Court Opinion

ID: 9682985
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:20:17.665286+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:43.680714
License: Public Domain

*777LAMBERT, Justice,
dissenting.
For its decision in this case the majority has ignored our central holding in Fischer v. State Board of Elections, Ky., 879 S.W.2d 475 (1994) (“Fischer II”), and seized upon obiter dictum as its decisional basis, thereby placing its imprimatur upon the political dismemberment of two of Kentucky’s largest counties. There should be no misunderstanding about what transpired and what the majority has approved. Pulaski County, a county of 49,489 population, has been divided among five representative districts, and Laurel County, a county of 43,438 population, has been divided among five representative districts. In neither county is there a district contained wholly within its borders notwithstanding that both Pulaski County and Laurel County have population well in excess of the 36,853 which is required for a district. At oral argument a map was displayed before the Court showing the House districts at issue here. Except for House District 85 which contains a substantial portion of both Pulaski and Laurel counties, these counties are otherwise carved apart and added to other counties in utter contempt for the principle of preservation of county political integrity, the heart and soul of Fischer II.
Section 33 of the Constitution provides that the House of Representatives shall be divided into one hundred districts “as nearly equal in population as may be without dividing any county.” It also provides that “[n]o part of a county shall be added to another county to make a district....” From the Debates of the Constitutional Convention, there is no doubt that the Delegates meant what they said. Counties were not to be divided. However, with the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 82 S.Ct. 691, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962), the Constitution of Kentucky was forced to yield to the extent of allowing some division of counties to achieve population requirements. While the division of some counties was required, the principle of county integrity did not cease to exist. That principle, as modified to meet federal constitutional requirements, is that there be the least possible division of counties. Thus, a county or counties may not be divided at all or any more than is necessary to achieve population requirements. Where division is necessary, the principle of county integrity should be maintained so that the division will be the least disruptive. This is the holding in Fischer II.
As justification for upholding the re-apportionment plan here under review, the majority has relied upon dictum in the Fischer II opinion as follows: “The mandate of Section 33 is to make full use of the maximum constitutional variance as set forth herein and divide the fewest possible number of counties.” As with any case, however, Fischer II must be read in light of the issues before the Court. There was no issue as to whether there could be multiple division of counties.1 The only issue concerned the number of split counties. Simply stated, there was no reason in Fischer II to anticipate multiple splits of larger counties. This issue is brand new to this case. It has not been previously before the Court. It is a serious misreading of Fischer II to say that it authorizes what was done here. Our mandate to divide the fewest number of counties must be read in the context of the case we were deciding. We had no duty to anticipate a wholly non-existent issue. Here the issue is whether multiple divisions are permissible. Our duty is to apply the last sentence of Section 33 where it says, “[n]o part of a county shall be added to another county to make a district.”
In light of the majority opinion validating what took place here, there will be nothing to prevent the multiple division of other counties and it is entirely foreseeable that such could be used as a partisan weapon, perhaps in ways wholly beyond our present contem*778plation.2 Fischer II sought to reinvigorate the concept of county integrity as manifest in Section 33. We should not allow it to be distorted to achieve any other result. Section 33 of the Constitution of Kentucky is our responsibility and we should defend it.
For these reasons, I dissent.
GRAVES, J., joins this dissenting opinion.

. Contrary to what some would consider sound judicial practice, the Court did anticipate the possibility that some small, politically defenseless county which lacked sufficient population for a House district might be subjected to multiple divisions so as to satisfy population guidelines while being counted as but a single divided county. In n. 5, the Court sought to prevent "balancing the budget” on the backs of a few small counties. However, what was wholly unanticipated was that the budget would be balanced on the backs of two large counties. Any reasonable application of the reasoning of n. 5 would forbid what happened here.

. The majority has made reference to the three-way division of Christian County as indicating a lack of partisanship in the multiple division of Pulaski and Laurel counties. What it failed to say is that while Christian County lacks sufficient population to have two representative districts, it is apportioned so as to virtually guarantee two representatives from Christian County. The 8th House District consists of 45 precincts, 38 of which are in Christian County (KRS 5.208), and the 9th House District consists of 275 precincts, 274 of which are in Christian County (KRS 5.209). Any suggestion that the Christian County division is comparable to the division of Laurel and Pulaski counties is misguided.