In 1971, four permanent resident aliens who had been fired from their New York State civil service jobs because they were not U.S. citizens filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, challenging Section 53 of the New York Civil Service Law. Section 53 provided that only U.S. citizens could hold competitive class state civil service positions. Plaintiffs alleged that Section 53 violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supremacy Clause, and their right to interstate travel. Plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief, class certification and submission of the case to a three-judge court to determine the constitutionality of the Section 53.

The District Court (Judge Tenney) denied Defendants' motion to dismiss the case and recommended that a three judge court be convened. Dougall v. Sugarman, 330 F.Supp. 265 (S.D.N.Y. 1971). Chief Circuit Judge Henry J. Friendly of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals agreed and ordered that Plaintiffs' motions for declaratory judgment, injunctive relief and class certification be submitted to a three-judge court for consideration.

The three-judge court (Circuit Judge Joseph Edward Lumbard and District Judges Edward Cochrane McLean and Charles Henry Tenney) certified the case as a class action, with the class defined as "all permanent resident aliens residing in New York State who, but for the enforcement of Section 53, would otherwise be eligible to compete for employment in the competitive class of Civil Service." The three-judge court also granted declaratory and permanent injunctive relief, finding that Section 53 violated the Equal Protection Clause and the Supremacy Clause. Dougall v. Sugarman, 339 F.Supp. 906 (S.D.N.Y. 1971). Defendants appealed and the U.S. Supreme Court noted probable jurisdiction. Sugarman v. Dougall, 407 U.S. 908 (1972).

The Supreme Court (Justice Harry Blackmun) affirmed the ruling of the three-judge court, holding that Section 53's blanket ban on the employment of aliens in civil service positions had little or no relation to any legitimate state interest and therefore violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Sugarman v. Dougall, 413 U.S. 634 (1973). See also Sugarman v. Dougall, 413 U.S. 634 (1973) (J. Rehnquist Dissenting).

As there is no PACER docket available, we do not know whether there was any subsequent case activity in the District Court following the Supreme Court opinion.

Stephen Imm - 08/29/2007


compress summary