Court Opinion

ID: 9535190
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:46:29.513921+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:11.123727
License: Public Domain

Finley, J.
(concurring in the result) — Equality in legislative representation in proportion to population in so far as reasonably and practicably possible is a basic tenet of our democratic form of government. This is the reason for the inclusion of § 3 of Art. II in our state constitution. It is a mandate to the legislature (1) to provide for the taking of a state census in 1895 and every ten years thereafter, and (2) to apportion and district anew the members of the senate and house of representatives according to the number of inhabitants, excluding Indians not taxed, soldiers and sailors, and officers of the United States army and navy in active service, (a) after each state census, and (b) after each Federal census. Because the state census specified in Art. II, § 3, and the Federal census do not occur in the same year, but five years apart, Art. II, § 3, actually, under the circumstances, requires redistricting and reapportionment at least every five years.
The dissenting opinion by Judge Weaver blames no one in particular, but it points out the significant fact that successive legislatures for fifty-six years consistently have failed to comply with the provisions of Art. II, § 3, of the state constitution. This court has no power by mandamus *469or otherwise to directly compel the legislature to comply with the provisions of Art. II, § 3.
Initiative No. 199 is an attempt on the part of the electorate, by the method of direct legislation, to redistrict and reapportion “according to the number of inhabitants.” Apparently, this action by the electorate promptly inspired chapter 289, Laws of 1957, p. 1147, which is the first substantial legislative attempt in many years to comply with the mandate of the constitution.
At one point in the instant proceedings, it was understood that this matter was to be submitted upon a full and complete, agreed statement of facts. For some reason this was not done. As a consequence, there are no facts before this court and no facts of which we can take judicial notice which would enable us to conclude whether one or the other of the two attempts to redistrict “according to the number of inhabitants” actually succeeds in complying with that constitutional mandate of Art. II, § 3. The matter is further complicated by the fact that it has been seven years since an accurate, periodic Federal census was taken, and it is estimated that the population of our state has been increasing at the rate of three thousand inhabitants per month. For these reasons I believe it is impossible, because of the manner in which this case is presented to us, for this court to determine whether one or both of the recent attempts at redistricting and reapportionment are unconstitutional.
As pointed out by the majority, there is a presumption of constitutionality. Any constitutional attack upon either chapter 289 or initiative No. 199 on the ground that there has been no compliance with Art. II, § 3, has not been sustained. On this basis and because I agree with the majority that chapter 289 is a valid amendment of initiative No. 199, I concur in the result reached by the majority — that the writ of mandate should not issue.