Court Opinion

ID: 9429555
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:27:07.42961+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:20.301422
License: Public Domain

Justice Marshall,
dissenting.
Contrary to appellants’ contention,1 the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit did not invalidate Art. VIII, § 1(e), of the Florida Constitution, which generally requires county commissioners to be elected at large. Rather, the Court of Appeals merely affirmed the District Court’s finding that the Escambia County Commissioners refused to exercise certain powers with which they were invested by the State Constitution2 in order to maintain, for racially discriminatory purposes, an at-large voting scheme that drastically diluted the political strength of Negro voters. See 688 F. 2d 960, 969 (1982). Because the Court of Appeals did not invalidate any state law, consideration of this case as an appeal under 28 *53U. S. C. §1254(2) is clearly improper. See Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee Corp., 464 U. S. 238, 247 (1984); Perry Education Assn. v. Perry Local Educators’ Assn., 460 U. S. 37, 42-43 (1983) (statutes authorizing appeals are to be strictly construed). Consequently, appellants’ jurisdictional statement must be treated as a petition for certiorari. So treated, I believe that the petition should be denied. The holding below falls squarely within applicable constitutional standards and raises no issues warranting this Court’s attention. In sum, I would hold that appellants cannot properly invoke this Court’s appellate jurisdiction and that their jurisdictional statement, considered as a petition for certiorari, should be be dismissed as improvidently granted.
I respectfully dissent.

 See Juris. Statement 2-3.

 The Florida Constitution empowers a county to change its electoral scheme from at-large voting to selection on the basis of single-member districts. See Fla. Const., Art. VIII, § 1(c); Fla. Stat. §§125.60-125.64 (1983). Such a change must be ratified by the majority of voters within a county. The District Court found that the Escambia County Commission refused to permit the electorate to vote on proposals to establish a single-member district voting scheme because of the Commissioners’ racially discriminatory intent to maintain a voting system that nullified the political potential of Negro voters. See App. to Juris. Statement 96a~98a.