Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/419/393/
Timestamp: 2015-06-03 11:12:04
Document Index: 781823195

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 598', '§ 598', '§ 598', '§ 1', '§ 32', '§ 125', '§ 15', '§ 4', '§ 1785', '§ 1793', '§ 1766']

Carol Maureen SOSNA, etc., Appellant, v. State of IOWA et al. | LII / Legal Information Institute
Supreme Court aboutsearch liibulletin subscribe previews Carol Maureen SOSNA, etc., Appellant, v. State of IOWA et al.
419 U.S. 393 (95 S.Ct. 553, 42 L.Ed.2d 532)
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, 92 S.Ct. 995, 31 L.Ed.2d 274. Pp. 397403.
(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. 402403.
2. The Iowa durational residency requirement for divorce is not unconstitutional. Pp. 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, 89 S.Ct. 1322, 22 L.Ed.2d 600; Dunn, supra; Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U.S. 250, 94 S.Ct. 1076, 39 L.Ed.2d 306, distinguished. Pp. 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, 452, 93 S.Ct. 2230, 2236, 37 L.Ed.2d 63. 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, 91 S.Ct. 780, 28 L.Ed.2d 113, distinguished. Pp. 409401.
Appellant Carol Sosna married Michael Sosna on September 5, 1964, in Michigan. They lived together in New York between October 1967 and August 1971, after which date they separated but continued to live in New York. In August 1972, appellant moved to Iowa with her three children, and the following month she petitioned the District Court of Jackson County, Iowa, for a dissolution of her marriage. Michael Sosna, who had been personally served with notice of the action when he came to Iowa to visit his children, made a special appearance to contest the jurisdiction of the Iowa court. The Iowa court dismissed the petition for lack of jurisdiction, finding that Michael Sosna was not a resident of Iowa and appellant had not been a resident of the State of Iowa for one year preceding the filing of her petition. In so doing the Iowa court applied the provisions of Iowa Code § 598.6 (1973) requiring that the petitioner in such an action be 'for the last year a resident of the state.'
Instead of appealing this ruling to the Iowa appellate courts, appellant filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa asserting that Iowa's durational residency requirement for invoking its divorce jurisdiction violated the United States Constitution. She sought both injunctive and declaratory relief against the appellees in this case, one of whom is the State of Iowa,
and the other of which is the judge of the District Court of Jackson County, Iowa, who had previously dismissed her petition.
A three-judge court, convened pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2281, 2284, held that the Iowa durational residency requirement was constitutional. 360 F.Supp. 1182 (1973). We noted probable jurisdiction, 415 U.S. 911, 94 S.Ct. 1405, 39 L.Ed.2d 465 (1974), and directed the parties to discuss '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, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971) and related cases.' For reasons stated in this opinion, we decide that this case is not moot, and hold that the Iowa durational residency requirement for divorce does not offend the United States Constitution.
* Appellant sought certification of her suit as a class action pursuant to Fed.Rule Civ.Proc. 23 so that she might represent the '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.'
The parties stipulated that there were in the State of Iowa 'numerous people in the same situation as plaintiff,' that joinder of those persons was impracticable, that appellant's claims were representative of the class, and that she would fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class. See Rule 23(a). This stipulation was approved by the District Court in a pretrial order.
While the parties may be permitted to waive nonjurisdictional defects, they may not by stipulation invoke the judicial power of the United States in litigation which does not present an actual 'case or controversy,' Richardson v. Ramirez, 418 U.S. 24, 94 S.Ct. 2655, 41 L.Ed.2d 551 (1974), and on the record before us we feel obliged to address the question of mootness before reaching the merits of appellant's claim. At the time the judgment of the three-judge court was handed down, appellant had not yet resided in Iowa for one year, and that court was clearly presented with a case or controversy in every sense contemplated by Art. III of the Constitution.
By the time her case reached this Court, however, appellant had long since satisfied the Iowa durational residency requirement, and Iowa Code § 598.6 (1973) no longer stood as a barrier to her attempts to secure dissolution of her marriage in the Iowa courts.
This is not an unusual development in a case challenging the validity of a durational residency requirement, for in many cases appellate review 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 1950), dismissed as moot, 347 U.S. 610, 74 S.Ct. 736, 98 L.Ed. 987 (1954); SEC v. Medical Committee for Human Rights, 404 U.S. 403, 92 S.Ct. 577, 30 L.Ed.2d 560 (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.
This problem was present in Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330, 92 S.Ct. 995, 31 L.Ed.2d 274 (1972), and was there implicitly resolved in favor of the representative of the class. Respondent Blumstein brought a class action challenging the Tennessee law which barred persons from registering to vote unless, at the time of the next election, they would have resided in the State for a year and in a particular county for three months. By the time the District Court opinion was filed, Blumstein had resided in the county for the requisite three months, and the State contended that his challenge to the county requirement was moot. The District Court rejected this argument, Blumstein v. Ellington, 337 F.Supp. 323, 324326 (M.D.Tenn.1970). Although the State did not raise a mootness argument in this Court, we observed that the District Court had been correct:
The rationale of Dunn controls the present case. Although the controversy is no longer alive as to appellant Sosna, it remains very much alive for the class of persons she has been certified to represent. Like the other voters in Dunn, new residents of Iowa are aggrieved by an allegedly unconstitutional statute enforced by state officials. We believe that a case such as this, in which, as in Dunn, the issue sought to be litigated escapes full appellate review at the behest of any single challenger, does not inexorably become moot by the intervening resolution of the controversy as to the named plaintiffs.
Dunn, supra; Rosario v. Rockefeller, 410 U.S. 752, 756 n. 5, 93 S.Ct. 1245, 1249, 36 L.Ed.2d 1 (1973); Vaughan v. Bower, 313 F.Supp. 37, 40 (Ariz.), aff'd, 400 U.S. 884, 91 S.Ct. 139, 27 L.Ed.2d 129 (1970).
We note, however, 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,
In so holding, we disturb no principles established by our decisions with respect to class-action litigation. A 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, 494, 94 S.Ct. 669, 675, 38 L.Ed.2d 674 (1974); Golden v. Zwickler, 394 U.S. 103, 109110, 89 S.Ct. 956, 960961, 22 L.Ed.2d 113 (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, 82 S.Ct. 549, 7 L.Ed.2d 512 (1962); Rosario, supra; Hall v. Beals, 396 U.S. 45, 90 S.Ct. 200, 24 L.Ed.2d 214 (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,
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 durational residency requirement under attack in this case is a part of Iowa's comprehensive statutory regulation of domestic relations, an area that has long been regarded as a virtually exclusive province of the States. Cases decided by this Court over a period of more than a century bear witness to this historical fact. In Barber v. Barber, 21 How. 582, 584, 16 L.Ed. 226 (1859), the Court said: 'We disclaim altogether any jurisdiction in the courts of the United States upon the subject of divorce . . ..' In Penoyer v. Neff, 95 U.S. 714, 734735, 24 L.Ed. 565 (1878), the Court said: 'The State . . . has absolute right to prescribe the conditions upon which the marriage relation between its own citizens 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, 167, 20 S.Ct. 58, 60, 44 L.Ed. 115 (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,
The imposition of a durational residency requirement for divorce is scarcely unique to Iowa, since 48 States impose such a requirement as a condition for maintaining an action for divorce.
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.
Such a requirement additionally furthers the State's parallel interests both in avoiding officious intermeddling in matters in which another State has a paramount interest, and in minimizing the susceptibility of its own divorce decrees to collateral attack. A State such as Iowa may quite reasonably decide that it does not wish to become a divorce mill for uphappy spouses who have lived there as short a time as appellant had when she commenced her action in the state court after having long resided elsewhere. Until such time as Iowa is convinced that appellant intends to remain in the State, it lacks the 'nexus between person and place of such permanence as to control the creation of legal relations and responsibilities of the utmost significance.' Williams v. North Carolina, 325 U.S. 226, 229, 65 S.Ct. 1092, 1095, 89 L.Ed. 1577 (1945). Perhaps even more important, Iowa's interests extend beyond its borders and include the recognition of its divorce decrees by other States under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution, Art. IV, § 1. For that purpose, this Court has often stated that 'judicial power to grant a divorcejurisdiction, strictly speakingis founded on domicil.' Williams, supra; Andrews v. Andrews, 188 U.S. 14, 23 S.Ct. 237, 47 L.Ed. 366 (1903); Bell v. Bell, 181 U.S. 175, 21 S.Ct. 551, 45 L.Ed. 804 (1901). Where a divorce decree is entered after a finding of domicile in ex parte proceedings,
this Court has held that the finding of domicile is not binding upon another State and may be disregarded in the face of 'cogent evidence' to the contrary. Williams, supra, 325 U.S. at 236, 65 S.Ct. at 1098. For that reason, the State asked to enter such a decree is entitled to insist that the putative divorce petitioner satisfy something more than the bare minimum of constitutional requirements before a divorce may be granted. The State's decision to exact a one-year residency requirement as a matter of policy is therefore buttressed by a quite permissible inference that this requirement not only effectuates state substantive policy but likewise provides a greater safeguard against successful collateral attack than would a requirement of bona fide residence alone.
This is precisely the sort of determination that a State in the exercise of its domestic relations jurisdiction is entitled to make.
Nor are we of the view that the failure to provide an individualized determination of residency violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Vlandis v. Kline, 412 U.S. 441, 93 S.Ct. 2230, 37 L.Ed.2d 63 (1973), relied upon by appellant, held that Connecticut might not arbitrarily invoke a permanent and irrebuttable presumption of non-residence against students who sought to obtain in-state tuition rates when that presumption was not necessarily or universally true in fact. But in Vlandis the Court warned that its decision should not '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.' Id., at 452, 93 S.Ct. at 2236. See Starns v. Malkerson, 326 F.Supp. 234 (Minn.1970), aff'd, 401 U.S. 985, 91 S.Ct. 1231, 28 L.Ed.2d 527 (1971). An individualized determination of physical presence plus the intent to remain, which appellant apparently seeks, would not entitle her to a divorce even if she could have made such a showing.
For 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.
It is axiomatic that Art. III of the Constitution imposes a 'threshold requirement . . . that those who seek to invoke the power of federal courts must allege an actual case or controversy.' O'Shea v. Littleton, 414 U.S. 488, 493, 94 S.Ct. 669, 675, 38 L.Ed.2d 674 (1974); Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 94 101, 88 S.Ct. 1942, 19491953, 20 L.Ed.2d 947 (1968); Jenkins v. McKeithen, 395 U.S. 411, 421425, 89 S.Ct. 1843, 18481851, 23 L.Ed.2d 404 (1969) (opinion of Marshall, J.). To satisfy the requirement, plaintiffs must allege 'some threatened or actual injury,' Linda R.S. v. Richard D., 410 U.S. 614, 617, 93 S.Ct. 1146, 1148, 35 L.Ed.2d 536 (1973), that is 'real and immediate' and not conjectural or hypothetical. Golden v. Zwickler, 394 U.S. 103, 108 109, 89 S.Ct. 956, 959960, 22 L.Ed.2d 113 (1969); Maryland Casualty Co. v. Pacific Coal & Oil Co., 312 U.S. 270, 273, 61 S.Ct. 510, 512, 85 L.Ed. 826 (1941); United Public Workers v. Mitchell, 330 U.S. 75, 8991, 67 S.Ct. 556, 564, 565, 91 L.Ed. 754 (1947). Furthermore, and of greatest relevance here:
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, 414 U.S. at 494495, 94 S.Ct. at 675676; Bailey v. Patterson, 369 U.S. 31, 32 33, 82 S.Ct. 549, 550551, 7 L.Ed.2d 512 (1962). Cf. Richardson v. Ramirez, 418 U.S. 24, 94 S.Ct. 2655, 41 L.Ed.2d 551 (1974); Hall v. Beals, 396 U.S. 45, 4849, 90 S.Ct. 200, 201202, 24 L.Ed.2d 214 (1969).
Although the Court cites Dunn v. Blumstein, supra, as controlling authority, the principal basis for its approach is a conception of the class action that substantially dissipates the case-or-controversy requirement as well as the necessity for adequate representation under Fed.Rule Civ.Proc. 23(a)(4). In the Court's view, the litigation before us is saved from mootness only by the fact that class certification occurred prior to appellant's change in circumstance. In justification, the Court points to two significant consequences of certification. First, once certified, the class action may not be settled or dismissed without the district court's approval. Second, if the action results in a judgment on the merits, the decision will bind all members found at the time of certification to be members of the class. These are significant aspects of class-action procedure, but it is not evident and not explained how and why these procedural consequences of certification modify the normal mootness considerations which would otherwise attach. Certification is no substitute for a live plaintiff with a personal interest in the case sufficient to make it an adversary proceeding. Moreover, certification is not irreversible or inalterable; it 'may be conditional, and may be altered or amended before the decision on the merits.' Rule 23(c)(1).
Furthermore, under Rule 23(d) the court may make various types of orders in conducting the litigation, including an order that notice be given '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' and 'requiring that the pleadings be amended to eliminate therefrom allegations as to representation of absent persons . . ..'
The new certification procedure of Rule 23(c)(1), as amended in 1966, was not intended to modify the strictures of Fed.Rule Civ.Proc., 82 that '(t)hese rules shall not be construed to extend . . . the jurisdiction of the United States district courts . . ..' Cf. Snyder v. Harris, 394 U.S. 332, 337338, 89 S.Ct. 1053, 1057, 22 L.Ed.2d 319 (1969). The intention behind the certification amendment, which had no counterpart in the earlier version of the rule, was merely 'to give clear definition to the action . . .,' Advisory Committee Note, 28 U.S.C.App., p. 7767; 3B J. Moore, Federal Practice 23.50, pp. 231101 to 231102 (1974), not as the Court would now have it, to avoid jurisdictional problems of mootness.
It is claimed that the certified class supplies the necessary adverse parties for a continuing case or controversy 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.
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.
As we have made clear in Shapiro and subsequent cases, any classification that penalizes exercise of the constitutional right to travel is invalid unless it is justified by a compelling governmental interest. As recently as last Term we held that the right to travel requires that States provide the same vital governmental benefits and privileges to recent immigrants that they do to long-time residents. Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U.S. 250, 261, 94 S.Ct. 1076, 1083, 39 L.Ed.2d 306 (1974). Although we recognized that not all durational residency requirements are penalties upon the exercise of the right to travel interstate,
we held that free medical aid, like voting, see Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330, 92 S.Ct. 995, 31 L.Ed.2d 274 (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.
Having determined that the interest in obtaining a divorce is of substantial social importance, I would scrutinize Iowa's durational residency requirement to determine whether it constitutes a reasonable means of furthering important interests asserted by the State. The Court, however, has not only declined to apply the 'compelling interest' test to this case, it has conjured up possible justifications for the State's restriction in a manner much more akin to the lenient standard we have in the past applied in analyzing equal protection challenges to business regulations. See McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420, 425428, 81 S.Ct. 1101, 11041106, 6 L.Ed.2d 393 (1961); Kotch v. Board of River Port Pilot Comm'rs, 330 U.S. 552, 557, 67 S.Ct. 910, 912, 91 L.Ed. 1093 (1947); but see Johnson v. Robison, 415 U.S. 361, 376, 94 S.Ct. 1160, 1170, 39 L.Ed.2d 389 (1974). I continue to be of the view that the 'rational basis' test has no place in equal protection analysis when important individual interests with constitutional implications are at stake, see San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1, 109, 93 S.Ct. 1278, 1335, 36 L.Ed.2d 16 (1973) (Marshall, J., dissenting); Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U.S. 471, 520522, 90 S.Ct. 1153, 11791180, 25 L.Ed.2d 491 (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 634, 638, 89 S.Ct. at 1331, 1333; Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U.S. 112, 238, 91 S.Ct. 260, 321322, 27 L.Ed.2d 272 (1970) (opinion of Brennan, White, and Marshall, JJ.); Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S., at 342343, 92 S.Ct. 995, at 10031004, 31 L.Ed.2d 274; Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U.S., at 262263, 94 S.Ct. at 10841085.
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.
With the first justification, the Court seeks to distinguish the Shapiro, Dunn, and Maricopa County cases. Yet the distinction the Court draws seems to me specious. Iowa's residency requirement, the Court says, merely forestalls access to the courts; applicants seeking welfare payments, medical aid, and the right to vote, on the other hand, suffer unrecoverable losses throughout the waiting period. This analysis, however, ignores the severity of the deprivation suffered by the divorce petitioner who is forced to wait a year for relief. See Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645, 647, 92 S.Ct. 1208, 1210, 31 L.Ed.2d 551 (1972). The injury accompanying that delay is not directly measurable in money terms like the loss of welfare benefits, but it cannot reasonably be argued that when the year has elapsed, the petitioner is made whole. The year's wait prevents remarriage and locks both partners into what may be an intolerable, destructive relationship. Even applying the Court's argument on its own terms, I fail to see how the Maricopa County case can be distinguished. A potential patient may well need treatment for a single ailment. Under Arizona statutes he would have had to wait a year before he could be treated. Yet the majority's analysis would suggest that Mr. Evaro's claim for nonemergency medical aid is not cognizable because he would 'eventually qualify for the same sort of (service),' ante, at 406. The Court cannot mean that Mrs. Sosna has not suffered any injury by being foreclosed from seeking a divorce in Iowa for a year. It must instead mean that it does not regard that deprivation as being very severe.
I find the majority's second argument no more persuasive. The Court forgoes reliance on the usual justifications for durational residency requirementsbudgetary considerations and administrative convenience, see Shapiro, 394 U.S., at 627638, 89 S.Ct., at 1327 1333; Maricopa County, 415 U.S., at 262269, 94 S.Ct., at 1084 1088. Indeed, it would be hard to make a persuasive argument that either of these interests is significantly implicated in this case. In their place, the majority invokes a more amorphous justificationthe magnitude of the interests affected and resolved by a divorce proceeding. Certainly the stakes in a divorce are weighty both for the individuals directly involved in the adjudication and for others immediately affected by it. The critical importance of the divorce process, however, weakens the argument for a long residency requirement rather than strengthens it. The impact of the divorce decree only underscores the necessity that the State's regulation be evenhanded.
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, 92 S.Ct. 995, 31 L.Ed.2d 274 (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.
These interests, however, would adequately be protected by a simple requirement of domicilephysical presence plus intent to remainwhich would remove the rigid one-year barrier while permitting the State to restrict the availability of its divorce process to citizens who are genuinely its own.
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 236 237, 65 S.Ct., at 10981099; id., at 241, 65 S.Ct., at 1100 (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.
A second problem with the majority's argument on this score is that Williams applies only to ex parte divorces. This Court has held that if both spouses were before the divorcing court, a foreign State cannot recognize a collateral challenge that would not be permissible in the divorcing State. Sherrer v. Sherrer, 334 U.S. 343, 68 S.Ct. 1087, 92 L.Ed.2d 1429 (1948); Coe v. Coe, 334 U.S. 378, 68 S.Ct. 1094, 92 L.Ed. 1451 (1948); Johnson v. Muelberger, 340 U.S. 581, 71 S.Ct. 474, 95 L.Ed. 552 (1951); Cook v. Cook, 342 U.S. 126, 72 S.Ct. 157, 96 L.Ed. 146 (1951). Therefore, the Iowa statute sweeps too broadly even as a defense to possible collateral attacks, since it imposes a one-year requirement whenever the respondent does not reside in the State, regardless of whether the proceeding is ex parte.
Since a State's divorce decree is subject to collateral challenge in a foreign forum for any jurisdictional flaw that would void it in the State's own courts, New York ex rel. Halvey v. Halvey, 330 U.S. 610, 67 S.Ct. 903, 91 L.Ed. 1133 (1947), the residency requirement exposes Iowa divorce proceedings to attack both for failure to prove domicile and for failure to prove one year's residence. If nothing else, this casts doubt on the majority's speculation that Iowa's residency requirement may have been intended as a statutory shield for its divorce decrees. In sum, concerns about the need for a long residency requirement to defray collateral attacks on state judgments seem more fanciful than real. If, as the majority assumes, Iowa is interested in assuring itself that its divorce petitioners are legitimately Iowa citizens, requiring petitioners to provide convincing evidence of bona fide domicile should be more than adequate to the task.
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, 94 S.Ct. 505, 38 L.Ed.2d 511 (1973); Snyder v. Harris, 394 U.S. 332, 89 S.Ct. 1053, 22 L.Ed.2d 319 (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, 94 S.Ct. 2140, 40 L.Ed.2d 732 (1974), are not present in this case.
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, 28 U.S.C.App., pp. 77657766, 39 F.R.D. 69, 105106. 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).
See, e.g., Idaho Code § 32701 (1963); Nev.Rev.Stat. § 125.020 (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).
Shapiro, 394 U.S., at 638 n. 21, 89 S.Ct., at 1333; Maricopa County, 415 U.S., at 258259, 94 S.Ct. at 10821083.
When a divorce decree is not entered on the basis of ex parte proceedings, this Court held in Sherrer v. Sherrer, 334 U.S. 343, 351352, 68 S.Ct. 1087, 1091, 92 L.Ed. 1429 (1948):
The Court contends that its rationale is the prevailing view in the Circuits and lists five circuits in support and two opposing. Ante, at 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, 209, 93 S.Ct. 364, 366, 34 L.Ed.2d 415 (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 211, 93 S.Ct., at 367, 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 23.50, p. 231103 (1974).
See 7A Wright & Miller, supra, n. 2, §§ 1793, 1794; 3B Moore, supra, n. 2, 23.7223.74.
The general rule has been that the '(q)uality of representation embraces both the competence of the legal counsel of the representatives and the statute 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 i.d., at 633635.
Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U.S., at 256 259, 94 S.Ct. at 10811083; see also Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S., at 638 n. 21, 89 S.Ct., at 1333.
The majority also relies on its 'mere delay' distinction to dispose of Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U.S. 371, 91 S.Ct. 780, 28 L.Ed.2d 113 (1971), see ante, at 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 383386, 91 S.Ct., at 788790 (Douglas, J., concurring in result), a point the Court implicitly rejects today.
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 interests.' Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U.S. 112, 238, 91 S.Ct. 260, 321, 27 L.Ed.2d 272 (1970) (opinion of Brennan, White, and Marshall, JJ.); Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398, 406409, 83 S.Ct. 1790, 17951797, 10 L.Ed.2d 965 (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 638, 89 S.Ct., at 1333; Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330, 342, 350352, 92 S.Ct. 995, 1003, 1007 1008, 31 L.Ed.2d 274 (1972); Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U.S., at 267, 94 S.Ct., at 1086; Shelton v. Tucker, 364 U.S. 479, 488, 81 S.Ct. 247, 252, 5 L.Ed.2d 231 (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.