Source: https://h2o.law.harvard.edu/cases/1826
Timestamp: 2020-02-21 15:50:51
Document Index: 290074294

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art. 602', '§ 2281', 'Art. 602', 'Art. 602', 'Art. 602', 'Art. 602', 'Art. 602', 'Art. 4', '§ 2281', 'Art. 4', 'Art. 602']

v. 8212 6078
v. 8212 6078 | 410 US 614 | March 05, 1973
410 U.S. 614 93 S.Ct. 1146 35 L.Ed.2d 536 Linda R.S., Appellant,
No. 71—6078. Argued Dec. 6, 1972. Decided March 5, 1973.
the 'discriminatory application' of Art. 602 of the Vernon's Ann. Texas Penal Code. A three-judge court was convened pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2281, but that court dismissed the action for want of standing.1 335 F.Supp. 804 (N.D.Tex.1971). We postponed consideration of jurisdiction until argument on the merits, 405 U.S. 1064, 92 S.Ct. 1520, 31 L.Ed.2d 793, and now affirm the judgment below.
Article 602, in relevant part, provides: 'any parent who shall wilfully desert, neglect or refuse to provide for the support and maintenance of his or her child or children under eighteen years of age, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, shall be punished by confinement in the County Jail for not more than two years.' The Texas courts have consistently construed this statute to apply solely to the parents of legitimate children and to impose no duty of support on the parents of illegitimate children. See Home of Holy Infancy v. Kaska, 397 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex.1966); Beaver v. State, 96 Tex.Cr.R. 179, 256 S.W. 929 (1923). In her complaint, appellant alleges that one Richard D. is the father of her child, that Richard D. has refused to provide support for the child, and that although appellant made application to the local district attorney for enforcement of Art. 602 against Richard D., the district attorney refused to take action for the express
reason that, in his view, the fathers of illegitimate children were not within the scope of Art. 602.2
Recent decisions by this Court have greatly expanded the types of 'personal stake(s)' which are capable of
conferring standing on a potential plaintiff. Compare Tennessee Electric Power Co. v. TVA, 306 U.S. 118, 59 S.Ct. 366, 83 L.Ed. 543 (1939), and Alabama Power Co. v. Ickes, 302 U.S. 464, 58 S.Ct. 300, 82 L.Ed. 374 (1938), with Barlow v. Collins, 397 U.S. 159, 90 S.Ct. 832, 25 L.Ed.2d 192 (1970), and Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150, 90 S.Ct. 827, 25 L.Ed.2d 184 (1970). But as we pointed out only last Term, 'broadening the categories of injury that may be alleged in support of standing is a different matter from abandoning the requirement that the party seeking review must himself have suffered an injury.' Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 738, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 1368, 31 L.Ed.2d 636 (1972). Although the law of standing has been greatly changed in the last 10 years, we have steadfastly adhered to the requirement that, at least in the absence of a statute expressly conferring standing,3 federal plaintiffs must allege some threatened or actual injury resulting from the putatively illegal action before a federal court may assume jurisdiction.4 See, e.g., Moose Lodge No. 107 v. Irvis, 407 U.S. 163, 166—167, 92 S.Ct. 1965, 1968, 32 L.Ed.2d 627 (1972); Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 101, 88 S.Ct. 1942, 1953, 20 L.Ed.2d 947 (1968); Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 204, 82 S.Ct. 691, 703, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962). Cf. Laird v. Tatum, 408 U.S. 1, 13, 92 S.Ct. 2318, 2325, 33 L.Ed.2d 154
between her injury and the government action which she attacks to justify judicial intervention. To be sure, appellant no doubt suffered an injury stemming from the failure of her child's father to contribute support payments. But the bare existence of an abstract injury meets only the first half of the standing requirement. 'The party who invokes (judicial) power must be able to show . . . that he has sustained or is immediately in danger of sustaining some direct injury as the result of (a statute's) enforcement.' Massachusetts v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447, 488, 43 S.Ct. 597, 601, 67 L.Ed. 1078 (1923) (emphasis added). See also Ex parte Levitt, 302 U.S. 633, 634, 58 S.Ct. 1, 82 L.Ed. 493 (1937). As this Court made plain in Flast v. Cohen, supra, a plaintiff must show 'a logical nexus between the status asserted and the claim sought to be adjudicated. . . . Such inquiries into the nexus between the status asserted by the litigant and the claim he presents are essential to assure that he is a proper and appropriate party to invoke federal judicial power.' 392 U.S., at 102, 88 S.Ct., at 1953.
Appellant Linda R.S. alleged that she is the mother of an illegitimate child and that she is suing 'on behalf of
herself, her minor daughter, and on behalf of all other women and minor children who have sought, are seeking, or in the future will seek to obtain support for so-called illegitimate children from said child's father.' Appellant sought a declaratory judgment that Art. 602 is unconstitutional and an injunction against its continued enforcement against fathers of legitimate children only. Appellant further sought an order requiring Richard D., the putative father, 'to pay a reasonable amount of money for the support of his child.'
Obviously, there are serious difficulties with appellant's complaint insofar as it may be construed as seeking to require the official appellees to prosecute Richard D. or others, or to obtain what amounts to a federal child-support order. But those difficulties go to the question of what relief the court may ultimately grant appellant. They do not affect her right to bring this class action. The Court notes, as it must, that the father of a legitimate child, if prosecuted under Art. 602, could properly raise the statute's underinclusiveness as an affirmative defense. See McLaughlin v. Florida, 379 U.S. 184, 85 S.Ct. 283, 13 L.Ed.2d 222 (1964); Railway Express Agency v. New York, 336 U.S. 106, 69 S.Ct. 463, 93 L.Ed. 533 (1949). Presumably, that same father would have standing to affirmatively seek to enjoin enforcement of the statute against him. Cf. Rinaldi v. Yeager, 384 U.S. 305, 86 S.Ct. 1497, 16 L.Ed.2d 577 (1966); see also Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97, 89 S.Ct. 266, 21 L.Ed.2d 228 (1968). The question then becomes simply: why should only an actual or potential criminal defendant have a recognizable interest in attacking this allegedly discriminatory statute and not appellant and her class? They are not, after all, in the position of members of the public at large who wish merely to force an enlargement of state criminal laws. Cf. Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 31 L.Ed.2d 636 (1972). Appellant, her daughter, and the children born out of wedlock whom
she is attempting to represent have all allegedly been excluded intentionally from the class of persons protected by a particular criminal law. They do not get the protection of the laws that other women and children get. Under Art. 602, they are rendered nonpersons; a father may ignore them with full knowledge that he will be subjected to no penal sanctions. The Court states that the actual coercive effect of those sanctions on Richard D. or others 'can, at best, be termed only speculative.' This is a very odd statement. I had always thought our civilization has assumed that the threat of penal sanctions had something more than a 'speculative' effect on a person's conduct. This Court has long acted on that assumption in demanding that criminal laws be plainly and explicitly worded so that people will know what they mean and be in a position to conform their conduct to the mandates of law. Certainly Texas does not share the Court's surprisingly novel view. It assumes that criminal sanctions are useful in coercing fathers to fulfill their support obligations to their legitimate children.
1. The District Court also considered an attack on Art. 4.02 of the Texas Family Code, V.T.C.A., which imposes civil liability upon 'spouses' for the support of their minor children. Petitioner argued that the statute violated equal protection because it imposed no civil liability on the parents of illegitimate children. However, the three-judge court held that the challenge to this statute was not properly before it since appellant did not seek an injunction running against any state official as to it. See 28 U.S.C. § 2281. The Court, therefore, remanded this portion of the case to a single district judge. 335 F.Supp. 804, 807. The District Court's disposition of petitioner's Art. 4.02 claim is not presently before us. But see Gomez v. Perez, 409 U.S. 535, 93 S.Ct. 872, 35 L.Ed.2d 56 (1973).
2. Appellant attached to her complaint an affidavit, signed by an assistant district attorney, stating that the State was unable to institute prosecution 'due to caselaw construing Art. 602 of the Penal Code to be inapplicable to fathers of illegitimate children.'
3. It is, of course, true that 'Congress may not confer jurisdiction on Art. III federal courts to render advisory opinions,' Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 732 n. 3, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 1365, 31 L.Ed.2d 636 (1972). But Congress may enact statutes creating legal rights, the invasion of which creates standing, even though no injury would exist without the statute. See, e.g., Trafficante v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 409 U.S. 205, 212, 93 S.Ct. 364, 368, 34 L.Ed.2d 415 (1972) (White, J., concurring); Hardin v. Kentucky Utilities Co., 390 U.S. 1, 6, 88 S.Ct. 651, 654, 19 L.Ed.2d 787 (1968).
4. One of the leading commentators on standing has written, 'Even though the past law of standing is so cluttered and confused that almost every proposition has some exception, the federal courts have consistently adhered to one major proposition without exception: One who has no interest of his own at stake always lacks standing.' K. Davis, Administrative Law Text 428—429 (3d ed. 1972).
5. We noted last Term that '(t)he requirement that a party seeking review must allege facts showing that he is himself adversely affected does not insulate executive action from judicial review, nor does it prevent any public interests from being protected through the judicial process.' Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S., at 740, 92 S.Ct., at 1368. That observation is fully applicable here. As the District Court stated, 'the proper party to challenge the constitutionality of Article 602 would be a parent of a legitimate child who has been prosecuted under the statute. Such a challenge would allege that because the parents of illegitimate children may not be prosecuted, the statute unfairly discriminates against the parents of legitimate children.' 335 F.Supp., at 806.
6. Since we dispose of this case on the basis of lack of standing, we intimate no view as to the merits of appellant's claim. But cf. Gomez v. Perez, 409 U.S. 535, 93 S.Ct. 872, 35 L.Ed.2d 56 (1973).
Decision date: 1973-03-05
Citations: 410 US 614, 93 SCt 1146, 35 LEd2d 536
Docket Numbers: No. 71