Court Opinion

ID: 9635465
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 13:51:06.612121+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:27.350598
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, District Judge
(dissenting in part):
With deference to the other members of this Court, I strongly disagree with that part of the opinion that puts a judicial stamp of approval on the constitutional 1 and statutory 2 provisions of Alabama dealing with residency requirements for candidates for the office of circuit judge. It was pursuant to those provisions of Alabama law that Judge Hildreth, present incumbent and now a candidate for reeleetion as circuit judge for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit of Alabama, filed a complaint alleging that Jack Drake was not qualified as a candidate for circuit judge of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in that he had failed to meet the 12-month pre-election residency requirement.
The effect of this action on the part of Judge Hildreth is to seek to remove from the ballot a man who is the candidate of the predominantly black National Democratic Party of Alabama. To deny Drake the opportunity to run for the office of circuit judge will, in effect, be to deny the black voters of the predominantly Negro Seventeenth Judicial Circuit the opportunity to freely choose the candidate of their choice. /
It is now a part of our basic law in this country that qualified citizens have a constitutionally protected right to vote and to have their votes counted. Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 12 L.Ed.2d 506 (1964); United States v. Mosley, 238 U.S. 383, 35 S.Ct. 904, 59 L.Ed. 1355 (1915). The right to exercise the franchise in a free and unimpaired manner is “a fundamental right, * * * preservative of all rights.” Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 370, 6 S.Ct. 1064, 1071, 30 L.Ed. 220 (1886); Reynolds v. Sims, supra. In holding that the right to a meaningful vote is fundamental to our democratic way of life, the Supreme Court has recently, in an uninterrupted line of cases, applied the “necessary to promote a compelling state interest” test to voter cases. See Evans v. Cornman, 398 U.S. 419, 90 S.Ct. 1752, 26 L.Ed.2d 370 (June 15, 1970) ; Cipriano v. City of Houma, 395 U.S. 701, 89 S.Ct. 1897, 23 L.Ed.2d 647 (1969); Kramer v. Union Free School District, 395 U.S. 621, 89 S.Ct. 1886, 23 L.Ed.2d 583 (1969). Furthermore, the Supreme Court has emphasized that “any alleged infringement of the right of citizens to vote must be carefully and meticulously scrutinized.” Reynolds v. Sims, supra.
There can be no question that if a citizen is entitled to vote and have his vote counted, he is entitled to vote for any candidate of his choice, subject to valid conditions and qualifications imposed by the state. In Williams v. Rhodes, 393 U.S. 23, 89 S.Ct. 5, 21 L.Ed.2d 24 (1968), a case involving the right of a political party (George Wallace’s Independent Party) to have the names of its candidates listed on the ballot in Ohio, the Supreme Court- stated that qualified voters, regardless of their political persuasion, have a constitutional right to cast their votes effectively. The Supreme Court in the Rhodes case stated:
“The right to form a party for the advancement of political goals means little if a party can be kept off the election ballot and thus denied an equal opportunity to win votes. * * * In determining whether the State has power to place such unequal burdens on minority groups where rights of this kind are at stake, the decisions of this Court have consistently held that ‘only a compelling state interest in the *128regulation of a subject within the State’s constitutional power to regulate can justify limiting First Amendment freedoms.’ NAACP v. Button, 371 U.S. 415, 438, 83 S.Ct. 328, 9 L.Ed.2d 405 (1963).”
The right of the candidate to seek public office is, therefore, so inextricably intertwined with the right of the voter to vote effectively that an infringement on one right will necessarily have a deleterious effect on the other. Cf. Smith v. Paris, 257 F.Supp. 901 (M.D.Ala.1966) (3-judge court); Sellers v. Trussell, 253 F.Supp. 915 (M.D.Ala.1966) (3-judge court).
Thus, under the “necessary to promote a compelling state interest” test enunciated in Kramer and Rhodes, supra, the only way Alabama can constitutionally justify the one-year durational residency requirement for candidates for the office of circuit judge is to show a “compelling state interest,” and when such a justification is offered, the court must “meticulously scrutinize” the evidence.
In concluding that the State of Alabama has a “compelling state interest” in imposing a substantial pre-election residency requirement for a candidate for circuit judge, the other two members of this Court, after virtually acknowledging by their statement that such an interest is “extremely difficult to establish by objective proof,” apparently base their conclusion on their “own knowledge of the operation and demands of the judicial system.” The other members of this Court base their “compelling state interest” conclusion upon the argument that candidates for the office of circuit judge should be exposed to the voters for a substantial period of time before election in order to allow the voters an opportunity to observe and appraise those who seek the office. They discuss temperament and judgment and judicial qualities. They also apparently consider it important that one serving as a circuit judge get to know the people and the litigants that make up the circuit. To me, these are superficial arguments and they do not come close to establishing a “compelling state interest” for this durational residency requirement for candidates for circuit judge.
There are some elective offices in the State of Alabama for which no preelection residency in the district or circuit is required. The office of sheriff, for example, is a highly sensitive position and one which all must acknowledge requires a close rapport with the residents of the community. Yet sheriffs are not required by Alabama law to reside in the county prior to their election. The same holds true for county commissioners and county treasurers. Good moral character and knowledge of the law are required of candidates for circuit judgeships by other provisions in the Alabama law. Ala.Const. Art. VI, § 154 ; Alabama State Bar ex rel. Steiner v. Moore, 282 Ala. 562, 213 So.2d 404 (1968); Opinion of the Justices, 279 Ala. 38, 181 So.2d 105 (1965). That part of the justification for giving constitutional approval to Alabama’s durational residency requirement for circuit judges advanced by the other members of this Court, to the effect that a candidate should be exposed to the voters for a substantial period of time before the election, in my opinion completely falls in view of that part of the opinion of this Court set forth in Section II that holds, and I think correctly, that voters need not reside in the county in which the candidate for judge is running for office for any length of time prior to the election. How incongruous to hold that the candidate must be “exposed” for a year so the voters will know him when the voters are not constitutionally required to reside in the geographic area in which the candidate is being “exposed” !
In my judgment the strongest argument that Alabama has no “compelling state interest” in this durational residency requirement lies in Section 144 of Article VI of the Constitution of Alabama, which provides:
“A circuit court, or a court having the jurisdiction of the circuit court, shall be held in each county in the *129state at least twice in every year, and judges of the several courts mentioned in this section may hold court for each other when they deem it expedient, and shall do so when directed by law. * * * ” (Emphasis added.)
The public records of this State reflect that the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court has regularly assigned and continues to assign circuit judges to serve in circuits in which they have never resided and in which, according to the argument advanced by the other Judges of this Court, they have no knowledge of the people or the litigants.3 How can a circuit judge elected to a circuit situated in the northern part of Alabama effectively serve by assignment as a circuit judge in a circuit situated in the southern part of Alabama? The answer is simple: Because he is under no impediment for not having resided in the circuit to which he is assigned in that he is a resident of the State of Alabama and has met the State durational residency requirement. This is the only requirement as to knowledge of the people and the litigants in which the State can» possibly have an interest.4
Practically speaking, the election process itself serves to inform the voting populace of the candidates who are running for office in the community. The only way a candidate, especially one who does not reside in the community, can win an election is to campaign. If his campaign is to be successful, the candidate must familiarize himself with the important issues in the community and gain the trust and confidence of the people.
Furthermore, there are enough safeguards inherent in the political system to protect the voters from a dishonest candidate. First, as noted above, a candidate for the office of circuit judge must be a member of the Alabama Bar, which means that he must have satisfied the strict standards of the Bar’s ethics committee. Secondly, most candidates for the office of circuit judge will have been nominated by an established political party which will, most likely, have screened the candidate before nominating him. Third, the nonresident candidate will probably have an opponent who will be only too pleased to publicize the fact that the candidate is a “strang*130er” to the community. The local media will also be only too willing to “expose” the nonresident candidate if it finds him to be unfit for the office of circuit judge.
Finally, even if the State were to show a compelling interest in giving the voters an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the candidate, a 12-month pre-election residence requirement is not necessary to promote this interest. See Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618, 631, 89 S.Ct. 1322, 22 L.Ed.2d 600 (1969). These provisions create a nonrebuttable presumption, which the other Judges of this Court seem to accept, that the voters of a community will not be acquainted with the qualifications of a candidate who does not reside in the circuit and that a candidate who does not reside in the circuit will not be familiar with the people or their problems. All one has to do is look to the facts of this case to see that this presumption is unsupportable.
The Seventeenth, Judicial Circuit is composed of three counties — Greene, Sumter and Marengo — all of which are predominantly Negro. There are approximately twenty attorneys who reside and practice in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit; all of these attorneys are white. Drake has set forth in his pleadings, and defendants have not controverted, the fact that he is the only attorney who works closely with the blacks. From this it would appear that Drake would better understand the problems of the people who reside in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit than any of the resident attorneys.
The following language from Kramer v. Union Free School District, supra, is especially germane to the case at hand:
“For, assuming, arguendo, that New York legitimately might limit the franchise in these school district elections to those ‘primarily interested in school affairs,’ close scrutiny of the § 2012 classifications demonstrates that they do not accomplish this purpose with sufficient precision to justify denying appellant the franchise.
“Whether classifications allegedly limiting the franchise to those resident citizens ‘primarily interested’ deny those excluded equal protection of the laws depends, inter alia, on whether all those excluded are in fact substantially less interested or affected than those the statute includes. In other words, the classifications must be tailored so that the exclusion of appellant and members of his class is necessary to achieve the articulated state goal. Section 2012 does not meet the exacting standard of precision we require of statutes which selectively distribute the franchise. The classifications in § 2012 permit inclusion of many persons who have, at best, a remote and indirect interest, in school affairs and, on the other hand, exclude others who have a distinct interest in the school meeting decisions.” 395 U.S. at 632, 89 S.Ct. at 1892.
I would, therefore, declare those portions of Article VI of the Alabama Constitution and Title 13, Section 176, of the Alabama Code which impose a 12-month pre-election residency requirement on candidates for the office of circuit judge unconstitutional as violative of the Fifteenth Amendment and the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Therefore, I dissent from that part (IV) of the opinion of this Court that holds otherwise.
I concur in the remainder of the opinion.

. Ala.Const. Art. VI, § 142.

. Ala.Code, T. 13, § 176.

. Summary of assignments for circuit judges, State of Alabama — circuit judges assigned to serve in circuits other than the circuit in which they were elected:
1960 41 through 12-16-60 1966 57 through 12-12-66
1961 38 through 12-18-61 1967 54 through 12-12-67
1962 26 through 12-12-62 1968 59 through 12-30-68
1963 39 through 12-17-63 1969 80 through 12-17-69
1964 52 through 12-16-64 1970 55 •through 10-6-70
1965 65 through 12-30-65
It should be noted that of a total of 31 judicial circuits in Alabama, there were 80 such assignments in the calendar yea 1969!

. A number of States, for example, do not require judges of trial courts of general jurisdiction to reside in the district to which they are elected for any period prior to their election. As does Alabama, most of these States require that these candidates reside in the State for a specified period. See, e. g., Ariz.Const. Art. VI, § 22, A.R.S.; Fla.Const. Art. V, § 13A, F.S.A.; Ga.Code Ann. §§ 2-4801 and 24-2603; Miss.Const. Art. VI, § 154; W.Va.Const. Art. 8, § 10, and W. Va.Code ½ 51-2-8.