Court Opinion

ID: 9619828
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:33:52.809451+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:46:19.168170
License: Public Domain

SCHAUER, J.
I dissent.
The material facts, upon which the claim of disqualification rests, are not only admitted by the respondents but appear as matters of public record. On July 5, 1953, Hazel J. Younger was duly committed as a “mentally ill person” to the Department of Mental Hygiene for placement in Camarillo State Hospital. Pursuant to a certificate to that effect received by the respondent Registrar of Voters in accordance with the provisions of section 297 of the Elections Code, the registrar, on April 16, 1954, cancelled the name of Hazel J. Younger upon the register" of voters of Los Angeles County. She has never been restored to the status of competency by decree of the court which committed her and she has never been discharged from Camarillo State Hospital as one who, in the judgment of the superintendent of the state hospital, has recovered. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6728.) She has not been discharged, either by the superintendent on his own motion or by the department upon its order, as a patient who is not insane. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 6733.) Although never discharged, Hazel J. Younger was granted a leave of absence by the superintendent of Camarillo State Hospital on October 2, 1953. Such leave of absence continues to this date and is consistent only with the status of legal incompetency which was established by the judicial decree of July 5, 1953. It *761thus appears that "after her commitment to Camarillo State Hospital, Hazel J. Younger has never been declared sane or restored to reason in any manner provided by law.
A person duly committed to a state institution as a “mentally ill person” is an “insane” person within the meaning of the Welfare and Institutions Code. The words “mentally ill” and “insane” are construed to mean the same thing. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5041.) They are used synonymously throughout the cited code sections. (Welf. & Inst. Code, §§ 6733, 6734, 6735.) To permit an insane person to hold public office would jeopardize public interest and safety. The provisions of our Constitution and the codes prevent this possibility. In this state, “An elector has no rights . . . beyond those of a citizen not an elector, except the right . . . of holding office and voting.” (Gov. Code, § 274.) The right to hold office is lost to one who is not an elector. (Gov. Code, § 275.) An “elector” is defined by Elections Code, section 20, as a person who qualifies under section 1 of article II of the Constitution of California. An insane person does not so qualify because section 1 of article II (Cal. Const.) provides that “. . . no insane person . . . shall ever exercise the privileges of an elector in this State.”
The status of Hazel J. Younger as an insane person, unqualified to be a candidate for public office in this state, has been determined by judicial decree of a court of competent jurisdiction of this state. There is no question but that that court acted within its jurisdiction and its decree has become final. There is, therefore, no occasion for us, in this proceeding, to inquire into a matter which is already res judicata. It follows that Hazel J. Younger is not a necessary party to this proceeding which seeks only to compel respondents to perform a ministerial act, the duty to perform which is established by the final judgment of the superior court above mentioned and the provisions of the Constitution and statutes above cited.
I would issue the peremptory writ of mandate forthwith directing the respondents to omit from the sample and official ballots for the direct primary election on June 8, 1954, the name of Hazel J. Younger as a candidate for the Republican nomination for the office of state senator from the Thirty-eighth Senatorial District.
Edmonds, J., concurred.