Opinion ID: 305193
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Appellees' Contentions

Text: 32 If we understand appellees' position correctly, they wisely do not contest the validity of the constitutional arguments made above. But whereas one would think this concession would make an end of the case, appellees go on to raise a number of supposed practical and technical difficulties which, they contend, preclude the relief requested. Given the overwhelming constitutional and statutory imperatives which dictate a contrary result, it is hardly surprising that these arguments barely rise to the level of makeweight.
33 Appellees first argue that, whatever the constitutional injury suffered by blacks because of the Recorder's actions, the white appellants in this case are not harmed. Since the racial covenants are a legal nullity, it is contended, the Recorder's publication of them in no way affects appellants' titles and thus deprives them of no rights. 34 But while such an argument might have some validity in a different context, it ignores the Supreme Court's willingness to relax rigid standing requirements when dealing with restrictive covenants. In Barrows v. Jackson, supra, for example, the Supreme Court explicitly held that it would permit white homeowners whose land was burdened by racial covenants to assert the constitutional rights of prospective black buyers. Under the peculiar circumstances of this case, we believe the reasons which underlie our rule denying standing to raise another's rights, which is only a rule of practice, are outweighed by the need to protect the fundamental rights which would be denied by permitting the damages action to be maintained. 346 U.S. at 257, 73 S.Ct. at 1035. See also Sullivan v. Little Hunting Park, Inc., 396 U.S. 229, 237, 90 S.Ct. 400, 24 L.Ed.2d 386 (1969). 35 Moreover, it is inaccurate to say that white homeowners suffer no injury caused by the recording of these covenants. A certain percentage of blacks no doubt refuse to buy property burdened with such recorded covenants either because they are under misapprehension as to the legal effect of the covenants or because they do not want to go where they appear to be unwanted, whatever their legal rights. To the extent these blacks decline to bid for title to appellants' property, the marketability of that property suffers. Cf. Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U.S. 60, 38 S.Ct. 16, 62 L.Ed. 149 (1917). Nor is it relevant that this diminution of marketability is caused by extralegal factors. It has never been thought that a cloud upon one's title had to constitute a valid legal claim before a court sitting in equity could remove it. Indeed, the whole purpose of a traditional action to quiet title was to clarify the status of putatively invalid claims. See, e. g., Barnes v. Boyd, S.D.W.Va., 8 F.Supp. 584, 597, affirmed, 4 Cir., 73 F.2d 910 (1934), cert. denied, 294 U.S. 723, 55 S.Ct. 550, 79 L.Ed. 1254 (1935). Surely if our courts possess the institutional competence to wrestle with contingent remainders and the Rule Against Perpetuities in such an action, they can also vindicate basic constitutional and statutory rights.
36 Next, appellees contend that it would be inconvenient and burdensome for them to implement the relief requested and that full implementation might require employment of some additional personnel. We can all join in sincerely regretting the fact that recognition of appellants' rights may impose some additional burdens on the Recorder's office. But surely appellees do not mean to contend that they can go on violating the constitutional and statutory rights of black citizens because such violations suit the Recorder's administrative convenience. Cf. Carrington v. Rash, 380 U.S. 89, 96, 85 S.Ct. 775, 13 L.Ed.2d 675 (1965). Seventeen years of bitter and continuing struggle over school desegregation have made clear that vindication of constitutional rights is not always easy. But we do not have a constitutional system of government because that is the easiest or most efficient means of running a country. The guarantees of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments were written into the Constitution for the very purpose of preventing some future government official from ignoring the demands of equality for the sake of short term convenience. Cf. Cooper v. Aaron, supra, 358 U.S. at 16-17, 78 S.Ct. 1401; Buchanan v. Warley, supra, 245 U.S. at 81, 38 S.Ct. 16. 37 Moreover, it should be noted that the parade of horribles to which appellees point is largely imaginary. Appellants have scrupulously and conscientiously tailored their requested relief so as to minimize interference with the Recorder's normal routine. Appellants are not asking the Recorder to go through the thousands of deeds presently on file in a search for restrictive covenants. Nor are they requesting that the tenor of any recorded deed be changed. Instead, they ask only that in the future the Recorder not accept deeds with restrictive covenants in them. With respect to deeds already on file, appellants wish the Recorder to attach a notice indicating restrictive covenants are void to the liber volumes in which such covenants might be found and to copies made of recorded deeds containing such covenants. So far as we can see, the latter elements of this relief could be effectuated by the purchase of a large rubber stamp-surely not too great a price to pay for vindication of constitutional rights. 38 It is true that, with respect to future deeds, someone in the Recorder's office would have to read the documents to determine whether they contain any illegal covenants. But these deeds must be read in any event to ensure that they are written in English, clearly identify the parties, contain no obscenities, 13 and are otherwise executed agreeably to law. 45 D.C.Code Sec. 503. The vast majority of deeds filed today contain no racial agreements, 14 and hence could be routinely approved for filing. Most deeds which do contain such covenants incorporate agreements drafted in an earlier era before it was fashionable or necessary for racism to be coy. These provisions are brutally and disgustingly frank, 15 and could easily be filtered out by middle level personnel without extensive legal training. Cf. United States v. Hunter, supra, 459 F.2d at 213 (a publisher can readily determine from the face of an advertisement whether it is intended to express a discriminatory preference). Thus only a very few deeds with ambiguous or borderline provisions would have to be referred to a lawyer for a legal determination. In any case where really serious doubt arose, declaratory judgment procedures are available to secure a binding judicial determination of the document's tenor. It is therefore difficult to escape the suspicion that the so-called burdens to which appellees point are in reality no more than feeble excuses invented as a post hoc justification for bureaucratic intransigence.
39 Finally, appellees suggest that appellants should address their complaints of racial discrimination to the political branch of government and that attempting to wrench social reform from the judiciary disregards the principle of separation of powers. But while we must, of course, maintain proper respect for the jurisdiction of coordinate branches of government, under our law the judiciary too has the obligation of enforcing constitutional rights. As shown in Part II of this opinion, the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment prohibits official recording of restrictive covenants. It therefore becomes the duty of the judicial branch to enforce appellants' constitutional rights by enjoining this practice. The fact that Congress also possesses the unquestioned power to enforce constitutional rights by appropriate legislation has never been thought to relieve the judiciary of its responsibility in this area. Indeed it was the Framers' fear of majoritarian pressure on the political branch that has resulted in the judiciary becoming the primary guardian of the Bill of Rights. The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One's right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections. West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 638, 63 S.Ct. 1178, 1185, 87 L.Ed. 1628 (1942). 40 Moreover, the argument for awaiting congressional action overlooks the fact that Congress has acted in this field. It acted in 1866 when it passed sweeping civil rights legislation guaranteeing to all United States citizens the same right    as is enjoyed by white citizens    to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1982 (1970). It acted again in 1868 when it adopted the Fourteenth Amendment, thereby establishing universal citizenship and equal rights under law. And it acted most recently in 1968 when comprehensive fair housing legislation was written into law for the purpose of provid[ing], within constitutional limitations, for fair housing throughout the United States. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 3601 (1970). 41 Now the time has come for the courts to act. We have already waited entirely too long to wipe out the last vestiges of the official discrimination which has tainted the housing market from time out of mind. The judgment of the District Court must therefore be reversed and the cause remanded. 42