Opinion ID: 331104
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: 68 Let me turn immediately to an important aspect of the business before us. Involved is the Republican Party's plan, embodied in its Rule 30, for the allocation to its 1976 Convention of delegates from the various States, the Territories and the District of Columbia. There is a real distinction between the Republican Party's allocation program and the 'state' problems involved in 'apportionment' cases treating of legislative reapportionment plans or dealing with Congressional redistricting issues and similar situations which, from time to time, have engaged the attention of the Court. 2 69 The Ripon plaintiffs, in their allegations of record here, repeatedly have spoken of the 'apportionment of delegates.' In their motion before the Supreme Court they had alleged in their paragraph 3: 70 The stay of the injunctive portion of the District Court's order is wholly inconsistent with the procedure approved by this Court for the granting of relief in reapportionment cases cited and followed by the District Court. See especially Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 584--586, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 12 L.Ed.2d 506 (1964). (Ripon plaintiffs' motion, Supreme Court file, dated August 17, 1972). (Emphasis added). 71 Justice Rehnquist did not miss the point, however, for he specifically wrote in Republican Committee v. Ripon Society, supra note 1, 409 U.S. at 1225, 93 S.Ct. at 1477: 72 In the case at bar, of course, we deal with a delegate-allocation dispute that retains importance until 1976 rather than a credentials dispute such as was involved in O'Brien v. Brown (409 U.S. 1, 92 S.Ct. 2718, 34 L.Ed.2d 1 (1972)). (Emphasis added.) 3 73  It must be remembered that nothing in the Constitution refers to national party conventions. Congress has passed no statute giving access to the courts in respect of the allocation of delegate strength to a national party convention, and Congress certainly knows how to do just that, were Congress so to decide. Contrast the instant situation with the provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act, as amended, where the codified 2 U.S.C. § 437h(a) provides: 74 The Commission, the national committee of any political party, or any individual eligible to vote in any election for the office of President of the United States may institute such actions in the appropriate district court of the United States, including actions for declaratory judgment, as may be appropriate to construe the constitutionality of any provision of this Act . . .. 4 75 This court recently considered the import of this language in Buckley v. Valeo, 171 U.S.App.D.C. 172, 201, 519 F.2d 821, 850 (1975) (en banc) where it was pointed out that the section 76 does not entitle the eligible plaintiffs to raise any conceivable constitutional issue with respect to the Act and the relevant criminal sections, no matter how remote or speculative. We perceive no congressional intent to waive article III's requirement that there be a present 'case or controversy.' The declaratory judgment, often seen as the outer limits of article III jurisdiction, nevertheless requires that there be an actual controversy. (Footnotes omitted.) 77 It is not in any way to disparage the purposes of The Ripon Society, Inc. that we say, flatly, the corporation totally lacks standing to sue. Surely it is entitled to no relief on its own account; obviously it has no vote. The Supreme Court has told us in Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 31 L.Ed.2d 636 (1972), 78 a mere 'interest in a problem,' no matter how longstanding the interest and no matter how qualified the organization is in evaluating the problem, is not sufficient by itself to render the organization 'adversely affected' or 'aggrieved' within the meaning of the APA. Id., at 739, 92 S.Ct. at 1368. 79 And see United States v. Richardson, 418 U.S. 166, 177--180, 94 S.Ct. 2940, 41 L.Ed.2d 678 (1974). 80 The individual Ripon plaintiffs here stand on no higher plane. They allege no specific injury pertinent to themselves. No statute has authorized the institution of this action by them. There has been no denial of a right in any of the individual plaintiffs to a seat in the Republican Convention. Indeed a national party convention is under no obligation to receive any of these Ripon plaintiffs as a delegate, as Cousins v. Wigoda, 419 U.S. 477, 488, 95 S.Ct. 541, 42 L.Ed.2d 595 (1975) makes clear. 81 The alleged ground of aggrievement is a mere abstraction. 5 These individual Ripon plaintiffs have afforded no predicate for action by the courts. They are in no different position on any account than is any member of the public. 6 It would seem inevitable that their action should be barred. They lack standing within the test laid down in Schlesinger v. Reservists to Stop the War, 418 U.S. 208, 220--221, 94 S.Ct. 2925, 2932, 41 L.Ed.2d 706 (1974) where the Court said 82 Concrete injury, whether actual or threatened, is that indispensable element of a dispute which serves in part to cast it in a form traditionally capable of judicial resolution. It adds the essential dimension of specificity to the dispute by requiring that the complaining party have suffered a particular injury caused by the action challenged as unlawful. This personal stake is what the Court has consistently held enables a complainant authoritatively to present to a court a complete perspective upon the adverse consequences flowing from the specific set of facts undergirding his grievance. Such authoritative presentations are an integral part of the judicial process, for a court must rely on the parties' treatment of the facts and claims before it to develop its rules of law. Only concrete injury presents the factual context within which a court, aided by parties who argue within the context, is capable of making decisions. (Footnote omitted.) II 83 Even were we to assume, contrary to what has been said in Part I, supra, that these Ripon plaintiffs have standing, we are nonetheless bound to order that their complaint be dismissed. The issue they have tendered, in my view, is simply nonjusticiable. 7 84 There is much more involved in a party's national convention than its merely nominating candidates for the presidency and vice presidency. That convention, (perhaps most importantly, at least on occasion), will be called upon to set forth the aims and political objectives of the political party and its adherents. 8 85 To succeed in an election, the presidential nominee in a nation as populous and with interests as diverse as ours must carry the states whose electoral votes cumulatively will provide the victory which he seeks and which the party adherents desire. But that is not all. That presidential nominee, in addition to promoting his own candidacy, will be expected by the party and its adherents to contribute to the election of United States Senators and members of the House who will be expected to assist in the accomplishment of the party's program. Long before the national convention, on the hustings, via televised appeals, in local debates, through published statements and otherwise, party candidates for national office as well as for both branches of the Congress and for gubernatorial recognition, will have sought to arouse the electorate and to recruit party adherents. The allocation of delegates will thus serve a twofold purpose. 86 Organization of public thought and the rallying of voters behind the presidential nominee and his program will become essential not only in an appeal to party members but to independent voters and even to members of an opposition party. 9 It is a fundamental truism that any party must seek to maximize voting support from its already registered voters. Appeal to local constituencies often enough can be marshalled through leadership already there recognized because of qualities long since made evident. 87 Recognition of such individuals in delegate allocation may not only add strength to the management of the convention, but additionally will tend to enhance the possibilities of garnering the electoral vote state by state, and cumulatively thus result in election of the presidential nominee. The candidate and the party adherents who can bring about that result will achieve the very purpose for which associational significance is recognized and protected. Not to be forgotten is the fact that the electoral vote of a particular state may turn upon a mere plurality, no matter how small, of that state's voters. Allocation of delegates to such states--and the selection and seating 10 of such delegates as can advance 'the cause'--will seldom be out of mind among party leaders of either major party. The ultimate popular will, of course, ascertained at the election itself, reflects the collective mind of the American voter, and success or repudiation of the candidate, or the party will follow. 11 88 Taking account of what a party may seek to do and what its adherents think it should do to accomplish the party's objectives, may we not wonder what steps are open to a court to manage the party's convention composition in delegate allocation or otherwise? Success is what the party seeks, of course. In light of what we have been saying, and having over a period of some three decades gained no more than a minority status, the Republican Party in 1972 had adopted rules and a program designed, it was thought, to improve its status and to achieve that success. 12 It is clear from the record before us, note 12 supra, that views largely shared by the Ripon plaintiffs were presented at length during the 1972 convention and finally were rejected by a vote of nine hundred ten to four hundred thirty-four. Losers at the convention, claiming a deinal of equal protection, the Ripon plaintiffs moved to the courts, and here we are. 13 89 Justiciability of state ordered and state regulated proceedings in this area afford us no guidance in the present context. Were Congress to have acted and to have regulated the composition of the national convention of a major political party, we would have before us a totally different problem. 14 It may be supposed that few jurists have been more perceptive than the late Mr. Justice Jackson who realized that the 'one man-one vote' approach involved scrapping the present electoral system and providing for direct election of the President. Dissenting in Ray v. Blair, 343 U.S. 214, 234, 72 S.Ct. 654, 664, 96 L.Ed. 894 (1952), he wrote: 90 The demise of the whole electoral system would not impress me as a disaster. At its best it is a mystifying and distorting factor in presidential elections which may resolve a popular defeat into an electoral victory. At its worst it is open to local corruption and manipulation, once so flagrant as to threaten the stability of the country. To abolish it and substitute direct election of the President, so that every vote wherever cast would have equal weight in calculating the result, would seem to me a gain for simplicity and integrity of our governmental processes. 91 After the order had been entered that this case be set for hearing en banc, we invited the Democratic National Committee as Amicus to submit a brief and to argue. We directed attention to certain specific points including those of standing and justiciability. Recognizing that there are issues involved in this litigation which bear upon the 'traditional' role of political parties and the 'traditional' nature of the political process, Amicus told us on brief 'the Democratic Party has a vital interest in the actions taken by this court and welcomes the opportunity to present its views.' 15 92 Amicus continues that the decision of the district court, in accepting jurisdiction and in holding the claim asserted by Appellants to be justiciable, represents a departure from the historical reluctance of courts to intrude in the political process, in the absence of racial discrimination or clear state action. It is the view of the Democratic National Committee that such a departure is both unwarranted and unwise. Because of the well-established First Amendment rights of political parties and their adherents, and the clear lack of judicially manageable standards involved in any question of delegate allocation, this court should adopt the view expressed in Irish v. Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, 287 F.Supp. 797 (sic) (D.Minn.1968), aff'd, 399 F.2d 119 (8th Cir. 1968). The court in Irish refused to intervene in a delegate allocation matter, and expressed the view that the political process is best served by the compromise and consensus institutionalized in the political parties Amicus Brief at 2. 93 Asserting the position of the Democratic National Committee, Amicus cogently has argued that questions involving the allocation of delegates at a national convention will reflect policies which are subject to change and development, in part, at least, because of changes in a party's constituency. Associational prerogatives include retention of flexibility in a party's shaping its own organization. 94 One may conclude that one party may seek its strength in a certain area where dependence upon a liberal and urbanized appeal can be expected, especially in light of past performance, to yield the greater effectiveness. The party very properly may oppose judicial intervention in the political process where in addition to the business of nominating candidates, 'vital' rights of association guaranteed by the Constitution are also involved, Cousins v. Wigoda, supra, 419 U.S. at 487, 95 S.Ct. 541. 16 It would seem to follow that a party, be it Democratic or Republican, is clearly in position to limit access to the decision-making processes of the party in order best to promote the interests of the party's adherents. Just who they may be cannot accurately be determined even by the party itself, and it would seem, all the more clearly, that the problem is nonjusticiable because of the inability of the courts to define the party's constituency. 95 I have said enough to predicate my conclusion that the issue here is nonjusticiable. 17 On that ground, I would reverse the judgment of the District Court and order that the Ripon plaintiffs' complaint be dismissed. Even correctly to decide on the merits that the present Republican delegate-allocation formula is impervious to successful challenge will conclude only this case. I think, absent racial or other invidious discrimination of constitutional dimension, that we should dispose of the instant type of challenge, once and for all. 96