Court Opinion

ID: 9844141
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 02:58:15.139273+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:28.491430
License: Public Domain

ON DENIAL OF PETITION FOR REHEARING
McFADDEN, Justice.
It is the duty of this court to uphold legislative enactments against claims of unconstitutionality unless there is a clear violation of the constitution of the State or of the United States, or stated differently, every reasonable presumption must be indulged in favor of the constitutionality of a statute.
Plaintiff Caesar contends that the 1951 enactment establishing the apportionment of members of the House of Representatives for the forthcoming session of the legislature violates the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which states: “No State shall * * * deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” This constitutional amendment does not prohibit classifications by the legislature, so long as the classifications are not made on an arbitrary or capricious basis and do reflect a policy based •on reason. (See statement, Mr. Justice Brennan in Baker v. Carr, previously quoted in majority opinion, supra.) Here the legislature has allocated one representative per county in compliance with the provisions of Idaho Const. Art. III, Sec. 4, and then established the further classification of additional representatives on the basis of one for each additional 17,000 population and remaining fraction amounting to 3000 or more. The legislative plan is within the range of reasonable classification within the purview of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Previous legislative enactments determining the method of apportionment provided the same means as the 1951 Act, to accomplish apportionment, but prescribed a different divisor which by legislative determination would, at that time, accomplish fair apportionment under the constitution. No one of the three enactments herein considered is perfect. Each, in the judgment of the legislature enacting it, provided a method whereby a fair apportionment would be accomplished at the time the enactment was intended to apply.
The method by which apportionment should he made, aside from the constitutional mandate, is a legislative function; it would be an invasion of the legislative department of government for the Court to determine the method of apportionment.
*278The Idaho constitution itself, providing that each county have one representative creates the apparent numerical disparity, as previously pointed out. The claimed disparity of representation resulting from the application of the 1951 law to the 1960 census figures is not so clearly violative of the constitutional principal of equal protection that it must be stricken down. The claimed disparity is a subject for presentation to and consideration by, the legislature itself. The forthcoming session of the legislature will have opportunity to consider the 1951 enactment in light of the present conditions, and constitutional requirements and limitations on its authority (Idaho Const. Art. III, Secs. 2, 4, and 5).
In its wisdom the legislature can make this legislative determination properly within the scheme of the division of the departments of government provided by the constitution. The conclusions reached in the majority opinion are adhered to, and the petition for rehearing is denied.
SMITH, C. J., and KNUDSON, J., concur.
McQUADE, J., for rehearing.