Court Opinion

ID: 9613938
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:21:05.593957+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:33.347760
License: Public Domain

Horowitz, J.
(dissenting) — The majority opinion denies the State Democratic Party the right to control the size and composition of its own state committee, the body charged with governing the statewide operations of the party between conventions, through the means of a charter duly adopted by the party's own convention. First, the majority holds sex is to be a criterion for membership on the committee, despite the party members' expressed will that ability — not sex — be the -relevant criterion, and despité the mandate of the people of Washington, expressed in their adoption of the equal rights amendment to our state constitution, that sex not be a criterion in creating classifications affecting rights and responsibilities.
Second, the majority holds that the party may not alter the composition of the committee to more fairly represent the Democrats of the three most populous counties of the state. King, Pierce, and Spokane Counties comprise approximately 52 percent of the state's total population,1 *315and approximately 53 percent of the total number of its registered voters.2 Yet Democrats from these counties are represented by only 8 percent of the delegates to the state committee. Despite the clear and substantial burden this inequity places on the right of free association of Democratic Party members, and despite this court's recent decision in King County Republican Cent. Comm. v. Republican State Comm., 79 Wn.2d 202, 484 P.2d 387 (1971) (hereinafter referred to as King Cy. Rep. Comm.) that the party convention controls party government, the majority stymies the effort of the state party, made at its convention, to remove the inequity by imposing a new formula and giving the three most populous counties 27 percent of the total number of delegates.
In reaching its result, the majority has seriously undermined the strength of the equal rights amendment and of the First Amendment freedom of association to promote political views. Furthermore, it has ignored our holding that the state convention is the "ultimate repository of statewide party authority," superior to the state committee. King Cy. Rep. Comm., supra at 211, 212. I cannot believe this result is legally sound.
I
The Equal Rights Amendment
The equal rights amendment adopted by the people of the State of Washington in 1972 (Const. art. 31, § 1) absolutely forbids any classification of persons based on sex. Darrin v. Gould, 85 Wn.2d 859, 540 P.2d 882 (1975). The majority concedes the amendment's broad language is not to be construed under the judicial standards adopted by the United States Supreme Court for the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which permit classifications based on sex where the requirements of the rational relationship or strict scrutiny test have been met. Moreover, the majority correctly points out that the thrust *316of the equal rights amendment is to end discrimination against either sex. The majority wrongly concludes, however, that the equality of rights and responsibilities guaranteed by the amendment is the same as equality of numbers, an interpretation which is obviously at odds with both the language and the spirit of the amendment. Equality of the right to seek and hold party offices cannot be guaranteed when these offices are to be allocated on the basis of sex so as to achieve equality of numbers. Furthermore, the majority approves, and thereby perpetuates, the use of sex as a criterion for classification, the very evil sought to be eliminated by the amendment.
In Darrin v. Gould, supra, this court adopted a standard for application of the new constitutional amendment, namely, outright prohibition of classifications on the basis of sex, even where such a classification would have been permissible under the equal protection clause. All classifications based on sex are prohibited. The only exceptions, we pointed out, are where the function of the classification is to regulate cohabitation in sexual activity between unmarried persons, protect fundamental rights of privacy, or allow dissimilar treatment because of characteristics unique to one sex. Darrin v. Gould, supra at 872 n.8. The majority even quotes the rationale adopted for this far-reaching standard: that the equal rights amendment must have been intended to prohibit sex classifications allowable under other constitutional provisions. The majority fails to state the rule adopted in Darrin v. Gould, though, that is that a classification cannot be based on sex alone, with no relation to the individuals' ability to perform the activity regulated. In Darrin the activity regulated was participation in high school football, and we held that, under the facts of that case, a classification based on sex did not relate to the ability of the individual to play football. Here the activity regulated is representation of a constituency on the Democratic Party's county or state committees. It should be obvious that sex is completely unrelated to the *317ability of an individual to perform these duties. This classification based on sex is also prohibited by the equal rights amendment.
The majority argues, however, that RCW 29.42.020 and .030, which require delegations to the state committee to consist of one man and one woman from each county, and that the chairman and vice-chairman of the state and county committees be of opposite sexes, breathe the spirit of equality and therefore conform to the requirements of the equal rights amendment. The error in this argument is easily demonstrated. The sex-related provisions of the statues have the effect that once a woman is chosen to represent her county on the state committee, or to be chairman or vice-chairman of one of the committees, no other woman is eligible for the remaining position, even though she may be the best qualified candidate and the person who would receive the most votes in a free election. A man must be chosen, even though that man may not possess the same qualities. All women desiring to seek and hold the remaining office are denied the right to do so merely because of their sex. Obviously, the same inequity applies to men seeking office under these statutes. Furthermore, contrary to the assertion of the majority, this inequity would exist, and be equally repulsive to the equal rights amendment, even if the statutory language required "an equal number of women and men." Clearly the majority opinion prevents the equal rights amendment from achieving its purpose of making sex a neutral factor, one to be disregarded in favor of ability and performance.
The majority argues that the use of the word "responsibility" in the amendment is ignored by this interpretation. On the contrary, the use of the word "responsibility" in the amendment emphasizes its aim that appropriate criteria, such as excellence in the activity regulated, be applied in creating necessary classifications, instead of the inappropriate criterion of sex. Talent is to be the guide, not sex.
I believe the equal rights amendment was intended to aid a political party, including the Democratic Party, in its *318effort to set ability as the criterion for election of its officials, not to hamstring it. The majority's interpretation distorts the amendment's very purpose. The Democratic Party in convention assembled decided the welfare of the party would be best served by the use of criterion of ability, rather than sex, in choosing its officials. It is supported in its effort to employ that criterion by the language and spirit of the equal rights amendment. The majority's distortion of the amendment stymies the efforts of both the Democratic Party and the people of Washington to make sex a completely neutral factor in the creation of classifications affecting rights and responsibilities in this state.
II
Right of Association
The majority holds that respondents failed to show the • statute determining the size and composition of the Democratic State Committee places a substantial burden on their freedom of association for political purposes under the First Amendment. This "factional dispute within the Democratic Party," it holds, should be resolved by "intraparty politicking." The majority appears to ignore rather than acknowledge the political reality facing the State Democratic Party, and to substitute its own judgment of what control over party structure is needed for that of the party convention, and of at least two federal courts.
The state committee as constituted by RCW 29.42.020 is grossly underrepresentative of the Democratic Party members living in the state's three most populous counties. Respondents point out in their brief, and appellants do not deny, that the vote of one Democrat in Garfield County has an influence in the state committee equal to the votes of nearly 400 Democrats in King County. The result is the party's principal organ for pursuing its political goals does not fairly represent the party's membership. Too great a voice is given to members from less populous areas; too small a voice is given to members from populous urban areas. Yet this committee has enormous control over the *319functioning of the State Democratic Party, and the majority's opinion gives it the additional power to ignore the mandate of the party's own convention.
The party decided at its convention that the inequitable makeup of the state committee burdened its ability to pursue the party's political goals and adopted a charter which alters the formula for the composition of the state committee. The party took the very course recommended by the majority. Through "intraparty politicking" at the convention, it arrived at a formula for allocating responsibility for governing the party which it felt was democratic and fair. It now seeks to put that formula into effect, but is prevented from doing so by the statute here challenged.
Respondents claim this situation is a burden on their right of association, and they have federal precedent to support their claim. The majority errs when it labels Fahey v. Darigan, 405 F. Supp. 1386 (D.R.I. 1975) an "aberration. " The reasoning of that case, which held that freedom of association of members of a political party prohibits state regulation of the size of internal party organs, is entirely consistent with the United States Supreme Court holding in Cousins v. Wigoda, 419 U.S. 477, 42 L. Ed. 2d 595, 95 S. Ct. 541 (1975). That case held that state interference with party rules governing qualification of delegates to a national convention unconstitutionally burdens party members' right of association. Although the court emphasized the crucial nature of the election for president and vice-president involved in Cousins, the notion that a political party must have control of its own processes was not limited in that case to national presidential elections. Furthermore, Fahey v. Darigan is not the only lower court case upon which respondents can rely. In Ripon Soc'y, Inc. v. National Republican Party, 525 F.2d 567 (D.C. Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 933, 47 L. Ed. 2d 341, 96 S. Ct. 1147 (1976), the court stated a conclusion fairly drawn from Supreme Court precedents:
What is important for our purposes is that a party's choice, as among various ways of governing itself, of the *320one which seems best calculated to strengthen the party and advance its interest, deserves the protection of the Constitution as much if not more than its condemnation. The express constitutional rights of speech and assembly are of slight value indeed if they do not carry with them a concomitant right of political association. Speeches and assemblies are after all not ends in themselves but means to effect change through the political process. If that is so, there must be a right not only to form political associations but to organize and direct them in the way that will make them most effective.
Ripon Soc'y, Inc. v. National Republican Party, supra at 585.
This court took note of the importance of party organization to freedom of speech in King Cy. Rep. Comm., supra at 219 and State ex rel. Wells v. Dykeman, 70 Wash. 599, 127 P. 218 (1912). With this wealth of sound precedent supporting respondents' claim that their freedom of association is substantially burdened by the statute they challenge, it is insupportable for the majority to characterize Fahey v. Darigan as an "aberration." That case is direct support for respondents' convincing argument that their freedom of association is burdened by the statute, which deprives them and other party members of the right to democratically organize their principal party organ as they see fit.
Furthermore, while the majority claims respondents have failed to indicate in any way how the purposes and objectives of the Democratic Party will be burdened by the statute, it ignores one of the very purposes and objectives it quotes from the charter:
3. Administer the party organization in accordance with rules and standards which will facilitate achieving the goals of the party.
Charter of the Democratic Party of Washington, art. 2, Purposes and Objectives (June 12, 1976). The charter could not be more explicit in stating a purpose to govern the *321party in such a way as to most effectively pursue its political goals. The interference of the statute with this purpose is patently obvious.
Respondents having established this substantial burden on their First Amendment rights, it becomes appellants' burden to show a compelling state interest justifying the statute's interference in internal party organization. Cousins v. Wigoda, supra. Appellants must also show the State has chosen the least restrictive means to achieve its purpose. See Kusper v. Pontikes, 414 U.S. 51, 38 L. Ed. 2d 260, 94 S. Ct. 303 (1973). The appellants have failed to carry the burden and the statute should be found unconstitutional.
Ill
Authority of the State Democratic Convention
The majority reaffirms the holding of this court in King Cy. Rep. Comm., supra, that "the state convention of a major political party is the ultimate repository of statewide party authority." It holds the action of the state convention is binding on the state committee. Nonetheless, the majority holds the formula for adding delegates to the state committee provided in article 4(G)(4) of the charter is not binding on the committee. While the rationale of the majority is not explicit, it may be inferred that it bases its conclusion on the proviso to the statement made in the King Cy. case, that is, "subject to the intervention of applicable statutory . . . provisions, the state convention is implicitly empowered to establish the permanent state organization of the party". King Cy. Rep. Comm., supra at 211. (Italics mine.) This assumes, of course, that an applicable statute is valid.
The majority thus ignores the real issue created by the conflict between the charter formula and the statutory formula for the composition of the state committee. As a matter of statutory construction, does RCW 29.42.020 empower the state committee to disregard the mandate of the party convention to seat additional committee members elected pursuant to the charter? In King Cy. Rep. Comm., supra, *322we said the state committee is subordinate to the overriding power of the convention. Our own precedent thus supports the action of the party convention in creating additional committee seats. In view of our holding in King Cy. Rep. Comm., and of the expressed will of the party convention, RCW 29.42.020 is an unjustifiable interference with party control over its internal affairs. It violates the First Amendment right of association and is invalid. It must yield to the provisions of the party charter.
The party convention has expressed its choice for the composition of the state committee. Accordingly, for the reasons previously stated, the state committee is bound by its party's convention to seat the additional committee members.
I dissent.
Wright, C.J., and Utter, J., concur with Horowitz, J.

Based on 1976 population figures. State of Washington, Office of Program Planning and Fiscal Management, State of Washington Pocket Data Book.

Based on official returns of November 1976 general election.