Opinion ID: 551345
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Expedited Issuance of the Mandate

Text: Reluctantly, I must also part company with my colleagues in their decision to issue the mandate forthwith. As it is clear from this action that this panel will not grant a stay, we place an unnecessary burden upon the parties, the district judge, our own colleagues and the Justices above us. I well understand the reason for haste; delaying an election any longer than absolutely necessary should not be done lightly. Consistent with that imperative, we have issued a significant opinion in an important and difficult case about three weeks after submission. No one can justly accuse us of sitting on our thumbs. Were the opinion unanimous, or were I convinced that our differences are relatively trivial, I would go along with expediting the mandate. But we do not all agree. Moreover, our disagreement goes to the heart of the district court's remedial plan. Should there be further review, any steps taken by the district court and the parties in implementing the majority opinion would be wasted. The more prudent course, is seems to me, would be to let the parties consider their options in a sober, unhurried fashion, as contemplated by the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. My able colleagues have advanced very compelling arguments as to why the one person one vote rule should be construed as embodying the principle of equal representation. I have suggested that much of the Court's language and rationale supports the opposite view, that it is the principle of electoral equality that lies at the heart of one person one vote. We are not in a position to resolve this issue, which grows out of a lack of meaningful guidance in a long series of Supreme Court opinions. Yet this issue will have immediate and growing significance as large populations of aliens are taking up residence in several of our largest states. 13 The Supreme Court may deem it prudent to take up the issue before large-scale redistricting gets underway in 1991. Given these considerations, I would preserve the opportunity to have the matter considered in a deliberative fashion, unhurried by the pendency of an election. For better or worse, the election was stayed, which allowed us to consider the case without the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads. I would offer the same opportunity for unhurried deliberation to our colleagues and to any of the Justices who might wish to consider the matter.