 209 N.E.2d 778, 262 N.Y.S.2d 444 (1965); Bailey v. Jones, 81 S.D. 617, 139 N.W.2d 385 (1966); State ex rel. Sonneborn v. Sylvester, 26 Wis.2d 43, 132 N.W.2d 249 (1965). Newbold v. Osser, 425 Pa. 478, 230 A.2d 54 (1967), seemed to assume application of Reynolds. In opposition to these cases are only the decision of the Texas Supreme Court in the case before us and Brouwer v. Bronkema, 377 Mich. 616, 141 N.W.2d 98 (1966), in which the eight justices of the Michigan Supreme Court divided evenly on the question.
Among the many federal court cases applying Reynolds v. Sims to local government are Hyden v. Baker, 286 F.Supp. 475 (D.C.M.D.Tenn.1968); Martinolich v. Dean, 256 F.Supp. 612 (D.C.S.D.Miss.1966); Strickland v. Burns, 256 F.Supp. 824 (D.C.M.D.Tenn.1966); Ellis v. Mayor of Baltimore, 234 F.Supp. 945 (D.C.Md.1964), affirmed and remanded, 352 F.2d 123 (C.A. 4th Cir.1965).
A precedent frequently cited in opposition to this conclusion is Tedesco v. Board of Supervisors, 43 So.2d 514 (La. Ct.App. 1949), appeal dismissed for want of a substantial federal question, 339 U.S. 940 (1950). Petitioner points out that the Equal Protection Clause was not invoked in Tedesco, where the districting of the New Orleans City Council was challenged under the Privileges and Immunities Clause. A more realistic answer is that Tedesco, decided 12 years before Baker v. Carr, 369 U. S. 186 (1962), has been severely undermined by Baker and the succeeding apportionment cases. See, among the great many cases so concluding, Delozier v. Tyrone Area School Bd., 247 F.Supp. 30 (D.C.W.D.Pa.1965).
Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U. S. 1, 358 U. S. 16 (1958); see, e.g., See v. City of Seattle, 387 U. S. 541 (1967); Thompson v. City of Louisville, 362 U. S. 199 (1960); Terminiello v. Chicago, 337 U. S. 1 (1949).
Inequitable apportionment of local governing bodies offends the Constitution even if adopted by a properly apportioned legislature representing the majority of the State's citizens. The majority of a State -- by constitutional provision, by referendum, or through accurately apportioned representatives -- can no more place a minority in oversize districts without depriving that minority of equal protection of the laws than they can deprive the minority of the ballot altogether, or impose upon them a tax rate in excess of that to be paid by equally situated members of the majority. Government -- National, State, and local -- must grant to each citizen the equal protection of its laws, which includes an equal opportunity to influence the election of lawmakers, no matter how large the majority wishing to deprive other citizens of equal treatment or how small the minority who object to their mistreatment. Lucas v. Colorado General Assembly, 377 U. S. 713 (1964), stands as a square adjudication by this Court of these principles.
Midland County is apparently untypical in choosing the members of its local governing body from districts.
"On the basis of available figures, coupled with rough estimates from samplings made of the situations in various States, it appears that only about 25 percent of . . . local government governing boards are elected, in whole or in part, from districts or, while at large, under schemes including district residence requirements."
Brief for the United States as Amicus Curiae 22, n. 31, filed in Sailors v. Board of Education, 387 U. S. 105 (1967), and the other 1966 Term local reapportionment cases.
U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Census of Governments 1967, Governmental Units in 1967, at 1 (prelim. rept. Oct.1967).
I could not disagree more with this decision, which wholly disregards statutory limitations upon the appellate jurisdiction of this Court in state cases and again betrays such insensitivity to the appropriate dividing lines between the judicial and political functions under our constitutional system.
I believe that this Court lacks jurisdiction over this case because, properly analyzed, the Texas judgment must be seen either to rest on an adequate state ground or to be wanting in "finality." The history of the Texas proceedings, as related in the Court's opinion, ante at 390 U. S. 477-478, clearly reveals that the decision of the Texas Supreme Court disallowing the present county apportionment scheme rests upon a state, as well as a federal, ground. The state ground -- Art. V, § 18, of the Texas Constitution -- was clearly adequate to support the result. This should suffice to defeat the exercise of this Court's jurisdiction. See, e.g., Department of Mental Hygiene v. Kirchner, 380 U. S. 194; Herb v. Pitcairn, 324 U. S. 117, 324 U. S. 125-126.
holding obviously does not amount to a "[f]inal judgment" within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1257. [Footnote 2/1] The traditional test of finality of state court judgments has been whether the judgment leaves more than a ministerial act to be done. See, e.g., Pope v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 345 U. S. 379, 345 U. S. 382; Republic Natural Gas Co. v. Oklahoma, 334 U. S. 62, 334 U. S. 68. It is clear that the acts which must be performed in order to bring about a new apportionment of Midland County are very far from ministerial in character, and conceivably might even result in satisfying petitioner's demands without further litigation. For example, since the statement of the Texas Supreme Court regarding nonpopulation factors was merely advisory, and not mandatory, the county commissioners might choose to reapportion the county solely on the basis of population, thus leaving petitioner with nothing about which to complain. Since the requirement of finality is an unwaivable condition of this Court's jurisdiction, see, e.g., Market St. R. Co. v. Railroad Comm'n, 324 U. S. 548, 324 U. S. 551, I consider that this case is not properly before us.
On these scores, I would dismiss the writ as improvidently granted.
On the merits, which I reach only because the Court has done so, I consider this decision, which extends the state apportionment rule of Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U. S. 533, to an estimated 80,000 units of local government throughout the land, both unjustifiable and ill-advised.
I continue to think that these adventures of the Court in the realm of political science are beyond its constitutional powers, for reasons set forth at length in my dissenting opinion in Reynolds, 377 U.S. at 377 U. S. 589 et seq.
However, now that the Court has decided otherwise, judicial self-discipline requires me to follow the political dogma now constitutionally embedded in consequence of that decision. I am not foreclosed, however, from remonstrating against the extension of that decision to new areas of government. At the present juncture, I content myself with stating two propositions which, in my view, stand strongly against what is done today. The first is that the "practical necessities" which have been thought by some to justify the profound break with history that was made in 1962 by this Court's decision in Baker v. Carr, 369 U. S. 186, [Footnote 2/2] are not present here. The second is that, notwithstanding Reynolds, the "one man, one vote" ideology does not provide an acceptable formula for structuring local governmental units.
and short-sighted point of view, the important thing for present purposes is that no such justification can be brought to bear in this instance.
No claim is made in this case that avenues of political redress are not open to correct any malapportionment in elective local governmental units, and it is difficult to envisage how such a situation could arise. Local governments are creatures of the States, and they may be reformed either by the state legislatures, which are now required to be apportioned according to Reynolds, or by amendment of state constitutions. [Footnote 2/4] In these circumstances, the argument of practical necessity has no force. The Court, then, should withhold its hand until such a supposed necessity does arise before intruding itself into the business of restructuring local governments across the country.
even more important than at the state level, and that, by depriving local governments of this needed adaptability, the Court's holding may indeed defeat the very goals of Reynolds.
"Theoretically, the commissioners court is the governing body of the county, and the commissioners represent all the residents, both urban and rural, of the county. But developments during the years have greatly narrowed the scope of the functions of the commissioners court and limited its major responsibilities to the nonurban areas of the county. It has come to pass that the city government . . . is the major concern of the city dwellers, and the administration of the affairs of the county is the major concern of the rural dwellers."
for the greater stake of the rural inhabitants in the county government.
This problem is not a trivial one, and is not confined to Midland County. It stems from the fact that local governments, unlike state governments, are often specialized in function. [Footnote 2/7] Application of the Reynolds rule to such local governments prevents the adoption of apportionments which take into account the effect of this specialization, and therefore may result in a denial of equal treatment to those upon whom the exercise of the special powers has unequal impact. Under today's decision, the only apparent alternative is to classify the governmental unit as other than "general" in power and responsibility, thereby, presumably, avoiding application of the Reynolds rule. Neither outcome satisfies Reynolds' avowed purpose: to assure "equality" to all voters. The result also deprives localities of the desirable option of establishing slightly specialized, elective units of government, such as Texas' county commissioners court, and varying the size of the constituencies so as rationally to favor those whom the government affects most. The majority has chosen explicitly to deny local governments this alternative by rejecting even the solution of the Texas Supreme Court, which held that the present county apportionment was impermissible but would have allowed the new apportionment to reflect factors related to the special functions of the county commissioners court, such as "land areas, geography, miles of county roads and taxable values," 406 S.W.2d at 428, as well as population.
merely to their numbers. [Footnote 2/12] The city dwellers may be ready to concede this much in return for the ability to tax the suburbs. Under the majority's pronouncements, however, this rational compromise would be forbidden: the metropolitan government must be apportioned solely on the basis of population if it is a "general" government.
These functional considerations reinforce my belief that the "one man, one vote" rule, which possesses the simplistic defects inherent in any judicially imposed solution of a complex social problem, [Footnote 2/13] is entirely inappropriate for determining the form of the country's local governments.
No better demonstration of this proposition could have been made than that afforded by the admirable analysis contained in the dissenting opinion of my Brother FORTAS. But, with respect, my Brother's projected solution of the matter is no less unsatisfactory. For it would bid fair to plunge this Court into an avalanche of local reapportionment cases with no firmer constitutional anchors than its own notions of what constitutes "equal protection" in any given instance.
With deference, I think that the only sure-footed way of avoiding, on the one hand, the inequities inherent in today's decision, and, on the other, the morass of pitfalls that would follow from my Brother FORTAS' approach, is for this Court to decline to extend the constitutional experiment of Reynolds, and to leave the structuring of local governmental units to the political process where it belongs.
"Final judgments or decrees rendered by the highest court of a State in which a decision could be had may be reviewed by the Supreme Court as follows. . . ."
The magnitude of this break was irrefutably demonstrated by Mr. Justice Frankfurter in his dissenting opinion in Baker, 369 U.S. at 369 U. S. 266, 369 U. S. 300-323.
See the concurring opinion of Mr. Justice Clark in Baker v. Carr, 369 U. S. 186, 369 U. S. 251, 369 U. S. 258-259; Auerbach, The Reapportionment Cases: One Person, One Vote -- One Vote, One Value, 1964 Sup.Ct.Rev. 1, 68-70.
See, e.g., United States Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, State Constitutional and Statutory Restrictions Upon the Structural, Functional, and Personnel Powers of Local Government 23-61 (1962); Weinstein, The Effect of the Federal Reapportionment Decisions on Counties and Other Forms of Municipal Government, 65 Col.L.Rev. 21, 23, n. 9 (1965).
One such question is the extent to which an apportionment may take into account population changes which occur between decennial censuses. Cf. Lucas v. Rhodes, 389 U. S. 212 (dissenting opinion of this writer). Another is the degree of population variation which is constitutionally permissible. See Swann v. Adams, 385 U. S. 440; cf. Rockefeller v. Wells, 389 U. S. 421 (dissenting opinion of this writer).
See the dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Frankfurter in Baker v. Carr, 369 U. S. 186, 369 U. S. 266, 300-324.
See generally W. Anderson E. Weidner, State and Local Government 85-103 (1951).
See, e.g., W. Anderson & E. Weidner, supra, at 171-174; United States Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations for use of House Committee on Government Operations, 87th Cong., 1st Sess., Governmental Structure, Organization, and Planning in Metropolitan Areas 7 (Comm.Print 1961).
See, e.g., United States Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, Alternative Approaches to Governmental Reorganization in Metropolitan Areas 9 (1962); United States Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations for use of House Committee on Government Operations, 87th Cong., 1st Sess., Governmental Structure, Organization, and Planning in Metropolitan Areas 15-16 (Comm.Print 1961).
See, e.g., W. Anderson & E. Weidner, supra, at 174-179; United States Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, Alternative Approaches to Governmental Reorganization in Metropolitan Areas (1962).
See, e.g., United States Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, State Constitutional and Statutory Restrictions Upon the Structural, Functional, and Personnel Powers of Local Government 38, 44-53 (1962).
See Weinstein, The Effect of the Federal Reapportionment Decisions on Counties and Other Forms of Municipal Government, 65 Col.L.Rev. 21, 37 and n. 67 (1965); cf. United States Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, Factors Affecting Voter Reactions to Governmental Reorganization in Metropolitan Areas 26-27 (1962).
Cf. H. Hart & A. Sacks, The Legal Process 662-669 (tent. ed.1958).
The Court's opinion argues (ante at 390 U. S. 478, n. 2) that the Texas Supreme Court's order is a final judgment because it contemplates no further proceedings in the Texas courts, although it holds the present districting unlawful and requires the Commissioners Court to redistrict. I do not reach this point.
that the substitute finally worked out would be such that a majority of this Court would not reject it as a denial of equal protection of the laws. After all, at the last Term of this Court, we accepted as passing the scrutiny of the Constitution, the less-than-mathematically perfect plans in Dusch v. Davis, 387 U. S. 112 (1967), and Sailors v. Board of Education, 387 U. S. 105 (1967).
The Court, however, now plunges to adjudication of the case of Midland County, Texas, in midstream, apparently because it rejects any result that might emerge which deviates from the literal thrust of one man, one vote. Since it now adopts this simplistic approach, apparently the majority believes that it might as well say so, and save Texas the labor of devising an answer.
problems of local government. In this complex and involved area, we should be careful and conservative in our application of constitutional imperatives, for they are powerful.
Constitutional commandments are not surgical instruments. They have a tendency to hack deeply -- to amputate. And while I have no doubt that, with the growth of suburbia and exurbia, the problem of allocating local government functions and benefits urgently requires attention, I am persuaded that it does not call for the hatchet of one man, one vote. It is our duty to insist upon due regard for the value of the individual vote, but not to ignore realities or to bypass the alternatives that legislative alteration might provide.
I agree that application of the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, decreed by this Court in the case of state legislatures, cannot stop at that point. Of course, local governmental units are subject to the commands of the Equal Protection Clause. Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U. S. 1, 358 U. S. 17 (1958). That much is easy. The difficult question, and the one which the Court slights, is: what does the Equal Protection Clause demand with regard to local governmental units?
But the same cannot be said of all local governmental units, and certainly not of the unit involved in this case.
Midland County's Commissioners Court has special functions -- directed primarily to its rural area and rural population. Its powers are limited and specialized, in light of its missions. Residents of Midland County do not by any means have the same rights and interests at stake in the election of the Commissioners. Equal protection of their rights may certainly take into account the reality of the rights and interests of the various segments of the voting population. It does not require that they all be treated alike, regardless of the stark difference in the impact of the Commissioners Court upon them. "Equal protection" relates to the substance of citizens' rights and interests. It demands protection adapted to substance; it does not insist upon, or even permit, prescription by arbitrary formula which wrongly assumes that the interests of all citizens in the elected body are the same.
In my judgment, the Court departs from Reynolds when it holds, broadly and generally, that "the Fourteenth Amendment . . . forbids the election of local government officials from districts of disparate population." Ante at 390 U. S. 478. This holding, literally applied as the Court commands, completely ignores the complexities of local government in the United States -- complexities which, Reynolds itself states, demand latitude of prescription. The simplicity of the Court's ruling today does not comport with the lack of simplicity which characterizes the miscellany which constitutes our local governments.
districts, and 21,264 other special districts. [Footnote 3/4] These units vary greatly in powers, structure, and function. The citizen is usually subject to several local governments with overlapping jurisdiction.
The Court in this case concedes that, in a "special purpose unit of government," the rights of certain constituents may be more affected than the rights of others. It implies that the one man, one vote rule may not apply in such cases. See ante at 390 U. S. 483-484. But it says that we do not here have to confront the implications of such a situation. I do not agree.
government in the United States. [Footnote 3/15]"
these authorizing statutes and constitutional provisions would seem to indicate that the Commissioners Court has significant and general power, this impression is somewhat illusory because very often the provisions which grant the power also circumscribe its exercise with detailed limitations.
has been submitted to the qualified property-taxpaying voters of the county.
More important than the statutory and constitutional limitations, the limited power and function of the Commissioners Court are reflected in what it actually does. The record and briefs do not give a complete picture of the workings of the Commissioners Court. But it is apparent that the Commissioners are primarily concerned with rural affairs, and more particularly with rural roads. One Commissioner testified below that the largest item in the county budget was for roads and bridges. [Footnote 3/21] And, according to that Commissioner, the county does not maintain streets within the City of Midland. The Commissioners seem quite content to let the city council handle city affairs. "The thing about it is, the city of Midland has the city council and the mayor to run its business, . . . and we have a whole county to run. . . ."
"Theoretically, the commissioners court is the governing body of the county and the commissioners represent all the residents, both urban and rural, of the county. But developments during the years have greatly narrowed the scope of the functions of the commissioners court and limited its major responsibilities to the nonurban areas of the county. It has come to pass that the city government with its legislative, executive and judicial branches, is the major concern of the city dwellers. and the administration of the affairs of the county is the major concern of the rural dwellers."
does not have the power to make decisions. Within the county government, there are numerous departments which are controlled by officials elected independently of the Commissioners Court and over whom the Commissioners Court does not exercise control. The Commissioners view themselves primarily as road commissioners.
"The other department heads really have the say in that department. We merely approve the salary. We do not hire anyone in any department in Midland County except the road department. The department heads of the other departments do hire the employees. [Footnote 3/22]"
"the county commissioners court is not charged with the management and control of all of the county's business affairs. . . . [T]he various officials elected by all the voters of the county have spheres that are delegated to them by law and within which the commissioners court may not interfere or usurp."
"Every elected official . . . in Midland County today [except the three rural commissioners], and it has been way back for years, has been elected by the people that live here in the city limits of Midland."
In sum, the Commissioners Court's functions and powers are quite limited, and they are defined and restricted so that their primary and preponderant impact is on the rural areas and residents. The extent of its impact on the city is quite limited. To the extent that there is direct impact on the city, the relevant powers, in important respects, are placed in the hands of officials elected on a one man, one vote basis. Indeed, viewed in terms of the realities of rights and powers, it appears that the city residents have the power to elect the officials who are most important to them, and the rural residents have the electoral power with respect to the Commissioners Court which exercises powers in which they are primarily interested.
In face of this, to hold that "no substantial variation" from equal population may be allowed under the Equal Protection Clause is to ignore the substance of the rights and powers involved. It denies -- it does not implement -- substantive equality of voting rights. It is like insisting that each stockholder of a corporation have only one vote even though the stake of some may be $1 and the stake of others $1,000. The Constitution does not force such a result. Equal protection of the laws is not served by it.
over the entire area of the county. But this is more form than reality.
virtual denial of a voice to those who are dependent on the county government for roads, welfare, and other essential services.
The Texas Supreme Court noted that the Commissioners Court, and not Texas' judicial courts, has power to redistrict. This view may prove to be troublesome, but we are not bound to anticipate either that the Commissioners Court will not properly do the job or that Texas will not otherwise put its house in order in Midland County.
Reynolds v. Sims did not put the Equal Protection Clause to a radical or new use. Its holding is in the mainstream of our equal protection cases. Our cases hold that people who stand in the same relationship to their government cannot be treated differently by that government. To do so would be to mark them as inferior, "implying inferiority in civil society" (Strauder v. West Virginia, 100 U. S. 303, 100 U. S. 308 (1880)), or "inferiority as to their status in the community" (Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U. S. 483, 347 U. S. 494 (1954)). It would be to treat them as if they were, somehow, less than people.
"Since legislatures are responsible for enacting laws by which all citizens are to be governed, they should be bodies which are collectively responsive to the popular will. And the concept of equal protection has been traditionally viewed as requiring the uniform treatment of persons standing in the same relation to the governmental action questioned or challenged. With respect to the allocation of legislative representation, all voters, as citizens of a State, stand in the same relation regardless of where they live. . . . To the extent that a citizen's right to vote is debased, he is that much less a citizen."
377 U.S. at 377 U. S. 565, 377 U. S. 567.
If these complexities do not exist in a given case (that is, if the functions of the governing unit involved have an essentially equal impact upon all the citizens within its geographical jurisdiction), then the one man, one vote rule would apply as it did in Reynolds. Some city councils, for example, are in effect miniature state legislatures. Some county governing units have geographical jurisdiction which is coextensive with a city or which includes only reasonably homogeneous rural areas.
See C. Adrian, State and Local Governments 210-217 (1960); C. Snider, Local Government in Rural America 119-139 (1957) (hereafter cited as Snider); International Union of Local Authorities, Local Government in the United States of America 13-14 (1961) (hereafter cited as Local Government); National Municipal League, Model County Charter xi-xxxviii (1956). See generally S. Duncombe, County Government in America (1966) (hereafter cited as Duncombe).
See U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Census of Governments: 1962, Governmental Organization, Table 17.
See U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Governing Boards of County Governments: 1965.
See U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Census of Governments: 1962, Finances of County Governments, Table 11.
See W. Anderson & E. Weidner, State and Local Government 30-31 (1951); Snider 131-134.
See, e.g., ibid.; Duncombe 41-63; Snider 44-45, 252-254.
In 1962, the population of Midland County was 67,717. More than 62,000 lived in the urban area governed by the municipal government. U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Census of Governments: 1962, Governmental Organization 186.
Tex.Const., Art. XI, § 5; R. Young, The Place System in Texas Elections (Institute of Public Affairs, University of Texas, 1965) 38.
See W. Benton, Texas, Its Government and Politics 360-362 (1966) (hereafter cited as Benton); S. MacCorkle and D. Smith, Texas Government 339-340 (1964) (hereafter cited as MacCorkle); C. Patterson, S. McAlister, and G. Hester, State and Local Government in Texas 384-385, 388 (1961) (hereafter cited as Patterson); Municipal and County Government 113-114 (J. Claunch ed.1961); F. Gantt, I. Dawson, and L. Hagard (eds.), Governing Texas, Documents and Readings 254 (1966); C. McCleskey, The Government and Politics of Texas 303-304, 305 (1966) (hereafter cited as McCleskey). There is a home rule provision in the Texas Constitution which applies to counties, Art. IX, § 3. But that provision is virtually unworkable and, as of 1966, there were no counties operating under home rule. Benton 372-375. See also McCleskey 304, and MacCorkle 341.
The 1967 amendment to Art. VIII, § 9, maintains the 80¢ limitation and still speaks of "the four constitutional purposes." It provides, though, that the county "may" put all tax money into one general fund without regard to the purpose or the source of each tax. For a discussion of the county's taxing power and other sources of county revenue, see Benton 367-368.
This testimony appears in the typed transcript of record but not in the portions printed by the parties.
See n. 21, supra. Commentators on Texas local government have noted this lack of control by the Commissioners Court. See, e.g., MacCorkle 344-345; McCleskey 307, 310; Benton 369.
Article VIII, § 14; Art. V, § 21; Art. V, § 23; Art. XVI, § 44; Art. V, § 20, and Art. XVI, § 44, of the Texas Constitution, respectively.
Article V, §§ 15, 18, of the Texas Constitution.
For a description of county officials generally and of their functions, see McCleskey 306-310, MacCorkle 335-339, and Patterson 390-392. For a listing of county officials who are elected, see U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Census of Governments 1967, Elective Offices of State and Local Governments 117-118 (prelim.rept. Aug.1967).
Note 24, supra. There was testimony below to the effect that the county judge votes only in case of a tie vote. But it appears that this limitation may be self-imposed.
"The county judge enjoys equal voting rights with all the other members of the commissioners' court, which includes the right to make or second any motion and the right to vote whether there be a tie among the votes of other members of the court or not."
1 Opinions of the Attorney General of Texas 453 (No. 0-1716, 1939). See McCleskey 307, n. 27.
The Assessor and Collector of Taxes is elected by the qualified voters of the county at large. Tex.Const., Art. VIII, § 14; U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Census of Governments 1967, Elective Offices of State and Local Governments 117 (prelim.rept. Aug.1967). The Commissioners Court has power to adjust the Assessor and Collector's valuation. Art. VIII, § 18, of the Texas Constitution. However, testimony below indicated that the Commissioners Court sits to hear taxpayer complaints only a few days each year. The Commissioners Court does not go over the Assessor and Collector's tax rendition sheets before he sends notices to the taxpayers.
Cf. Weinstein, The Effect of the Federal Reapportionment Decisions on Counties and Other Forms of Municipal Government, 65 Col.L.Rev. 21, 40-49 (1965).
I would dismiss the writ as improvidently granted for the reasons stated by MR. JUSTICE HARLAN and MR. JUSTICE FORTAS.
Since the Court does reach the merits, however, I add that I agree with most of what is said in the thorough dissenting opinion of MR. JUSTICE FORTAS. Indeed, I would join that opinion were it not for the author's unquestioning endorsement of the doctrine of Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U. S. 533. I continue to believe that the Court's opinion in that case misapplied the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment -- that the apportionment of the legislative body of a sovereign State, no less than the apportionment of a county government, is far too subtle and complicated a business to be resolved as a matter of constitutional law in terms of sixth-grade arithmetic. My views on that score, set out at length elsewhere, * closely parallel those expressed by MR. JUSTICE FORTAS in the present case.
* Lucas v. Colorado General Assembly, 377 U. S. 713, 377 U. S. 744 (dissenting opinion).

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