Opinion ID: 1933405
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Hartland Petition

Text: Petitioners from the towns of Hartland, West Windsor, and Windsor challenge the Legislature's establishment of two single-member districts, one containing the town of Windsor, and one containing the towns of West Windsor and Hartland. The Legislative Apportionment Board proposed that all three towns remain in a single two-member district, which would have had a deviation of 1.6% from the ideal district. The Windsor and West Windsor boards of civil authority expressed their preference for a single two-member district, while the Hartland board wanted two single-member districts. Eventually, the House Government Operations Committee recommended, and the Legislature adopted, a plan creating two districts. The district containing the town of Windsor has a deviation of 1.0%, and the district containing the towns of West Windsor and Hartland has a deviation of 4.2%. Petitioners argue that the creation of the two districts violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution because the new districts do not attain the minimum percentage of deviation practicable. According to petitioners, the State failed to show that the increase in deviation in one of the new districts was justified by a legitimate, rational state interest. We conclude that the establishment of the two districts does not constitute an equal protection violation. Petitioners rely on Karcher v. Daggett for the proposition that even the most minor variance from equal population must be justified by a legitimate state policy. This position is erroneous. Karcher considered the validity of a congressional redistricting statute, and explicitly stated that the absolute-population-equality requirement applied to apportionment of congressional districts only, not to state legislative districts. 462 U.S. at 732-33, 103 S.Ct. at 2659 (we have required that absolute population equality be the paramount objective of apportionment only in the case of congressional districts). Because we conclude that the 4.2% deviation is de minimis and therefore does not require justification by the State, we need not reach the issue of whether a preference for single-member districts is a legitimate state policy that justifies the slight increase in the deviation of one of the new districts. The deviation complained of here is well within the limits permitted under the United States Constitution. [16] Petitioners also cite Vermont law in support of their position, although without any supporting argument. The Vermont Constitution requires the Legislature to reapportion the membership of the General Assembly so as to maintain equality of representation among the respective districts as nearly as it is practicable. Vt. Const. ch. II, § 73. Further, Vermont statutory law requires the Legislature to form districts with minimum percentages of deviation from the apportionment standard, which is the number obtained by dividing the total population of the state by the number of representatives or senators. 17 V.S.A. §§ 1902, 1903(b). These provisions do not require stricter adherence to equal population requirements than that required by federal law. The phrase as nearly as is practicable, which was adopted from federal case law construing the federal equal protection clause, [17] contemplates the consideration of other nonnumerical factors. Indeed, Vermont historically has placed great importance on the integrity of individual towns and other nonnumerical criteria, while the existence of state constitutional and statutory provisions requiring equal representation according to population can be traced to federal court decisions construing the federal constitution. In re Senate Bills 177 & 83, 132 Vt. at 287-88, 318 A.2d at 160-61. We find no violation of the Vermont Constitution or Vermont statutory law.