Court Opinion

ID: 9684532
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 14:00:01.617412+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:56.792269
License: Public Domain

COOPER, Justice,
Concurring in Part and Dissenting in Part.
I concur in the majority opinion insofar as it holds that the unappealed final judgment of the Jefferson Circuit Court declaring Stephenson constitutionally unqualified to hold the office of State Senator for the 37th District is conclusive of the issue. However, for that same reason, I conclude that the Franklin Circuit Court erred in not declaring Woodward the winner of the election and ordering (if necessary) that she be seated as the State Senator for the 37th District. Therefore, I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion insofar as it affirms the Franklin Circuit Court’s refusal to grant Woodward the full relief to which she is entitled.
The Jefferson Circuit Court acquired jurisdiction to determine Stephenson’s bona fides as a candidate for the State Senate when Woodward commenced her action “prior to the general election” as authorized by KRS 118.176(2). As noted in the majority opinion, the intervention of the election before judgment did not divest the Jefferson Circuit Court of that jurisdiction even though that court could not have acquired jurisdiction had the action been commenced after the election. That court’s order of November 22, 2004, not only declared Stephenson constitutionally unqualified for the office of State Senator, it also ordered the Board of Elections not to count any votes cast for Stephenson. Both aspects of the order became final and binding on the parties upon the expiration of the time for appeal.
The initial tally published by the State Board of Elections (and accurately described by the Board as “unofficial”) reported that Stephenson received 22,772 votes and Woodward 21,750. However, the “Official Count and Record of Election Totals” subsequently certified to the Secretary of State by the Jefferson County Board of Elections reported 21,750 votes for Woodward and did not report any votes for Stephenson — instead accurately reporting that votes cast for her were “suppressed by Court Order.” Thus, when the State Board of Elections conducted its official count pursuant to KRS 118.425(4), it had before it all of the votes from the 37th District that were cast for a bona fide candidate, ie., the votes cast for Woodward. Ipso facto, Woodward won the election by a vote of 21,750 - 0. The State Board of Elections has certified that Woodward “received the highest number of votes given for that office, as certified to the Secretary of State, and is, therefore, duly and regularly elected for the term prescribed by the Constitution.” Upon the *177expiration of the previous term of office and upon taking the oath of office, Woodward became the State Senator for the 37th District. The Senate, however, by voice vote, purported to refuse to seat her as a member of that body.
No one claims that Woodward does not possess the constitutional qualifications to hold the office of State Senator. Nothing in the Constitution gives the State Senate the power to exclude a member who has been properly certified as duly elected (election contests are outside the purview of Section 38), who has taken the oath of office, and who possesses the constitutional qualifications for the office. See Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486, 550, 89 S.Ct. 1944, 1979, 23 L.Ed.2d 491 (1969) (“[S]inee Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., was duly elected by the voters ... and was not ineligible to serve under any provision of the Constitution, the House was without power to exclude him from its membership.”); Mundo-Rios v. Vizcarrondo-Irizarry, 228 F.Supp.2d 18, 30 (D.P.R.2002) (“The Legislature cannot refuse to seat an elected member, who has been provided an electoral certification of election, even if there are irregularities alleged in the election ....”).
Although Section 39 of the Kentucky Constitution permits a House of the General Assembly to expel a member by a concurrence of two-thirds of its membership, that did not occur here, as there was no vote count on the motion to exclude (expel?) Woodward. (Nor would it seem that Section 2 of our Constitution would allow even two-thirds of the members of a House to expel a duly elected and qualified member without cause, e.g., for purely partisan reasons.)
The three cases cited by the majority opinion for the proposition that disqualification of the candidate who received the most votes does not result in victory for the defeated candidate are not on point. In each of those cases, the disqualified candidate’s votes were counted and he was certified as the winner of the election. The disqualification occurred as a result of an election contest filed after the election. Woods v. Mills, 503 S.W.2d 706, 706 (Ky.1974); Bogie v. Hill, 286 Ky. 732, 151 S.W.2d 765, 766 (1941); McKinney v. Barker, 180 Ky. 526, 203 S.W. 303, 303 (1918). Here, Woodward did not file an election contest after the election; she filed a challenge to Stephenson’s bona fides before the election, and the “unofficial” votes for Stephenson were never officially reported or counted. Thus, the result is the same as if Woodward ran unopposed. The case of Fletcher v. Wilson, 495 S.W.2d 787 (Ky.1973), cited by Stephenson in her brief, cites eases in dictum that hold that a defeated primary candidate cannot challenge the winner’s qualifications for office. Id. at 792. “These cases established the policy that questions of the kind stated above must be raised before the primary.” Id. Of course, those cases have no application here because Woodward filed her action challenging Stephenson’s bona fides before the election.
The U.S. Supreme Court was not required in Powell to determine whether the inherent judicial power of mandamus would be appropriate to force legislative compliance with court orders, because the only relief sought by Powell was a declaration of rights. 395 U.S. at 517, 89 S.Ct. at 1962. However, in Noble v. Union River Logging Railroad Co., 147 U.S. 165, 13 S.Ct. 271, 37 L.Ed. 123 (1893), the U.S. Supreme Court distinguished between enjoining discretionary and ministerial governmental duties.
If he has no power at all to do the act complained of, he is as much subject to an injunction as he would be to a manda*178mus if he refused to do an act which the law plainly required him to do.... [W]hen a plain, official duty, requiring no exercise of discretion, is to be performed, and performance is refused, any person who will sustain personal injury by such refusal may have a mandamus to compel its performance; and when such duty is threatened to be violated by some positive official act, any person who will sustain personal injury thereby, for which adequate compensation cannot be had at law, may have an injunction to prevent it.
Id. at 172, 13 S.Ct. at 273 (citation and quotation omitted).
Since the State Senate has no constitutional authority to exclude from its membership a person who has been certified as duly elected to membership and who possesses the constitutional qualifications for office, an injunction could issue to prevent that person’s exclusion from membership without violating the doctrine of separation of powers. Cf. Akers v. Floyd County Fiscal Ct., 556 S.W.2d 146, 149 (Ky.1977) (“Injunctive processes of law are available to be invoked in an action challenging the constitutionality of a legislative act and of the carrying out or enforcement of its provisions.”); compare Geveden v. Commonwealth, 142 S.W.3d 170, 172 (Ky.App.2004) (doctrine of separation of powers precluded issuance of injunction to require Governor to perform purely discretionary act). I am confident, however, that the State Senate would not refuse to follow a final decision of this Court on an issue that the General Assembly specifically delegated to the judiciary by enacting KRS 118.176(2).
Accordingly, I dissent from the majority opinion insofar as it denies Woodward the full relief to which she is entitled, i.e., to be declared the duly elected and qualified State Senator for the 37th District.