United States Supreme Court
Case Summaries 2000
(3/20/00)

Election Law Guam

GUTIERREZ, et al. v. ADA, et al. (3/20/00 - No. 99-51)

Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Argued December 6, 1999--Decided January 19, 2000
The Organic Act of Guam, 48 U. S. C. §1422, provides, inter alia, that "[i]f
no [slate of] candidates [for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Guam]
receive[s] a majority of the votes cast in any election, . . . a runoff
election shall be held." Petitioners, candidates running on one slate for
Governor and Lieutenant Governor, received a majority of the votes cast for
gubernatorial slates in the 1998 Guam general election, but did not receive
a majority of the total number of ballots that voters cast. Respondents,
petitioners' opponents, sought a writ of mandamus ordering a runoff
election. The District Court issued the writ, and the Ninth Circuit
ultimately affirmed, interpreting the statutory phrase "majority of the
votes cast in any election" to require that a slate receive a majority of
the total number of ballots cast in the general election.
Held: The Guam Organic Act does not require a runoff election when a
candidate slate has received a majority of the votes cast for Governor and
Lieutenant Governor of the Territory, but not a majority of the number of
ballots cast in the simultaneous general election. Section 1422 contains six
express references to an election for those offices, two of them preceding
the phrase "in any election," and four following. So surrounded, "any
election" can only refer to an election for Governor and Lieutenant
Governor, for words are known by their companions. See, e.g., Gustafson v.
Alloyd Co., 513 U. S. 561, 575

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=US&vol=513&invol=561&pageno=575.

This reading is confirmed by the fact that, later in
§1422, Congress varied the specific modifier when it spoke of the "general
election" at which the gubernatorial election would occur. Congress would
hardly have used "any election" to mean "general election," only to mention
"general election" a few lines further on. It would be equally odd to think
that after repeatedly using "votes" or "vote" to mean an expression of
choice for the gubernatorial slate, Congress suddenly used "votes cast in
any election" to mean "ballots cast," as respondents suggest. Congress,
indeed, has shown that it recognizes the difference between ballots and
votes in the very context of Guamanian elections: From 1972 until 1998,
§1712 expressly required that the Guam Delegate be elected "by separate
ballot and by a majority of the votes cast for ... Delegate." To accept
respondents' reading would also impute to Congress a strange preference for
making it hard to select a Governor, because a runoff would be required even
though one slate already had a majority of all those who cared to choose
among gubernatorial candidates. Requiring a majority of the total number of
voters on election day would also be in some tension with §1422a, which
provides for removal of a Governor or Lieutenant Governor upon the vote of
at least two-thirds of the total number of persons who actually voted for
such office, not the total number who went to the polls. Respondents' two
considerations pointing to a contrary reading--that because §1712
specifically states that "a majority of the votes cast for . . . Delegate"
is necessary to elect a Delegate, §1422 would require a comparably clear
modifier to refer to sufficient votes to elect gubernatorial slates; and
that this Court's reading of "any election" would render that phrase a
nullity and thus offend the rule against attributing redundancy to
Congress--are rejected. Pp. 4-8. 179 F. 3d 672, reversed and remanded.
Souter, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.

To read the full text of this opinion, go to:
http://laws.findlaw.com/US/000/99-51.html 
Election Law Guam-GUTIERREZ, et al. v. ADA, et al. (3/20/00 - No. 99-51)
GUTIERREZ, et al. v. ADA, et al. (3/20/00 - No. 99-51)-FCP-Active Text Lnks



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