Agre v. Wolf (284 F. Supp. 3d 591, 2018)

Smith, Chief Circuit Judge I. Introduction

Plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment that the Pennsylvania General Assembly exceeded its authority under the United States Constitution when it enacted a congressional redistricting plan that was intended to favor candidates from the Republican Party. Amended Complaint, ECF No. 88 at 1, 6, 11. Invoking 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Plaintiffs allege a direct violation of the "Elections Clause." Id. at 2. The Elections Clause, Article 1, Section 4, Clause 1 of the Constitution, provides state legislatures with authority to prescribe "[t]he Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives." U.S. Const. art. I, § 4, cl. 1. Under Plaintiffs' theory, the Clause gives States very limited power: to promulgate procedural rules, and to do so in a neutral fashion. ECF No. 88 at 2. Plaintiffs argue that the General Assembly exceeded this authority when it redrew Pennsylvania's federal congressional districts in 2011. They contend that the General Assembly prioritized partisan, political ends over "neutral districting criteria," and, in so doing, violated the Elections Clause's fairness requirement. Id. at 8-9; Plaintiffs' Post-Trial Memorandum of Fact and Law, ECF No. 204 at 9.

Through this lawsuit, Plaintiffs seek a sea change in redistricting. They are forthright about this intention: they desire a judicial mandate that Art. I, § 4, of the Constitution prohibits any political or partisan considerations in redistricting.

Plaintiffs' ambitious theory suffers from three fatal flaws. First, the Framers provided a check on state power within the text of the Elections Clause, but it is a political one-action by Congress. The language and history of the Clause suggest no direct role for the courts in regulating state conduct under the Elections Clause. Second, the Elections Clause offers no judicially enforceable limit on political considerations in redistricting. Plaintiffs' partisan blindness theory was long ago rejected by the Supreme Court, and for good reason. The task of prescribing election regulations was given, in the first instance, to political actors who make decisions for political reasons. Plaintiffs ignore this reality. In fact, they ask the Court to enforce the supposed constitutional command by requiring the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to develop a new process that will somehow sanitize redistricting by removing political influence. Courts cannot mandate new processes for creating election regulations. The Elections Clause leaves that to state legislatures and to Congress-bodies directly accountable to the people. Third, Plaintiffs' Elections Clause claim is an unjustifiable attempt to skirt existing Supreme Court precedent. Partisan gerrymandering claims under the First Amendment and/or Equal Protection Clause are justiciable, but a majority of justices have yet to agree on a standard. Despite the lack of agreement, the justices favoring justiciability uniformly acknowledge that the courts should not assume a primary role in redistricting. Out of concern for a healthy separation from this most political of matters, the justices have proposed high bars for judicial intervention. Contrary to that concern, Plaintiffs offer an Elections Clause theory that invites expansive judicial involvement. Plaintiffs suggest that the Elections Clause offers an easily manageable standard. What they really mean is that it offers a lower bar-an easy path to judicial intervention.

Plaintiffs seek to chart a new path, one that ignores the constitutional text, casts aside persuasive precedent, and brings with it inevitable problems that should counsel restraint before entering the political thicket of popular elections. For these reasons, I would hold the Plaintiffs' Elections Clause claim to be non-justiciable.

a. Procedural History

The procedural history of this matter is a brief one. Plaintiffs, who began as a group of five Pennsylvania residents and eventually grew to a group of twenty-six, filed a Complaint on October 2, 2017, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. ECF No. 1. The Honorable Michael M. Baylson, to whom the matter was assigned, promptly executed his duties pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2284 and notified me, as Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, that the matter required a three-judge panel. Oct. 5, 2017 Letter, ECF No. 37. Recognizing the time-sensitive nature of this matter, and pursuant to statutory authority, Judge Baylson conducted a pre-trial scheduling conference and entered a Scheduling Order. See ECF Nos. 2, 20, 24. The Scheduling Order provided for expedited discovery and a trial to begin on December 4, 2017. ECF No. 20. On October 19, 2017, pursuant to my authority under 28 U.S.C. § 2284, I appointed the Honorable Patty Shwartz of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and myself, to adjudicate this matter with Judge Baylson. ECF No. 34. After ruling on various pre-trial matters, a four-day trial was held from December 4-7, 2017. Post-trial briefs were filed on December 15, 2017. ECF Nos. 204, 206, 207.

For the reasons outlined in my opinion below and the opinion of Judge Shwartz, post , judgment will be entered for Defendants.

* * *

Because I would rule this action non-justiciable as a matter of law, I dispense with any discussion of the factual record. I proceed by discussing the history of the Elections Clause, the relevant jurisprudence, and finally why I believe Plaintiffs' Elections Clause claim is not cognizable. Before doing so, I note the extensive work of my two colleagues on this panel and commend their energy and effort in drafting thorough opinions in what has been a demanding timeframe.

II. History of the Elections Clause

Plaintiffs argue that the Elections Clause prohibits the drawing of congressional districts based on partisan motivations. Because the Clause's text explicitly assigns the power to prescribe election regulations to political bodies-specifically, state legislatures and the federal Congress-Plaintiffs must look outside of the constitutional text in order to support their theory. History, however, provides no support for Plaintiffs' theory. Historical records surrounding the Constitutional Convention and succeeding State ratification proceedings evince no basis upon which this Court might read Plaintiffs' desired limitations into the Elections Clause. In this section, I examine that history.

The purpose of the Elections Clause was to ensure orderly elections for the House of Representatives. Rather than attempt to spell out a detailed election code within the Constitution itself, the Framers decided to confer a discretionary power over elections to politically accountable legislatures. Noting that it could "not be alleged that an election law could have been framed and inserted into the Constitution, which would have been always applicable to every probable change in the situation of the country," Alexander Hamilton argued that "it will therefore not be denied that a discretionary power over elections ought to exist somewhere." THE FEDERALIST NO. 59 (Alexander Hamilton). Writing in 1787, Hamilton went on to identify "only three ways[ ] in which this power could have been reasonably modified and disposed." Id. First, the discretionary power over elections could be "lodged wholly in the National Legislature," second, it could be lodged "wholly in the State Legislatures," and third, it could be lodged "primarily in the latter, and ultimately in the former." Id. The members of the Constitutional Convention ultimately settled on the third manner-allowing state legislatures to use their localized knowledge to prescribe election regulations in the first instance, but "reserv[ing] to the national authority a right to interpose, whenever extraordinary circumstances might render that interposition necessary to its safety." Id.

Notably, Hamilton made no reference to either state or federal courts when he identified "only three ways" that "a discretionary power over elections" could be "reasonably modified and disposed." Id. Rather, Hamilton argued in favor of assigning this discretion to state and federal legislatures. By contrast, Plaintiffs identify partisan gerrymandering as a problem that the federal judiciary is well situated to correct. Plaintiffs' argument, however, ignores the discretionary nature of the power afforded to state and federal legislatures. Quite simply, their argument conflates legislative inaction with legislative inability .

State legislatures exercise the discretionary power afforded to them by the Elections Clause when those legislatures draw election districts. Similarly, Congress exercises the discretion afforded to it by the Elections Clause when Congress decides against upsetting those State regulations. Yet Plaintiffs ask this Court to assume the roles of state and federal legislatures, urging us to exercise the discretion that has been explicitly reserved to those political bodies. Accepting Plaintiffs' invitation to do so would require this Court to declare that the current political climate calls for action rather than inaction-a political declaration that Article III of the Constitution constrains us from making.

Providing Congress with the ability to override election regulations prescribed by the several states was the subject of significant debate at the time of the framing. Examining this history counsels against concluding that the judiciary has an expansive role to play under the Elections Clause. Such a conclusion would require us to assume that, although significant debate was had over providing Congress with the power to override state regulations, the Framers covertly provided a similar power to the courts but without textual reference. As examined below, the intensity of the debate over empowering a single federal body-Congress-to override State regulations necessarily casts doubt on any theory which would require doubling that power by granting it to the judiciary as well.

At the time of the framing, the main rationale put forward in support of a congressional power to make and alter election regulations was a rationale grounded in self-preservation. As Alexander Hamilton put it, the "propriety [of the Elections Clause] rests upon the evidence of this plain proposition, that every government ought to contain in itself the means of its own preservation ." THE FEDERALIST NO. 59 (Alexander Hamilton) (emphasis in original). Here Hamilton expresses a fear commonly expressed at the time of the framing-namely, that the several States would simply thumb their noses at a newly-formed federal government and decide against establishing any federal elections at all. Examining an earlier draft of the Elections Clause brings this fear into focus.

One early draft provided:

The times and places and manner of holding the elections of the members of each House shall be prescribed by the Legislature of each State; but their provisions concerning them may, at any time, be altered by the Legislature of the United States.

Records of the Federal Convention, August 9, 1787. One difference between this early draft and the ultimately-ratified version is that, while the above-quoted draft refers to "each House," the ultimately-ratified version explicitly disallows Congress from regulating "the Places of chusing Senators." U.S. Const. art. I, § 4. This change stemmed from a motion by James Madison and Gouverneur Morris, and was intended to protect the States from congressional interference when it came to electing federal Senators. Another amendment to the early draft language quoted above was more controversial. It empowered Congress to not only alter State regulations, but to make election regulations itself in the first instance. Records of the Federal Convention, August 9, 1787.

Empowering Congress to make election regulations out of whole cloth was seen by some as an intrusion into the realm of the States' prerogatives. See, e.g. , FEDERAL FARMER NO. 3 ("[B]ut why in laying the foundation of the social system, need we unnecessarily leave a door open to improper regulation? ... Were [the Elections Clause] omitted [from the Constitution], the regulations of elections would be solely in the respective states, where the people are substantially represented; and where the elections ought to be regulated"); FEDERAL FARMER NO. 12 ("It has been often urged, that congress ought to have power to make these regulations, otherwise the state legislatures, by neglecting to make provision for elections, or by making improper elections, may destroy the general government.... Should the state legislatures be disposed to be negligent ... they [already] have a very simple way to do it ... they have only to neglect to chuse senators.... These and many other reasons must evince, that it was not merely to prevent an annihilation of the federal government that congress has power to regulate elections."); Debate in Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention ("If the Congress had it not in their power to make regulations, what might be the consequences? Some states might make no regulations at all on the subject."); Debate in Massachusetts Ratifying Convention ("[I]f the states shall refuse to do their duty, then let the power be given to Congress to oblige them to do it. But if they do their duty, Congress ought not to have the power to control elections."); Debate in North Carolina Ratifying Convention, July 25, 1788 ("But sir, [the Elections Clause] points forward to the time when there will be no state legislatures-to the consolidation of all the states. The states will be kept up as boards of elections.").

Including this congressional power within the Elections Clause led to a proposed amendment from the North Carolina ratifying Convention that would have prohibited Congress from making election regulations in the first instance, "except when the legislature of any state shall neglect, refuse, or be disabled by invasion or rebellion." James Iredell, Proposed Amendment, North Carolina Ratifying Convention, August 1, 1788. Notably, this debate continued even after New Hampshire became the ninth and last state necessary for ratification of the Constitution in 1788. Considering the Bill of Rights in 1789, the House of Representatives considered an amendment that would have prohibited Congress from "alter[ing], modify[ing], or interfer[ing] in the times, places, or manner of holding elections of Senators, or Representatives, except when any State shall refuse or neglect, or be unable, by invasion or rebellion, to make such election." House of Representatives, An Amendment to Art. I, § 4, Cl. 1. James Madison acknowledged the benefit of such an amendment, stating that "[i]f this amendment had been proposed at any time either in the Committee of the whole or separately in the House, I should not have objected to the discussion of it." Id. Considering the Amendment in August of 1789, however, Madison concluded that he could not "agree to delay the amendments now agreed upon[ ] by entering into the consideration of propositions not likely to obtain the consent of either two-thirds of this House or three-fourths of the State Legislatures." Id.

It appears, then, that empowering the federal Congress to override State election regulations was not a power that the Framers surreptitiously inserted into the Constitution. Rather, it was a power that was subject to considerable debate-a debate that continued even after the Constitution was ratified. I concede that this history is not dispositive. Yet I am satisfied that it strongly cautions against concluding that a similar power to override state election regulations was provided to the federal judiciary without mention in the text and without any similar debate having taken place.

This is not to say that the courts were entirely absent from the Framers' minds when they were debating the merits of the Election Clause. North Carolina delegate John Steele, for example, suggested that "[t]he judicial power of [the federal] government is so well constructed as to be a check" against Congress misusing the power granted to it in the Elections Clause. Debate in North Carolina Ratifying Convention, July 25, 1788. The commonly complained of misuses to which Steele referred included Congress regulating the "place" of elections so that elections would be held only in geographic locations that favored a particular class of candidates, the "time" of elections so that elections would be held less frequently than the relevant congressional terms called for, and the "manner" of elections so that elections be carried out in a way that ignored a State's preference for an electoral majority. See, e.g. , Debate in Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, January 16, 1788 ("[S]uppose the legislature of this state should prescribe that the choice of the federal representatives should be in the same manner as that of governor-a majority of all the votes in the state being necessary to make it such-and Congress should deem it an improper manner , and should order it be as practicsed in several of the Southern States, where the highest number of votes make a choice.... Again, as to the place ... may not Congress direct that the election for Massachusetts shall be held in Boston? And if so, it is possible that, previous to the election, a number of the electors may meet, agree upon the eight delegates, and propose the same to a few towns in the vicinity, who, agreeing in sentiment, may meet on the day of election, and carry their list by a major vote."); Debate in North Carolina Ratifying Convention, July 25, 1788 ("[Congress] may alter the time from six to twenty years, or to any time; for they have an unlimited control over the time of elections.").

As Steele argued, however, such concerns were overblown because other provisions of the Constitution would prohibit Congress from acting in such a way, and the courts could enforce those other provisions. Debate in North Carolina Ratifying Convention, July 25, 1788 ("If the Congress make laws inconsistent with the Constitution, independent judges will not uphold them, nor will the people obey them."); see also id. ("Does not the Constitution say that representatives shall be chosen every second year? The right of choosing them, therefore, reverts to the people every second year." (Iredell)).

Steele's reference to "independent judges" actually cuts against Plaintiffs' theory in two ways. First, it illustrates that to the extent the federal judiciary was considered in the debates surrounding the Elections Clause, it was seen as a check on Congress . In other words, the ability for the judiciary to act as a check on congressional interference in State regulations was used as a selling point to convince skeptical delegates that they should not fear granting an Elections Clause power to Congress. This is at odds with the argument that Plaintiffs advance here: that the federal judiciary was not seen as a limit on federal interference with state regulations, but that it was silently empowered to act as a second source of federal interference. Second, the ability for the federal judiciary to act as a check by enforcing other constitutional provisions undermines Plaintiffs' argument that the Election Clause itself acts as a source of substantive limitations on state regulations. As discussed in Part III below, the Supreme Court has identified other constitutional provisions that restrict state and federal action in the elections context. Although the Framers were fearful of State legislatures "mould[ing] their regulations as to favor the candidates they wished to succeed," Records of the Federal Convention, James Madison, August 9, 1787, the constitutionally prescribed remedy for that fear was plenary oversight by Congress, and a federal judiciary capable of ensuring that other provisions of the Constitution were not violated.

III. Jurisprudence

As the preceding section demonstrates, the Framers did not envision such a primary role for the courts, and the text of the Clause reflects as much. So too, Supreme Court precedent supports a limited role for the judiciary. That role is primarily limited to enforcing the guarantees of the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protections Clause. The protections afforded by those provisions are robust, yet generally unobtrusive to States in promulgating election regulations. Likewise unobtrusive are the Supreme Court cases interpreting the Elections Clause. The Court has interpreted the Clause as providing great leeway to the States and their citizens to determine how regulations will be promulgated. To be sure, the Elections Clause permits only procedural regulations, and that limitation is enforced most often through the First Amendment or the Equal Protection Clause. The Supreme Court has struck down state regulations as directly violative of the Elections Clause in very few cases-two to be exact. By limiting its intervention, the Court has emphasized the power the Elections Clause gives to the people in controlling election regulations.

a. Source of State Authority

Before considering Plaintiffs' claim regarding state power to draw district lines, one must be clear as to the source of that power. Legislative Defendants suggest that the power to draw district lines existed prior to ratification, and thus falls within the States' sovereign authority. See ECF No. 168-1 at 7. If they are correct, the Elections Clause claim easily fails: Pennsylvania cannot exceed its authority under the Elections Clause by exercising a reserved power. However, Legislative Defendants provide no evidence that drawing lines for federal districts is a power reserved by the Tenth Amendment.

Indeed, Legislative Defendants' argument appears to be foreclosed by the Supreme Court's reasoning in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton , 514 U.S. 779, 115 S.Ct. 1842, 131 L.Ed.2d 881 (1995). As discussed in greater detail below, Thornton dealt with the States' power vel non to add term-limit qualifications for members of Congress, including Senators. Id. at 783, 115 S.Ct. 1842. The threshold question in Thornton was whether the States have sovereign authority to add qualifications for their congressional representatives. The Supreme Court held that they do not: "the states can exercise no powers whatsoever, which exclusively spring out of the existence of the national government, which the constitution does not delegate to them.... No state can say, that it has reserved, what it never possessed." 514 U.S. 779, 802, 115 S.Ct. 1842, 131 L.Ed.2d 881 (quoting 1 Story § 627). Because "electing representatives to the National Legislature was a new right, arising from the Constitution itself" the Court held that "[t]he Tenth Amendment ... provides no basis for concluding that the States possess reserved power to add qualifications to those that are fixed in the Constitution." Id. at 805, 115 S.Ct. 1842.

The Court adhered to this view of reserved powers in Cook v. Gralike , 531 U.S. 510, 121 S.Ct. 1029, 149 L.Ed.2d 44 (2001). Gralike concerned Missouri's power to use ballot labels as a means of advising voters about candidates support for federal term limits. Id. at 514, 121 S.Ct. 1029. The Supreme Court had to consider whether States, as sovereigns, possessed reserved power to instruct their representatives. It reasoned: "[n]o other constitutional provision gives the States authority over congressional elections, and no such authority could be reserved under the Tenth Amendment. By process of elimination, the States may regulate the incidents of such elections, including balloting, only within the exclusive delegation of power under the Elections Clause." Id. at 522-23, 121 S.Ct. 1029.

In the face of such robust language, Legislative Defendants cite Chapman v. Meier , 420 U.S. 1, 95 S.Ct. 751, 42 L.Ed.2d 766 (1975), as suggesting that "redistricting falls within the [S]tates' inherent powers." ECF No. 168-1 at 7. Yet no support for such suggestion can be found in Chapman , a case concerning the reapportionment of a North Dakota's state legislative body. While the Court acknowledged that "reapportionment is primarily the duty and responsibility of the State through its legislature or other body," id. at 27, 95 S.Ct. 751, that statement hardly speaks to the basis for such authority, much less to States' authority with respect to federal elections.

In the absence of support for Legislative Defendants' argument, I adhere to the rationale of Thornton and Gralike and conclude that the States' authority to redistrict is a power delegated by Art. I, § 4, and not a power reserved by the Tenth Amendment.

b. Elections Clause Cases

Having concluded that the Elections Clause is the source of state redistricting authority, I turn to the primary cases interpreting the meaning of the Clause. The Court has defined the structural features of the Elections Clause. It has interpreted the word "Legislature" as giving leeway to the States and their citizens, and it has interpreted the phrase "Times, Places, and Manner" as giving States power to develop a complete code for elections. However, the Court has also made clear that state authority is limited to procedural regulations. And while the Court generally enforces the latter regulation through the First Amendment or Equal Protection Clause, it struck down two term-limit-related laws after concluding that they were not procedural, but substantive. The Court has never suggested, however, a role for itself in policing the fairness of procedural regulations under the Elections Clause.

1. Defining "Legislature" and "Times, Places, and Manner"

In State of Ohio ex rel. Davis v. Hildebrant , 241 U.S. 565, 566, 36 S.Ct. 708, 60 L.Ed. 1172 (1916), Ohio voters challenged the use of the State's referendum system to override redistricting legislation passed and duly enacted by the state legislature. The voters argued that the referendum was not part of the "Legislature" and hence could not, per the Elections Clause, have a role in the redistricting process. Id. 566-67, 36 S.Ct. 708. The Supreme Court rejected the argument, holding that Ohio's referendum process "was contained within the legislative power." Id. at 568, 36 S.Ct. 708.

In deciding the issue, the Court recognized Congress's power over state election regulations. It looked to whether Congress had expressed an opinion on States' use of the referendum. Id. It found that Congress, in passing the 1911 redistricting legislation replaced the phrase "the legislature of each state" with "in the manner provided by the laws thereof." Id. (quoting act of February 7, 1891, chap. 116, 26 Stat. 735; Cong. Rec. vol. 47, pp. 3436, 3437, 3507). This modification, according to the Supreme Court, was meant specifically to prevent challenges to States' use of the referendum. Id. at 568-69, 36 S.Ct. 708.

Lastly, the Court considered the allegation that referendum systems were "repugnant to" the Elections Clause, "and hence void," such that Congress had no power to permit them. Id. at 569, 36 S.Ct. 708. The Court held that the claim necessarily raised a non-justiciable question. That is, the claim rested upon a theory that "to include the referendum in the scope of the legislative power is to introduce a virus which destroys that power, which in effect annihilates representative government, and causes a state where such condition exists to be not republican in form, in violation of the guaranty of the Constitution." Id. (citing U.S. Const. art. IV, § 4 ). "[T]he proposition and the argument disregard the settled rule that the question of whether that guaranty of the Constitution has been disregarded presents no justiciable controversy, but involves the exercise by Congress of the authority vested in it by the Constitution." Id. (citing Pac. States Tel. & Tel. Co. v. State of Oregon , 223 U.S. 118, 32 S.Ct. 224, 56 L.Ed. 377 (1912) ).

In summary, the Court in Hildebrant defined the term "legislature," but was unwilling to entertain the suggestion that Congress was excluded from permitting use of the referendum. The latter argument, according to the Court, was necessarily a Guarantee Clause argument, and was thus non-justiciable.

The Supreme Court again considered the meaning of the term "Legislature" in Smiley v. Holm , 285 U.S. 355, 52 S.Ct. 397, 76 L.Ed. 795 (1932). In Smiley, a Minnesota voter alleged that the State's 1931 redistricting plan was inoperative because it had been vetoed by the Governor, and not repassed as required by state law. Id. at 361-62, 52 S.Ct. 397. The Court had to decide whether the Elections Clause gave state legislatures, as institutions, a unique role in prescribing election regulations, or whether the power was instead vested in the states' ordinary lawmaking function. "The primary question now before the Court is whether the function contemplated by article 1, § 4, is that of making laws." Id. at 365, 52 S.Ct. 397.

The Smiley Court used expansive language in defining the power given by the Elections Clause:

The subject-matter is the 'times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives.' It cannot be doubted that these comprehensive words embrace authority to provide a complete code for congressional elections, not only as to times and places, but in relation to notices, registration, supervision of voting, protection of voters, prevention of fraud and corrupt practices, counting of votes, duties of inspectors and canvassers, and making and publication of election returns; in short, to enact the numerous requirements as to procedure and safeguards which experience shows are necessary in order to enforce the fundamental right involved.

285 U.S. at 366, 52 S.Ct. 397. The Court recognized that this gave power, as well, to prescribe criminal laws to protect the right to vote. Id. In short, "[a]ll this is comprised in the subject of 'times, places and manner of holding elections,' and involves lawmaking in its essential features and most important aspect." Id.

The Court further recognized, relative to Congress:

This view is confirmed by the second clause of article 1, § 4, which provides that 'the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations,' with the single exception stated. The phrase 'such regulations' plainly refers to regulations of the same general character that the legislature of the State is authorized to prescribe with respect to congressional elections. In exercising this power, the Congress may supplement these state regulations or may substitute its own. It may impose additional penalties for the violation of the state laws or provide independent sanctions. It 'has a general supervisory power over the whole subject.'

285 U.S. at 366-67, 52 S.Ct. 397 (citation omitted).

The Smiley Court held that "[w]hether the Governor of the state, through the veto power, shall have a part in the making of state laws, is a matter of state polity." 285 U.S. at 368, 52 S.Ct. 397. "Article 1, § 4, of the Federal Constitution, neither requires nor excludes such participation. And provision for it, as a check in the legislative process, cannot be regarded as repugnant to the grant of legislative authority." Id. at 399-400, 52 S.Ct. 397. Ultimately, the Court held that the Elections Clause refers to the States' lawmaking power. " Article 1, section 4, plainly gives authority to the state to legislate within the limitations therein named." Id. at 372, 52 S.Ct. 397.

In addition to recognizing that the term "Legislature" refers to States' lawmaking function, the Smiley Court recognized the authority given by the Elections Clause "to provide a complete code for congressional elections." Id. at 366, 52 S.Ct. 397.

Finally, in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Indep. Redistricting Comm'n , --- U.S. ----, 135 S.Ct. 2652, 192 L.Ed.2d 704 (2015), the Supreme Court considered a challenge to Arizona Proposition 106, which established the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission ("AIRC") and removed the redistricting process wholly from the State's institutional legislature.

Proposition 106 was "[a]imed at 'ending the practice of gerrymandering and improving voter and candidate participation in elections.' " 135 S.Ct. at 2661 (citing Ariz. Const., Art. IV, pt. 2, § 1, ¶¶ 3-23). As such, it "amended the Arizona Constitution to remove congressional redistricting authority from the state legislature, lodging that authority, instead, in a new entity, the AIRC." Id.

The Legislature argued that the AIRC deprives it of the "primary responsibility" for redistricting vested in it by the Elections Clause. Id. at 2663. After concluding that the Legislature, as a body, had standing, the Court turned to the merits. Id. at 2663-66. The Court first acknowledged the holdings in Hildebrant and Smiley : "our precedent teaches that redistricting is a legislative function, to be performed in accordance with the State's prescriptions for lawmaking, which may include the referendum and the Governor's veto." 135 S.Ct. at 2668. The Court discussed the meaning of "legislature" during the founding era, and concluded that it referred generally to "the power to make laws." Id. at 2671.

The Court held that, because the Arizona Constitution put the people, through the initiative process, on the same footing as their representative body, "the people may delegate their legislative authority over redistricting to an independent commission just as the representative body may choose to do." Id. The Court explained:

[T]he Elections Clause permits the people of Arizona to provide for redistricting by independent commission. To restate the key question in this case, the issue centrally debated by the parties: Absent congressional authorization, does the Elections Clause preclude the people of Arizona from creating a commission operating independently of the state legislature to establish congressional districts? The history and purpose of the Clause weigh heavily against such preclusion, as does the animating principle of our Constitution that the people themselves are the originating source of all the powers of government.

135 S.Ct. at 2671. Turning to the history of the Elections Clause, the Court explained that "[t]he dominant purpose of the Elections Clause, the historical record bears out, was to empower Congress to override state election rules, not to restrict the way States enact legislation." Id. at 2672. The Court recognized the concern of the Framers that politicians and factions within the States would "manipulate electoral rules ... to entrench themselves or place their interests over those of the electorate." Id. And while those concerns have "hardly lessened over time," remedies exist in the hands of the people : "[t]he Elections Clause ... is not reasonably read to disarm States from adopting modes of legislation that place the lead rein in the people's hands." 135 S.Ct. at 2672 (internal citation omitted). Emphasizing the role of the people in addressing Madison's concerns, the Court concluded:

Both parts of the Elections Clause are in line with the fundamental premise that all political power flows from the people. M'Culloch v. Maryland , 4 Wheat. 316, 404-405, 4 L.Ed. 579 (1819). So comprehended, the Clause doubly empowers the people . They may control the State's lawmaking processes in the first instance, as Arizona voters have done, and they may seek Congress' correction of regulations prescribed by state legislatures.

The people of Arizona turned to the initiative to curb the practice of gerrymandering and, thereby, to ensure that Members of Congress would have "an habitual recollection of their dependence on the people." The Federalist No. 57, at 350 (J. Madison). In so acting, Arizona voters sought to restore "the core principle of republican government," namely, "that the voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around." Berman, Managing Gerrymandering, 83 Texas L.Rev. 781 (2005). The Elections Clause does not hinder that endeavor.

135 S.Ct. at 2677 (emphasis added).

In summary, the Supreme Court's decision in Arizona State Legislature , together with Hildebrant and Smiley , demonstrate the Supreme Court's role in defining the basic structural features of the Elections Clause. However, nothing in the opinions suggests a role for the courts in "restrict[ing] the way States enact legislation." Arizona State Legislature , 135 S.Ct. at 2672. In fact, the Court recognized a limitation on how far it would go in considering Elections Clause challenges. In Hildebrant , the Court held that claims regarding Congress's ability to bless the state referendum system necessarily implicate the Guarantee Clause, and are therefore non-justiciable. 241 U.S. at 566, 36 S.Ct. 708.

2. Further Defining "Manner"

Beyond Hildebrant , Smiley , and Arizona State Legislature , the Supreme Court added important structural definition to the Elections Clause in U.S. Term Limits, Inc., v. Thornton , 514 U.S. 779, 115 S.Ct. 1842, 131 L.Ed.2d 881 (1995), and Cook v. Gralike , 531 U.S. 510, 121 S.Ct. 1029, 149 L.Ed.2d 44 (2001). In these cases, the Court made clear that state and Congressional power under the clause was limited to procedural regulations. It thus declined to recognize power under the Clause for Arkansas and Missouri to effectuate term-limit regulations.

U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton concerned Arkansas State constitutional Amendment 73, which prohibited "the name of an otherwise-eligible candidate for Congress from appearing on the general election ballot if that candidate has already served three terms in the House of Representatives or two terms in the Senate." 514 U.S. at 783, 115 S.Ct. 1842. The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down the Amendment on federal constitutional grounds, holding that States possess "no authority to change, add to, or diminish the requirements for congressional service enumerated in the Qualifications Clauses." Id. at 785, 115 S.Ct. 1842 (internal quotation marks omitted). The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, focusing largely on the Qualifications Clause, U.S. Const. Art. I, § 2, cl. 2.

In addition to arguments raised under the Qualifications Clause, the Supreme Court considered the alternative argument that Amendment 73 was a permissible exercise of state power to regulate the "Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections." 514 U.S. 779, 828, 115 S.Ct. 1842, 131 L.Ed.2d 881. The petitioners argued that Amendment 73 "merely regulat[ed] the 'Manner' of elections, and that the amendment [was] therefore a permissible exercise of state power under Article I, § 4, cl. 1." Id. at 832, 115 S.Ct. 1842.

This argument, the Supreme Court recognized, required that Congress, too, would be able to "make or alter" regulations such as Amendment 73. Id. The Court considered it "unfathomable" that the Framers would have given Congress such authority:

As our decision in Powell [v. McCormack , 395 U.S. 486, 89 S.Ct. 1944, 23 L.Ed.2d 491 (1969),] and our discussion above make clear, the Framers were particularly concerned that a grant to Congress of the authority to set its own qualifications would lead inevitably to congressional self-aggrandizement and the upsetting of the delicate constitutional balance.... We refuse to adopt an interpretation of the Elections Clause that would so cavalierly disregard what the Framers intended to be a fundamental constitutional safeguard.

Moreover, petitioners' broad construction of the Elections Clause is fundamentally inconsistent with the Framers' view of that Clause. The Framers intended the Elections Clause to grant States authority to create procedural regulations, not to provide States with license to exclude classes of candidates from federal office.

514 U.S. at 832-33, 115 S.Ct. 1842.

The Court went on to discuss historical evidence of the "procedural focus of the Elections Clause":

During the Convention debates, for example, Madison illustrated the procedural focus of the Elections Clause by noting that it covered "[w]hether the electors should vote by ballot or vivâ voce, should assemble at this place or that place; should be divided into districts or all meet at one place, sh[oul]d all vote for all the representatives; or all in a district vote for a number allotted to the district." 2 Farrand 240. Similarly, during the ratification debates, proponents of the Constitution noted: "[T]he power over the manner only enables them to determine how these electors shall elect-whether by ballot, or by vote, or by any other way." 4 Elliot's Debates 71 (Steele statement at North Carolina ratifying convention) (emphasis in original).

514 U.S. at 833, 115 S.Ct. 1842. According to the Court, "the Framers understood the Elections Clause as a grant of authority to issue procedural regulations, and not as a source of power to dictate electoral outcomes, to favor or disfavor a class of candidates, or to evade important constitutional restraints." Id. at 833-34, 115 S.Ct. 1842. The Court proceeded to list numerous cases "interpreting state power under the Elections Clause" that reflected the same understanding:

The Elections Clause gives States authority "to enact the numerous requirements as to procedure and safeguards which experience shows are necessary in order to enforce the fundamental right involved." Smiley v. Holm , 285 U.S. at 366, 52 S.Ct. 397. However, "[t]he power to regulate the time, place, and manner of elections does not justify, without more, the abridgment of fundamental rights." Tashjian v. Republican Party of Conn., 479 U.S. 208, 217, 107 S.Ct. 544, 93 L.Ed.2d 514 (1986). States are thus entitled to adopt "generally applicable and evenhanded restrictions that protect the integrity and reliability of the electoral process itself." Anderson v. Celebrezze, 460 U.S. 780, 788, n. 9, 103 S.Ct. 1564, 75 L.Ed.2d 547 (1983).... In short, we have approved of state regulations designed to ensure that elections are " 'fair and honest and ... [that] some sort of order, rather than chaos, ... accompan[ies] the democratic processes.' " Burdick v. Takushi, 504 U.S. [428, 433, 112 S.Ct. 2059, 119 L.Ed.2d 245 (1992) (quoting Storer v. Brown, 415 U.S. 724, 730, 94 S.Ct. 1274, 39 L.Ed.2d 714 (1974) ) ].

514 U.S. at 834-35, 115 S.Ct. 1842. The Court then summarized:

The provisions at issue in Storer and our other Elections Clause cases were thus constitutional because they regulated election procedures and did not even arguably impose any substantive qualification rendering a class of potential candidates ineligible for ballot position. They served the state interest in protecting the integrity and regularity of the election process, an interest independent of any attempt to evade the constitutional prohibition against the imposition of additional qualifications for service in Congress. And they did not involve measures that exclude candidates from the ballot without reference to the candidates' support in the electoral process. Our cases upholding state regulations of election procedures thus provide little support for the contention that a state-imposed ballot access restriction is constitutional when it is undertaken for the twin goals of disadvantaging a particular class of candidates and evading the dictates of the Qualifications Clauses.

Id. at 835, 115 S.Ct. 1842.

The Supreme Court emphasized in Thornton that regulations permissible under the Elections Clause are those meant to protect the integrity and regularity of the election process. Yet the cases cited in Thornton as "interpreting state power under the Elections Clause" were all decided on First Amendment or Equal Protection grounds. To be sure, the Thornton Court did not discuss those constitutional provisions. Instead, it directly considered and rejected the argument that the Elections Clause gave Arkansas power to enact a regulation that could not fairly be characterized as procedural.

This procedural-substantive distinction establishes that where a new regulation is clearly not procedural, the Court may find it ultra vires under the Elections Clause. In so holding, the Court did not create a new avenue for policing the fairness of procedural regulations under the Elections Clause.

The second case to consider the constitutionality of a state regulation under the Elections Clause is Cook v. Gralike , 531 U.S. 510, 121 S.Ct. 1029, 149 L.Ed.2d 44 (2001). Responding to the Supreme Court's ruling in Thornton , "the voters of Missouri adopted in 1996 an amendment to Article VIII of their State Constitution designed to lead to the adoption of a specified 'Congressional Term Limits Amendment' to the Federal Constitution." 531 U.S. at 513, 121 S.Ct. 1029. Apart from instructing members of the Missouri congressional delegation " 'to use all of [their] delegated powers to pass the Congressional Term Limits Amendment' set forth in [ Art. VIII, § 16, of the Missouri Constitution ]," the amendment had three operative sections, meant to compel compliance:

Section 17 [required] that the statement "DISREGARDED VOTERS' INSTRUCTION ON TERM LIMITS" be printed on all primary and general [election] ballots adjacent to the name of a Senator or Representative who fail[ed] to take any one of eight legislative acts in support of the proposed amendment. Section 18 provide[d] that the statement "DECLINED TO PLEDGE TO SUPPORT TERM LIMITS" be printed on all primary and general election ballots next to the name of every nonincumbent congressional candidate who refuse[d] to take a "Term Limit" pledge that commit[ed] the candidate, if elected, to performing the legislative acts enumerated in § 17. And § 19 direct[ed] the Missouri Secretary of State to determine and declare, pursuant to §§ 17 and 18, whether either statement should be printed alongside the name of each candidate for Congress.

531 U.S. at 514-15, 121 S.Ct. 1029 (citing Mo. Const., Art. VIII). Gralike, a candidate for Congress, brought suit to enjoin enactment of the law. The District Court held that Article VIII contravened the Qualifications Clause, that it burdened Gralike's First Amendment right against retaliation, and that it was an impermissible attempt by Missouri to contravene Article V of the Constitution. Id. at 516-17, 121 S.Ct. 1029. The Eighth Circuit affirmed, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari. Id. at 518, 121 S.Ct. 1029.

As discussed above, the Supreme Court first considered whether the States have a reserved right to instruct its representatives. The Court held that "the means employed to issue the instructions, ballots for congressional elections, are unacceptable unless Article VIII is a permissible exercise of the State's power to regulate the manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives." 531 U.S. at 520, 121 S.Ct. 1029. Thus, the key question in Gralike was whether the Elections Clause permitted such ballot labels. The Court held it did not. While "the Elections Clause grants to the States 'broad power' to prescribe the procedural mechanisms for holding congressional elections," 531 U.S. 510, 523, 121 S.Ct. 1029, 149 L.Ed.2d 44 (2001) (quoting Tashjian v. Republican Party of Conn. , 479 U.S. 208, 217, 107 S.Ct. 544, 93 L.Ed.2d 514 (1986) ), the Court held that "Article VIII is not a procedural regulation." Id. It explained:

It does not regulate the time of elections; it does not regulate the place of elections; nor, we believe, does it regulate the manner of elections. As to the last point, Article VIII bears no relation to the "manner" of elections as we understand it, for in our commonsense view that term encompasses matters like "notices, registration, supervision of voting, protection of voters, prevention of fraud and corrupt practices, counting of votes, duties of inspectors and canvassers, and making and publication of election returns." Smiley , 285 U.S. at 366, 52 S.Ct. 397 ; see also U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton , 514 U.S. at 833, 115 S.Ct. 1842. In short, Article VIII is not among "the numerous requirements as to procedure and safeguards which experience shows are necessary in order to enforce the fundamental right involved," Smiley , 285 U.S. at 366, 52 S.Ct. 397, ensuring that elections are "fair and honest," and that "some sort of order, rather than chaos, is to accompany the democratic process," Storer v. Brown , 415 U.S. 724, 730, 94 S.Ct. 1274, 39 L.Ed.2d 714 (1974).

531 U.S. at 523-24, 121 S.Ct. 1029.

Rather than regulate the manner of elections, the Court held that "Article VIII [was] plainly designed to favor candidates who are willing to support the particular form of a term limits amendment set forth in its text and to disfavor those who either oppose term limits entirely or would prefer a different proposal." Id. at 524, 121 S.Ct. 1029.

The Supreme Court described the ballot labels as "the Scarlet Letter." Id. at 525, 121 S.Ct. 1029. The pejorative label met voters' eyes at a critical moment, which led to a clear impact on outcomes:

it seems clear that the adverse labels handicap candidates "at the most crucial stage in the election process-the instant before the vote is cast." Anderson v. Martin , 375 U.S. 399, 402, 84 S.Ct. 454, 11 L.Ed.2d 430 (1964). At the same time, "by directing the citizen's attention to the single consideration" of the candidates' fidelity to term limits, the labels imply that the issue "is an important-perhaps paramount-consideration in the citizen's choice, which may decisively influence the citizen to cast his ballot" against candidates branded as unfaithful. Ibid. While the precise damage the labels may exact on candidates is disputed between the parties, the labels surely place their targets at a political disadvantage to unmarked candidates for congressional office. Thus, far from regulating the procedural mechanisms of elections, Article VIII attempts to "dictate electoral outcomes." U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton , 514 U.S., at 833-834, 115 S.Ct. 1842. Such "regulation" of congressional elections simply is not authorized by the Elections Clause.

531 U.S. at 525-26, 121 S.Ct. 1029.

Justice Kennedy filed a concurring opinion. He discussed the particular harm caused by regulations like the Missouri Amendment: "[i]f state enactments were allowed to condition or control certain actions of federal legislators, accountability would be blurred, with the legislators having the excuse of saying that they did not act in the exercise of their best judgment but simply in conformance with a state mandate." 531 U.S. at 528, 121 S.Ct. 1029 (Kennedy, J., concurring). He continued:

if there are to be cases in which a close question exists regarding whether the State has exceeded its constitutional authority in attempting to influence congressional action, this case is not one of them. In today's case the question is not close. Here the State attempts to intrude upon the relationship between the people and their congressional delegates by seeking to control or confine the discretion of those delegates, and the interference is not permissible.

Id. at 530, 121 S.Ct. 1029.

Chief Justice Rehnquist, joined by Justice O'Connor, concurred in the judgment, stating that he would affirm on First Amendment grounds: "I believe that Article VIII violates the First Amendment right of a political candidate, once lawfully on the ballot, to have his name appear unaccompanied by pejorative language required by the State." 531 U.S. at 530-31, 121 S.Ct. 1029 (Rehnquist, C.J., concurring in the judgment).

The Supreme Court's language in Gralike is forceful regarding the limits of state power under the Elections Clause. The Court held in no uncertain terms that "Article VIII is not a procedural regulation." 531 U.S. at 523, 121 S.Ct. 1029. However, Thornton and Gralike both concerned newly enacted regulations that were sui generis . They bore little relation to other regulations, such as the regulations in Storer that, among other things, required party disaffiliation before a candidate could run as an independent. 415 U.S. at 726-27, 94 S.Ct. 1274. As discussed above, procedural regulations are subject to scrutiny under the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause. See, e.g. , Tashjian v. Republican Party of Connecticut , 479 U.S. 208, 107 S.Ct. 544, 93 L.Ed.2d 514 (1986) (holding that Connecticut's closed primary statute impermissibly interfered with political party's First Amendment right to define its associational boundaries); Storer , 415 U.S. 724, 94 S.Ct. 1274, 39 L.Ed.2d 714 (upholding against an Equal Protection challenge California's ballot access measures that, among other things, required party disaffiliation before a candidate could run as an independent); Williams v. Rhodes , 393 U.S. 23, 89 S.Ct. 5, 21 L.Ed.2d 24 (1968) (holding Ohio election law that virtually prohibited third party candidates from appearing on the ballot violated the Equal Protection Clause). However, the Supreme Court has never struck down necessary procedural regulations under the Elections Clause.

c. Justiciability

I turn next to the question of justiciability, specifically the political question doctrine. The Supreme Court has struggled over the years to determine its role in regulating the inherently political business of elections, namely in the area of redistricting. A majority of the justices have found partisan gerrymandering claims under the First Amendment and/or the Equal Protection Clause to be justiciable, but have yet to agree on a standard. The caselaw demonstrates two things: the Court has never suggested that the Elections Clause provides a workable standard for partisan gerrymandering challenges. Second, the standards proposed under the Equal Protection Clause and the First Amendment set a high bar for Court intervention. Plaintiffs' theory uses the Elections Clause in a new manner, and one that skirts the high bar otherwise contemplated for partisan gerrymandering claims.

Colegrove v. Green , 328 U.S. 549, 66 S.Ct. 1198, 90 L.Ed. 1432 (1946), is an early example of the Supreme Court staying its hand with respect to election regulations. Voters from Illinois brought suit alleging that the disparity in size of their congressional districts violated the Constitution as well as the Reapportionment Act of 1911. Id. at 550, 66 S.Ct. 1198. In denying relief, the Supreme Court cited its inability to "remap" the State of Illinois. It reasoned:

The petitioners urge with great zeal that the conditions of which they complain are grave evils and offend public morality. The Constitution of the United States gives ample power to provide against these evils. But due regard for the Constitution as a viable system precludes judicial correction. Authority for dealing with such problems resides elsewhere. Article I, section 4 of the Constitution provides that "The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for ... Representative[s], shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations ...." The short of it is that the Constitution has conferred upon Congress exclusive authority to secure fair representation by the States in the popular House and left to that House determination whether States have fulfilled their responsibility. If Congress failed in exercising its powers, whereby standards of fairness are offended, the remedy ultimately lies with the people. Whether Congress faithfully discharges its duty or not, the subject has been committed to the exclusive control of Congress. An aspect of government from which the judiciary, in view of what is involved, has been excluded by the clear intention of the Constitution cannot be entered by the federal courts because Congress may have been in default in exacting from States obedience to its mandate.

Id. at 554, 66 S.Ct. 1198. The Court believed that "[t]o sustain th[e] action would cut very deep into the very being of Congress" and suggested that "[c]ourts ought not to enter this political thicket." Id. The Court declared that the remedy for the voters' alleged harm was a political one:

"[t]he remedy for unfairness in districting is to secure State legislatures that will apportion properly, or to invoke the ample powers of Congress. The Constitution has many commands that are not enforceable by courts because they clearly fall outside the conditions and purposes that circumscribe judicial action." Id. The Court concluded by listing examples of other constitutional provisions that are without judicial remedy, including the demand to deliver a fugitive from a sister state, the duty to see that the laws are faithfully executed, and "[v]iolation of the great guaranty of a republican form of government in States." Id. at 556, 66 S.Ct. 1198.

The reasoning of Colegrove , however, was stripped of its import years later in Baker v. Carr , 369 U.S. 186, 82 S.Ct. 691, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962). The plaintiffs in Baker brought an Equal Protection challenge to the apportionment of the Tennessee General Assembly's districts. Id. at 188, 82 S.Ct. 691. The apportionment map, first enacted in 1901, remained in effect in 1961, despite "substantial growth and redistribution of [the State's population]." Id. at 192, 82 S.Ct. 691. Plaintiffs alleged that the state map "arbitrarily and capriciously apportioned representatives," yet the District Court, relying on Colegrove , held that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the suit. Id. at 192, 197, 202, 82 S.Ct. 691. The Supreme Court distinguished the political question doctrine from subject matter jurisdiction. Id. at 202, 82 S.Ct. 691. It held that the District Court possessed subject matter jurisdiction, that the case was not a non-justiciable political question, and remanded. Id. at 237, 82 S.Ct. 691.

In so ruling, the Supreme Court undertook to explain the political question doctrine, laying out the possible formulations as follows:

Prominent on the surface of any case held to involve a political question is found a textually demonstrable constitutional commitment of the issue to a coordinate political department; or a lack of judicially discoverable and manageable standards for resolving it; or the impossibility of deciding without an initial policy determination of a kind clearly for nonjudicial discretion; or the impossibility of a court's undertaking independent resolution without expressing lack of the respect due coordinate branches of government; or an unusual need for unquestioning adherence to a political decision already made; or the potentiality of embarrassment from multifarious pronouncements by various departments on one question.

369 U.S. at 217, 82 S.Ct. 691.

The Baker Court suggested that Smiley, discussed supra , along with its companion cases Koenig v. Flynn , 285 U.S. 375, 52 S.Ct. 403, 76 L.Ed. 805 (1932), and Carroll v. Becker , 285 U.S. 380, 52 S.Ct. 402, 76 L.Ed. 807 (1932)"settled the issue in favor of justiciability of questions of congressional redistricting." 369 U.S. at 232, 82 S.Ct. 691. However, Baker was not directly applicable to the Elections Clause. It involved a state apportionment scheme, meaning its language is only controlling so far as it was adopted by later cases dealing with congressional apportionment.

Two years after Baker was decided, the Supreme Court made clear that Colegrove was a dead letter in Wesberry v. Sanders , 376 U.S. 1, 7, 84 S.Ct. 526, 11 L.Ed.2d 481 (1964). Wesberry concerned the population equality of Georgia's congressional districts. The Court reasoned:

Th[e] statement in Baker , which referred to our past decisions holding congressional apportionment cases to be justiciable, we believe was wholly correct and we adhere to it. Mr. Justice Frankfurter's Colegrove opinion contended that Art. I, § 4, of the Constitution had given Congress 'exclusive authority' to protect the right of ci