Opinion ID: 201058
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Standing to Assert Claim for Prospective Relief

Text: 19 Donahue challenges the district court's conclusion that § 58A prevents him from being appointed to the BPD, thereby depriving him of standing to seek prospective relief in the form of an injunction against the operation of the consent decree. 3 It appears that Donahue has abandoned on appeal his earlier claims that § 58A is no longer in effect and does not apply to him because he is not seeking an original appointment with the BPD. Rather, he argues that § 58A should not apply to him because he was entitled to be hired based on the results of the 1999 examination. He also claims that the district court erred by upholding the constitutionality of § 58A under a rational basis test rather than applying strict scrutiny. Both of these arguments are unpersuasive.
20 Frankly, we have found it difficult to understand the precise nature of Donahue's claim that § 58A does not deprive him of standing to seek prospective relief. Essentially, he seems to claim that § 58A should not be applied to him because he was entitled to be hired to the BPD based on the results of the 1999 examination. He argues in his brief that he took the qualifying exam in 1999 and scored high enough at that time that he would have been hired but for his race. Therefore [i]t was only because of the Consent Decree that [Donahue] ... was forced to take the 2001 exam, and [was] treated disparately under 58A. (emphasis in original). 21 This argument relies on an erroneous reading of Donahue I. As we emphasized in that opinion, Donahue would not have been hired in 1999 in the absence of the consent decree. Approximately 120 non-minority applicants scored higher than Donahue on the 1999 test but were also denied appointment to the BPD. All of those candidates would have been eligible for appointment before Donahue. As we explained, irrespective of the consent decree,  Donahue was too far down the list to be even remotely considered for hiring to the BPD based on his 1999 test score. See Donahue I, 304 F.3d at 117. Therefore, Donahue was not entitled to an appointment prior to the enactment of § 58A and would have been subject to the statute's age restrictions in April 2001 even under a race-neutral hiring policy. 22 We found in Donahue I that Donahue was denied the opportunity to compete on equal footing in the BPD's hiring process on account of his race in connection with the 1999 exam. Id. at 120. However, unequal treatment is not itself sufficient to establish standing to seek prospective relief; Donahue must also be able to demonstrate that he is able and ready to apply for a position with the BPD and is prevented from doing so by the challenged discriminatory policy, that is, the operation of the consent decree. Id. at 119 (quoting Jacksonville, 508 U.S. at 666, 113 S.Ct. 2297); see also Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244, 284, 123 S.Ct. 2411, 156 L.Ed.2d 257 (2003) (To seek forward-looking, injunctive relief, petitioners must show that they face an imminent threat of future injury.); O'Shea v. Littleton, 414 U.S. 488, 495-96, 94 S.Ct. 669, 38 L.Ed.2d 674 (1974) (Past exposure to illegal conduct does not in itself show a present case or controversy regarding injunctive relief ... if unaccompanied by any continuing, present adverse effects.). Because of § 58A's age limitation, Donahue was not able and ready to apply for appointment to the BPD in December 2001 when the district court issued its original opinion in this case, nor is he eligible for such an appointment today. Thus, Donahue does not satisfy a key element of standing to seek prospective relief. 4
23 Donahue further claims, however, that the district court erred in upholding the constitutionality of § 58A under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment on the ground that its age classification is rationally related to a legitimate public purpose. Donahue argues that § 58A is subject to strict scrutiny rather than rational basis analysis because the statute has a disproportionate impact on non-minorities, which, coupled with other relevant facts, demonstrates that the statute has an invidious discriminatory purpose. Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 242, 96 S.Ct. 2040, 48 L.Ed.2d 597 (1976) (although a statute is not unconstitutional solely because it has a racially disproportionate impact, an invidious discriminatory purpose may often be inferred from the totality of the relevant facts, including the fact, if true, that the law bears more heavily on one race than on another); see also Arlington Heights v. Metro. Housing Dev. Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 265, 97 S.Ct. 555, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977) (racially disproportionate impact does not constitute a violation of the Equal Protection Clause absent [p]roof of racially discriminatory intent or purpose). 24 More specifically, Donahue argues that minorities who scored at least a 95 on the 1999 exam were hired prior to the enactment of § 58A and are not affected by the statute's age limitation. Therefore, he asserts that Section 58A as applied to the Donahue Similarly Situated Class is so inextricably bound to the Consent Decree as to amount to an extension of its application: but for the Consent Decree, the non-minority members of the Donahue Similarly Situated Class would not come under the purview of § 58A, because they would have received original appointments before they turned 32. 5 In other words, Donahue claims that § 58A has a disproportionate impact on non-minorities who took the 1999 exam and scored between a 95 and the lowest score of a hired non-minority. That disproportionate effect, he suggests, gives rise to an inference of purposeful racial discrimination. 6 25 We agree with the district court that strict scrutiny is not required. Section 58A has an identical effect on minorities and non-minorities competing for an original position with the BPD. Anyone who has reached the age of thirty-two on the day of the applicable civil service exam is precluded from seeking an original appointment, regardless of his or her race. If some minorities were no longer seeking an original appointment at the time of the April 2001 exam because they had already been hired by the BPD, this was in no way a consequence of § 58A. Therefore, § 58A's age restriction does not have a disproportionate impact on non-minorities. 26 Assuming arguendo that Donahue presented adequate grounds for concluding that § 58A had a racially disproportionate impact, there is no evidence that the Massachusetts Legislature, in enacting the statute, was motivated by a racially discriminatory intent against non-minorities. Because Donahue has not shown that the statute's distinction between older and younger candidates evinces purposeful discrimination on the basis of race, strict scrutiny does not apply to our review of § 58A, notwithstanding any racially disproportionate effect. 27 Unlike race, age is not a suspect classification under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. Therefore, [s]tates may discriminate on the basis of age without offending the Fourteenth Amendment if the age classification in question is rationally related to a legitimate state interest. Kimel v. Fla. Bd. of Regents, 528 U.S. 62, 83, 120 S.Ct. 631, 145 L.Ed.2d 522 (2000). In addition, a state may rely on age as a proxy for other characteristics relevant to a state's legitimate interests, even if that reliance turns out to be misplaced. See id. at 84, 120 S.Ct. 631. A court will not overturn an age classification so long as the state articulates some reasonably conceivable state of facts that could provide a rational basis for the classification. FCC v. Beach Communications, Inc., 508 U.S. 307, 313, 113 S.Ct. 2096, 124 L.Ed.2d 211 (1993). Those facts need not be supported by the evidentiary record, Kittery Motorcycle, Inc. v. Rowe, 320 F.3d 42, 47 (1st Cir.2003), as any `plausible' justification will suffice, and effectively ends the analysis, Starlight Sugar, Inc. v. Soto, 253 F.3d 137, 145 (1st Cir.2001) (quoting Beach, 508 U.S. at 313-14, 113 S.Ct. 2096). Under this forgiving standard, the party challenging the constitutionality of the age classification bears the burden of negat[ing] any conceivable basis which might support it. Beach, 508 U.S. at 315, 113 S.Ct. 2096 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). 28 Donahue has not met his burden of establishing that § 58A is not rationally related to a legitimate state interest. Edward P. Callahan, Director of Human Resources for the BPD, stated in his sworn affidavit that the BPD supported the City's adoption of § 58A because the age limitation encouraged a long-term commitment to the BPD, ensured the physical fitness of its officers, and reduced strain on the BPD's pension system. On appeal, Donahue does not attempt to discredit the legitimacy of these rationales for § 58A's age classification. Indeed, while insisting that the statute must be evaluated under a strict scrutiny standard, he concedes that the purported `rational basis' for the age discrimination contained in § 58A by the City, even if proffered by the correct legislative body (which it was not), 7 would meet ... the minimal standards of rational basis. Notwithstanding Donahue's claim to the contrary, it does not matter whether the City Council actually relied on the reasons offered by Callahan in adopting § 58A. See Beach, 508 U.S. at 315, 113 S.Ct. 2096 ([B]ecause we never require a legislature to articulate its reasons for enacting a statute, it is entirely irrelevant for constitutional purposes whether the conceived reason for the challenged distinction actually motivated the legislature.). As Donahue appears to recognize, those reasons evince a legitimate public purpose that is rationally related to § 58A's age restriction. Hence, we agree with the district court that § 58A passes constitutional scrutiny. Because Donahue is not eligible for appointment to the BPD on account of his age, he does not have standing to obtain injunctive relief to prevent the operation of the consent decree. 29