JACKSON ET AL.
v.
OGILVIE, GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS, ET AL.

U.S. | 1971-02-22
No. 1341
401 U.S. 904 Supreme Court of the United States (1971) Positive Treatment
Cited by 8 cases
Topics
Justiciability Abstention Doctrine Administrative Decisions Judicial Review Of Administrative Decisions

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Concurrence
Mr. Justice Douglas,

Mr. Justice Douglas,

concurring.

The Court properly stays its hand in this election case that comes to us with the customary plea for emergency action. It is not entirely clear that the three-judge court was properly convened. But assuming it was, the case is peculiarly appropriate for application of the abstention doctrine which we recently applied in Reetz v. Bozanich, 397 U. S. 82.

The Illinois statutes involved here have not been construed as respects the issues now tendered. Whether the federal question would be avoided by a state construction of the Illinois statutes is not known. There is, however, a built-in provision for judicial review in the Illinois Circuit Court of a decision of the Election Board. Ill. Rev. Stat., c. 46, § 10-10.1 (1967).

While these issues are by our federal standard “justiciable,” federal courts are usually less able than state courts to work their way through a maze of state electoral laws. If federal courts take the laboring oar in these so-called “emergency” cases involving local electoral laws, they must make quick decisions on local-law issues that are often tangled with matters of local construction and administration.* The suit in the federal court was filed December 1970, the three-judge court rendering its decision on January 28, 1971. 325 F. Supp. 864. It was not until February 1, 1971, that appellant Jackson filed his nomination papers with the Board. On February 8, 1971, two registered voters filed written objections to those nomination papers. The Board gave notice of a hearing to be held February 11, 1971, on these objections. The Board on February 18, 1971, held that the nomination papers of appellant Jackson did not satisfy requirements of the Illinois election code. Hence it was apparent that the administrative decision of the Board came after the decision of the federal three-judge court. What appellants ask us in substance to do is to sit in direct review of the Election Board. The reason, of course, is that the primary will be held February 23, 1971, and the State will begin distributing the ballots which contain the names of the winners of the primary and the names of the independent candidates on March 8, 1971. Federal courts cannot act responsibly in those situations.

*

One of the underlying local-law issues involves the question as to what people are qualified to sign nominating petitions for independent candidates such as appellants. There is one view that the signatures must be of persons who did not vote in the preceding primary election for nominees of candidates for that office,, and there is the opposing view that any registered voter may sign nominating petitions for independent candidates.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By

  • ELY v. Klahr, 403 U.S. 108 (U.S. 1971)
    …1971 also presented cases where one of the parties needed immediate action. In Jackson v. Ogilvie, the issue was the requirement that an independent obtain' 5% of the registered voters on a nominating petition. We denied a stay on February 22, 1971, 401 U. S. 904, and there was no way the case could be heard prior- to the-election. Through aE these cases Williams v. Rhodes stands out as exceptional, because both the necessary preargument injunctive relief and expedited oral argument were obtained.…
  • Smith v. Cherry, 489 F.2d 1098 (7th Cir. 1973)
    …Civil Procedure. Reversed and remanded for further proceedings. . They were 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985, 28 U.S.C. § 1343 and 42 U.S.C. § 1971. . Defendant Committeemen merely rely on a concurring opinion of Justice Douglas in Jackson v. Ogilvie, 401 U.S. 904, 91 S.Ct. 642, 27 L.Ed.2d 803. The briefs of the other defendants cite no abstention authorities. . A special election was ordered by this very district judge in Cousins v. City Council, 361 F.Supp. 530 (N.D.Ill.1973), after our remand for new tria…
  • Moore v. Kusper, 465 F.2d 256 (7th Cir. 1972)
    …nois court and its terms are far from clear in particulars that go to the foundation of these portions of the complaint. Lake Carriers’ Association v. MacMullan, 406 U.S. 498, 92 S.Ct. 1749, 32 L.Ed.2d 257 (decided May 30, 1972); Jackson v. Ogilvie, 401 U.S. 904, 91 S.Ct. 642, 27 L.Ed.2d 803. However, I must respectfully dissent from the majority disposition of that part of the complaint alleging as follows : “13. In addition, and contrary to the mandatory provisions of the stat [*260] ute, defendants fai…

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