Court Opinion

ID: 9774896
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:37:35.894747+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:17.517239
License: Public Domain

PRICE, Judge,
concurring in result.
I concur with the result reached in the opinion written by Chief Justice Robertson. I do not, however, agree that such a result can be reached solely from the contextual argument stated. As Judge Holstein shows in his dissent, the bare words of Article III, Section 7 can persuasively be argued to be “plain, clear and unambiguous.” Rather, I believe this case turns on Missouri’s historical practice in filling senate vacancies since the 1945 Constitution was adopted.
Article III, Section 7 never has been applied to preclude Section 21.130 from controlling in-term vacancy elections after redistricting. At least five times since 1945, in-term elections have been held to fill senatorial vacancies that arose subsequent to a reapportionment. On March 23, 1946, Governor Phil M. Donnelly issued a writ of election for the vacant 29th Senate District; the election was held on April 23,1946. On January 18, 1954, Governor Donnelly issued another writ to fill an in-term vacancy in the 4th District; that election was held on February 9, 1954. Governor Warren E. Hearnes issued a writ of election on June 24, 1966, to fill the seat left vacant by *637Senator Paul M. Berra in the 3rd District; that election was held on November 8, 1966. Governor Christopher S. Bond issued a writ of election to fill an in-term vacancy in the 26th Senate District on April 20,1982, and a second writ to fill a vacancy in the 9th District on October 25, 1983. Those elections were held on June 8, 1982, and on December 20, 1983, respectively. In each instance, the in-term election was held within the limits of the old senatorial district even though an intervening reapportionment had created a new district.1
Three Missouri Attorneys General have also adopted this position, issuing opinions finding that in-term vacancies must be filled in accordance with the old districts. The first such opinion was issued on August 21, 1952, by Attorney General J.E. Taylor advising Governor Forrest Smith that only counties comprising the old senate district are entitled to vote in a special election to fill a vacancy for the remainder of the term. Two subsequent opinions also adopted this position. Opinion No. 80-82, July 30, 1982, and Opinion No. 89-92, January 24, 1992. Attorney General Opinion No. 89-92, by the present Attorney General, William Webster, concluded specifically:
It is the opinion of this office that if an incumbent state senator vacates office after the filing of the apportionment plan and map but before the end of his term, the election to fill the vacancy is held within the boundaries composing the senatorial district at the time of the next preceding election [the old district].
Although not necessarily controlling, I cannot ignore the fact that prior to the present controversy Section 21.130 has been accepted by our elected officials without question and its provisions have been followed in every in-term senatorial election after a redistricting since the adoption of the 1945 Constitution. While it is the role of this Court, and not Governors or Attorneys General, to finally resolve constitutional questions, I do not believe we can or should read the Constitution without reference to the world around us or our past practices.2 “The fact that [a particular statute] has been accepted without question for more than fifty years by the executive and legislative branches of our government is persuasive of its constitutionality.” State v. Hunt, 247 S.W.2d 969, 972 (Mo.1952), citing State v. McGee, 234 S.W.2d 587 (Mo.1950).
Respondents point out two additional in-term elections where the votes appear to have been reported from the new, not the old, districts. Even assuming this is so, however, these elections were held under writs that contain language directing that they be held in the old districts. The writ issued on December 28, 1962, by Governor John M. Dalton, directed that the election be held “within the limits composing the seventh senatorial district of the State of Missouri, at the time of the general election next preceding the last above-mentioned date.”3 The writ issued on October 25, 1983, by Governor Christopher S. Bond, directed that the election be held “in accordance with the provisions of Section 21.130, RSMo 1978.”
Further details regarding these elections have not been presented to the Court. The argument that these elections may not have been held in accordance with the writs presents an interesting historical anomaly, but little more. We cannot speculate at this time what would have occurred had those elections been challenged. In these, as in the other writs discussed, the elected Missouri official responsible for issuing the writ did so in accordance with Section 21.-130, without challenge to its constitutionality.

.The historical practice in Missouri clearly distinguishes this case from Marston v. Kline, 8 Pa.Cmwlth. 143, 301 A.2d 393 (1973). In Marston, there was no evidence of a uniform interpretation of the Constitution by three different governors allowing in-term elections immediately subsequent to redistricting to be held in the old district.

. Missouri’s historical practice establishes both the ambiguity and correct interpretation of Article III, Section 7.

. Respondents also point out that this writ is directed to the sheriff of St. Louis County. They assert this is also inconsistent with the body of the writ specifying that election to be held within the limits of the old seventh senatorial district.