Clements v. Fashing

Justice Rehnquist

delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II, and V, and delivered an opinion with respect to Parts III and IV, in which The Chief Justice, Justice Powell, and Justice O’Connor joined.

Appellees in this case challenge two provisions of the Texas Constitution that limit a public official’s ability to become a candidate for another public office. The primary question in this appeal is whether these provisions violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

*960 h-H

Article III, § 19, of the Texas Constitution provides:

“No judge of any court, Secretary of State, Attorney General, clerk of any court of record, or any person holding a lucrative office under the United States, or this State, or any foreign government shall during the term for which he is elected or appointed, be eligible to the Legislature.”

Section 19 renders an officeholder ineligible for the Texas Legislature if his current term of office will not expire until after the legislative term to which he aspires begins. Lee v. Daniels, 377 S. W. 2d 618, 619 (Tex. 1964). Resignation is ineffective to avoid § 19 if the officeholder’s current term of office overlaps the term of the legislature to which he seeks election. Ibid. In other words, §19 requires an officeholder to complete his current term of office before he may be eligible to serve in the legislature.

Article XVI, § 65, is commonly referred to as a “resign-to-run” or “automatic resignation” provision. Section 65 covers a wide range of state and county offices.1 It provides in relevant part:

“[IJf any of the officers named herein shall announce their candidacy, or shall in fact become a candidate, in any General, Special or Primary Election, for any office of profit or trust under the laws of this State or the United States other than the office then held, at any time when the unexpired term of the office then held shall exceed one (1) year, such announcement or such candidacy shall constitute an automatic resignation of the office then held.”

*961 Four of the appellees are officeholders subject to the automatic resignation provision of §65. Fashing is a County Judge, Baca and McGhee are Justices of the Peace, and Ybarra is a Constable. Each officeholder-appellee alleged in the complaint that he is qualified under Texas law to be a candidate for higher judicial office, and that the reason he has not and will not announce his candidacy is that such an announcement will constitute an automatic resignation from his current position. Appellee Baca alleged in addition that he could not become a candidate for the legislature because of § 19. The remaining appellees are 20 voters who allege that they would vote for the officeholder-appellees were they to become candidates.

The District Court for the Western District of Texas held that § 19 and § 65 denied appellees equal protection. Fashing v. Moore, 489 F. Supp. 471 (1980). The District Court concluded that §19 created “classifications that are invidiously discriminatory.” Id., at 475. The District Court explained that § 19 draws distinctions between those officials whose terms end concurrently with the beginning of the legislative term and those whose terms overlap the legislative term. The court also found §19 deficient because “[n]o reciprocal prohibition ... is placed upon a legislator seeking to run for mayor or judge.” Ibid. As to §65, the District Court determined that the classifications embodied in §65 “fail[ed] to serve any proper governmental interest” because some state and local officials were covered by §65 while others were not. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed without opinion. Fashing v. Moore, 631 F. 2d 731 (1980). We noted probable jurisdiction, 452 U. S. 904 (1981), and now reverse.

II

Before we may reach the merits of the constitutional issues in this case, we must address appellants’ contention that the allegations in the complaint are insufficient to create a “case or controversy” between the officeholder-appellees and those Texas officials charged with enforcing § 19 and § 65. Appel *962 lants contend that the dispute in this case is merely hypothetical and therefore not a justiciable controversy within the meaning of Art. Ill of the United States Constitution. United Public Workers v. Mitchell, 330 U. S. 75, 90-91 (1947).

We find the uncontested allegations in the complaint sufficient to create an actual case or controversy. The officeholder-appellees have alleged that they have not and will not announce their candidacy for higher judicial office because such action will constitute an automatic resignation of their current offices pursuant to §65. Unlike the situation in Mitchell, appellees have alleged in a precise manner that, but for the sanctions of the constitutional provision they seek to challenge, they would engage in the very acts that would trigger the enforcement of the provision. Given that §65 provides for automatic resignation upon an announcement of candidacy, it cannot be said that §65 presents only a speculative or hypothetical obstacle to appellees’ candidacy for higher judicial office. See Regional Rail Reorganization Act Cases, 419 U. S. 102, 143, and n. 29 (1974); Turner v. Fouche, 396 U. S. 346, 361-362, n. 23 (1970).

Baca’s uncontested allegations are sufficient to create a case or controversy with regard to § 19. That provision entirely disables an officeholder from becoming a candidate for the legislature until he completes his present term of office. The gist of Baca’s challenge to § 19 is that it renders him ineligible to become a candidate for the legislature because his term as Justice of the Peace overlaps the legislative term. Baca’s dispute with appellants over the constitutionality of § 19, therefore, cannot be said to be abstract or hypothetical, since he has sufficiently alleged that § 19 has prevented him from becoming a candidate for the legislature.

Ill

The Equal Protection Clause allows the States considerable leeway to enact legislation that may appear to affect *963 similarly situated people differently. Legislatures are ordinarily assumed to have acted constitutionally. Under traditional equal protection principles, distinctions need only be drawn in such a manner as to bear some rational relationship to a legitimate state end. Classifications are set aside only if they are based solely on reasons totally unrelated to the pursuit of the State’s goals and only if no grounds can be conceived to justify them. See, e. g., McDonald v. Board of Election Comm’rs, 394 U. S. 802, 808-809 (1969); McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U. S. 420, 425-426 (1961). We have departed from traditional equal protection principles only when the challenged statute places burdens upon “suspect classes” of persons or on a constitutional right that is deemed to be “fundamental.” San Antonio Independent School Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U. S. 1, 17 (1973).

Thus, we must first determine whether the provisions challenged in this case deserve “scrutiny” more vigorous than that which the traditional principles would require.

Far from recognizing candidacy as a “fundamental right,” we have held that the existence of barriers to a candidate’s access to the ballot “does not of itself compel close scrutiny.” Bullock v. Carter, 405 U. S. 134, 143 (1972). “In approaching candidate restrictions, it is essential to examine in a realistic light the extent and nature of their impact on voters.” Ibid. In assessing challenges to state election laws that restrict access to the ballot, this Court has not formulated a “litmus-paper test for separating those restrictions that are valid from those that are invidious under the Equal Protection Clause.” Storer v. Brown, 415 U. S. 724, 730 (1974). Decision in this area of constitutional adjudication is a matter of degree, and involves a consideration of the facts and circumstances behind the law, the interests the State seeks to protect by placing restrictions on candidacy, and the nature of the interests of those who may be burdened by the restrictions. Ibid.; Williams v. Rhodes, 393 U. S. 23, 30 (1968).

*964 Our ballot access cases, however, do focus on the degree to which the challenged restrictions operate as a mechanism to exclude certain classes of candidates from the electoral process. The inquiry is whether the challenged restriction unfairly or unnecessarily burdens the “availability of political opportunity.” Lubin v. Panish, 415 U. S. 709, 716 (1974), This Court has departed from traditional equal protection analysis in recent years in two essentiallyseparate, although similar, lines of ballot access cases.

One line of ballot access cases involves classifications based on wealth.2 In invalidating candidate filing-fee provisions, for example, we have departed from traditional equal protection analysis because such a “system falls with unequal weight on voters, as well as candidates, according to their economic status.” Bullock v. Carter, supra, at 144. “Whatever may be the political mood at any given time, our tradition has been one of hospitality toward all candidates without regard to their economic status.” Lubin v. Panish, supra, at 717-718. Economic status is not a measure of a prospective candidate’s qualifications to hold elective office, and a filing fee alone is an inadequate test of whether a candidacy is serious or spurious. Clearly, the challenged provisions in the instant case involve neither filing fees nor restrictions that invidiously burden those of lower economic status. This line of cases, therefore, does not support a departure from the traditional equal protection principles.

The second line of ballot access cases involves classification schemes that impose burdens on new or small political parties or independent candidates. See, e. g., Illinois State Bd. of Elections v. Socialist Workers Party, 440 U. S. 173 (1979); Storer v. Brown, supra; American Party of Texas v. White, 415 U. S. 767 (1974); Jenness v. Fortson, 403 U. S. 431 (1971); Williams v. Rhodes, supra. These cases involve requirements *965 that an independent candidate or minor party demonstrate a certain level of support among the electorate before the minor party or candidate may obtain a place on the ballot. In these cases, the Court has emphasized that the States have important interests in protecting the integrity of their political processes from frivolous or fraudulent candidacies, in ensuring that their election processes are efficient, in avoiding voter confusion caused by an overcrowded ballot, and in avoiding the expense and burden of run-off elections. To this end, the Court has upheld reasonable level-of-support requirements and classifications that turn on the political party’s success in prior elections. See Storer v. Brown, supra; American Party of Texas v. White, supra; Jenness v. Fortson, supra. The Court has recognized, however, that such requirements may burden First Amendment interests in ensuring freedom of association, as these requirements classify on the basis óf a candidate’s association with particular political parties. Consequently, the State may not act to maintain the “status quo” by making it virtually impossible for any but the two major parties to achieve ballot positions for their candidates. See Williams v. Rhodes, supra, at 25.

The provisions of the Texas Constitution challenged in this case do not contain any classification that imposes special burdens on minority political parties or independent candidates. The burdens placed on those candidates subject to § 19 and § 65 in no way depend upon political affiliation or political viewpoint.

It does not automatically follow, of course, that we must apply traditional equal protection principles in examining § 19 and §65 merely because these restrictions on candidacy do not fall into the two patterns just described. But this fact does counsel against discarding traditional principles without first examining the nature of the interests that are affected and the extent of the burden these provisions place on candidacy. See Bullock v. Carter, supra, at 143; Storer v. Brown, supra, at 730. Not all ballot access restrictions *966 require “heightened” equal protection scrutiny. The Court, for example, applied traditional equal protection principles to uphold a classification scheme that denied absentee ballots to inmates in jail awaiting trial. McDonald v. Board of Election Comm’rs, 394 U. S., at 807-811. Thus, it is necessary to examine the provisions in- question in terms of the extent of the burdens that they place on the candidacy of current holders of public office.

IV

A

Section 19 applies only to candidacy for the Texas Legislature. Of the appellees, only Baca, a Justice of the Peace, alleged that he would run for the Texas Legislature. Of the plaintiffs in this case, only appellee Baca’s candidacy for another public office has in any fashion been restricted by § 19. The issue in this case, therefore, is whether § 19 may be applied to a Justice of the Peace in a manner consistent with the Equal Protection Clause.3

Section 19 merely prohibits officeholders from cutting short their current term of office in order to serve in the legislature. In Texas, the term of office for a Justice of the Peace is four years, while legislative elections are held every *967 two years. See Tex. Const., Art. V, §18; Art. Ill, §§3, 4. Therefore, § 19 simply requires Baca to complete his 4-year term as Justice of the Peace before he may be eligible for the legislature. At most, therefore, Baca must wait two years— one election cycle — before he may run as a candidate for the legislature.4

In making an equal protection challenge, it is the claimant’s burden to “demonstrate in the first instance a discrimination against [him] of some substance.” American Party of Texas v. White, 415 U. S., at 781. Classification is the essence of all legislation, and only those classifications which are invidious, arbitrary, or irrational offend the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. Williamson v. Lee Optical Co., 348 U. S. 483, 489 (1955).

In establishing a maximum “waiting period” of two years for candidacy by a Justice of the Peace for the legislature, § 19 places a de minimis burden on the political aspirations of a current officeholder. Section 19 discriminates neither on the basis of political affiliation nor on any factor not related to a candidate’s qualifications to hold political office. Unlike filing fees or the level-of-support requirements, § 19 in no way burdens access to the political process by those who are outside the “mainstream” of political life. In this case, § 19 burdens only a candidate who has successfully been elected to one office, but whose political ambitions lead him to pursue a seat in the Texas Legislature.

A “waiting period” is hardly a significant barrier to candidacy. In Storer v. Brown, 415 U. S., at 733-737, we upheld a statute that imposed a flat disqualification upon any candidate seeking to run in a party primary if he had been registered or affiliated with another political party within the 12 months preceding his declaration of candidacy. Similarly, we upheld a 7-year durational residency requirement for can *968 didacy in Chimento v. Stark, 414 U. S. 802 (1973), summarily aff’g 353 F. Supp. 1211 (NH). We conclude that this sort of insignificant interference with access to the ballot need only rest on a rational predicate in order to survive a challenge under the Equal Protection Clause. See Illinois State Bd. of Elections v. Socialist Workers Party, 440 U. S., at 189 (Stevens, J., concurring in part and in judgment).

Section 19 clearly rests on a rational predicate. That provision furthers Texas’ interests in maintaining the integrity of the State’s Justices of the Peace.5 By prohibiting candidacy for the legislature until completion of one’s term of office, § 19 seeks to ensure that a Justice of the Peace will neither abuse his position nor neglect his duties because of his aspirations for higher office. The demands of a political campaign may tempt a Justice of the Peace to devote less than his full time and energies to the responsibilities of his office. A campaigning Justice of the Peace might be tempted to render decisions and take actions that might serve more to further his political ambitions than the responsibilities of his office. The State’s interests are especially important with regard to judicial officers. It is a serious accusation to charge a judicial officer with making a politically motivated decision. By contrast, it is to be expected that a legislator will vote with due regard to the views of his constituents.

Texas has a legitimate interest in discouraging its Justices of the Peace from vacating their current terms of office. By requiring Justices of the Peace to complete their current terms of office, the State has eliminated one incentive to vacate one’s office prior to the expiration of the term. The State may act to avoid the difficulties that accompany interim elections and appointments. “[T]he Constitution does not require the State to choose ineffectual means to achieve its *969 aims.” Storer v. Brown, supra, at 736. Under traditional equal protection principles, a classification is not deficient simply because the State could have selected another means of achieving the desired ends. Massachusetts Bd. of Retirement v. Murgia, 427 U. S. 307, 316 (1976); Mathews v. Diaz, 426 U. S. 67, 83 (1976); San Antonio Independent School Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U. S., at 51.

Finally, it is no argument that § 19 is invalid because it burdens only those officeholders who desire to rim for the legislature. In Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U. S. 601, 607, n. 5 (1973), we rejected the contention that Oklahoma’s restrictions on political activity by public employees violated the Equal Protection Clause:

“Appellants also claim that §818 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by singling out classified service employees for restrictions on partisan political expression while leaving unclassified personnel free from such restrictions. The contention is somewhat odd in the context of appellants’ principal claim, which is that § 818 reaches too far rather than not far enough. In any event, the legislature must have some leeway in determining which of its employment positions require restrictions on partisan political activities and which may be left unregulated. See McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U. S. 420 (1961). And a State can hardly be faulted for attempting to limit the positions upon which such restrictions are placed.”

It would indeed be a perversion of the Equal Protection Clause were we to conclude that Texas must restrict a Justice of the Peace’s candidacy for all offices before it can restrict a Justice of the Peace’s candidacy for any office.

The Equal Protection Clause allows the State to regulate “one step at a time, addressing itself to the phase of the problem which seems most acute.” Williamson v. Lee Optical Co., 348 U. S., at 489. The State “need not run the risk *970 of losing an entire remedial scheme simply because it failed, through inadvertence or otherwise, to cover every evil that might conceivably have been attacked.” McDonald v. Board of Election Comm’rs, 394 U. S., at 809 (citation omitted).

B

Article XVI, § 65, of the Texas Constitution provides that the holders of certain offices automatically resign their positions if they become candidates for any other elected office, unless the unexpired portion of the current term is one year or less. The burdens that §65 imposes on candidacy are even less substantial than those imposed by § 19. The two provisions, of course, serve essentially the same state interests. The District Court found § 65 deficient, however, not because of the nature or extent of the provision’s restriction on candidacy, but because of the manner in which the offices are classified. According to the District Court, the classification system cannot survive equal protection scrutiny because Texas has failed to explain sufficiently why some elected public officials are subject to § 65 and why others are not. As with the case of § 19, we conclude that § 65 survives a challenge under the Equal Protection Clause unless appel-lees can show that there is no rational predicate to the classification scheme.

The history behind § 65 shows that it may be upheld consistent with the “one step at a time” approach that this Court has undertaken with regard to state regulation not subject to more vigorous scrutiny than that sanctioned by the traditional principles. Section 65 was enacted in 1954 as a transitional provision applying only to the 1954 election. 2 G. Braden, The Constitution of the State of Texas: An Annotated and Comparative Analysis 812 (1977). Section 65 extended the terms of those offices enumerated in the provision from two to four years. The provision also staggered the terms of other offices so that at least some county and local offices would be contested at each election. Ibid. The auto *971 matic resignation proviso to §65 was not added until 1958. In that year, a similar automatic resignation provision was added in Art. XI, § 11, which applies to officeholders in home rule cities who serve terms longer than two years. Section 11 allows home rule cities the option of extending the terms of municipal offices from two to up to four years.

Thus, the automatic resignation provision in Texas is a creature of the State’s electoral reforms of 1958. That the State did not go further in applying the automatic resignation provision to those officeholders whose terms were not extended by §11 or §65, absent an invidious purpose, is not the sort of malfunctioning of the State’s lawmaking process forbidden by the Equal Protection Clause. See McDonald v. Board of Election Comm’rs, supra, at 809. A regulation is not devoid of a rational predicate simply because it happens to be incomplete. See Williamson v. Lee Optical Co., supra, at 489. The Equal Protection Clause does not forbid Texas to restrict one elected officeholder’s candidacy for another elected office unless and until it places similar restrictions on other officeholders. Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U. S., at 607, n. 5. Cf. Minnesota v. Clover Leaf Creamery Co., 449 U. S. 456, 466 (1981). The provision’s language and its history belie any notion that § 65 serves the invidious purpose of denying access to the political process to identifiable classes of potential candidates.

V

As an alternative ground to support the judgments of the courts below, appellees contend that § 19 and § 65 violate the First Amendment. Our analysis of appellees’ challenge under the Equal Protection Clause disposes of this argument. We have concluded that the burden on appellees’ First Amendment interests in candidacy are so insignificant that the classifications of §19 and §65 may be upheld consistent with traditional equal protection principles. The State’s interests in this regard are sufficient to warrant the de *972 minimis interference with appellees’ interests in candidacy.6

There is another reason why appellees’ First Amendment challenge must fail. Appellees are elected state officeholders who contest restrictions on partisan political activity. Section 19 and § 65 represent a far more limited restriction on political activity than this Court has upheld with regard to civil servants. See CSC v. Letter Carriers, 413 U. S. 548 (1973); Broadrick v. Oklahoma, supra; United Public Workers v. Mitchell, 330 U. S. 75 (1947). These provisions in no way restrict appellees’ ability to participate in the political campaigns of third parties. They limit neither political contributions nor expenditures. They do not preclude appellees from holding an office in a political party. Consistent with §19 and §65, appellees may distribute campaign literature and may make speeches on behalf of a candidate.

In this case, § 19 operates merely to require appellee Baca to await the conclusion of his 4-year term as Justice of the Peace before he may run for the Texas Legislature. By virtue of §65, appellees in this case will automatically resign their current offices if they announce their candidacy for higher judicial office so long as the unexpired term of their current office exceeds one year. In this sense, § 19 and § 65 are in reality no different than the provisions we upheld in Mitchell, Letter Carriers, and Broadrick, which required dismissal of any civil servant who became a political candidate. See 413 U. S., at 556; 413 U. S., at 617.

Neither the Equal Protection Clause nor the First Amendment authorizes this Court to review in cases such as this the manner in which a State has decided to govern itself. Constitutional limitations arise only if the classification scheme is *973 invidious or if the challenged provision significantly impairs interests protected by the First Amendment. Our view of the wisdom of a state constitutional provision may not color our task of constitutional adjudication.

The judgment of the Court of Appeals is

Reversed.

Section 65 covers District Clerks, County Clerks, County Judges, County Treasurers, Criminal District Attorneys, County Surveyors, Inspectors of Hides and Animals, County Commissioners, Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, Assessors and Collectors of Taxes, District Attorneys, County Attorneys, Public Weighers, and Constables. Section 65 altered the terms of these offices. See infra, at 970.

Bullock v. Carter, 405 U. S. 134 (1972); Lubin v. Panish, 415 U. S. 709 (1974).

A litigant has standing to challenge the constitutionality of a statute only insofar as it adversely affects his own rights. Ulster County Court v. Allen, 442 U. S. 140, 154-155 (1979). “Embedded in the traditional rules governing constitutional adjudication is the principle that a person to whom a statute may constitutionally be applied will not be heard to challenge that statute on the ground that it may conceivably be applied unconstitutionally to others, in other situations not before the Court.” Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U. S. 601, 610 (1973). Therefore, Baca may not argue that § 19 may not be applied to restrict a Justice of the Peace’s candidacy for the legislature because the State’s interests in restricting candidacy by a different class of officeholders are insufficient to survive constitutional scrutiny. See Stover v. Brown, 415 U. S. 724, 737 (1974). Cf. Cabell v. Chavez-Salido, 454 U. S. 432, 442 (1982).

In the case of local elected officials whose terms of office typically end in nonelection years, the “waiting period” of § 19 is even shorter.

The State’s particular interest in maintaining the integrity of the judicial system could support § 19, even if such a restriction could not survive constitutional scrutiny with regard to any other officeholder. See n. 3, supra.

Baca may not utilize the “overbreadth” doctrine to challenge § 19. Baca may not challenge the provision’s application to him on the grounds that the provision might be unconstitutional as applied to a class of officeholders not before the Court. Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U. S., at 612-616. The First Amendment will not suffer if the constitutionality of § 19 is litigated on a case-by-case basis.