In 1975, an Irish alien and lawful permanent resident ("LPR") in the U.S. brought a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to challenge a New York state law, Section 215(3) of the Executive Law of the State of New York, that prohibited aliens from employment as New York state troopers. The statute provided: "No person shall be appointed to the New York state police force unless he shall be a citizen of the United States." Plaintiff alleged that the law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. He sought declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as class certification.

The parties stipulated that the case would proceed as a class action and that a three-judgment panel be convened to rule on the constitutional of the state law in question. They further agreed that the named plaintiff, Edmund Foley would be allowed to take the competitive police examination on September 20, 1975, with the stipulation that the results would not be used unless the court ordered it.

On July 8, 1976, the three-judge court (Judge Werker) upheld the state law as constitutional, finding that "the exclusion of noncitizens from service as state policemen is necessary to protect some substantial state interest." Foley v. Connelie, 419 F.Supp. 889, 899 (S.D.N.Y. 1976). Plaintiff appealed and the U.S. Supreme Court noted probably jurisdiction over the matter.

On March 22, 1978, the Supreme Court (Justice Burger) affirmed, holding that the challenged New York statute did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Foley v. Connelie, 98 S.Ct. 1067 (1978).

Erica Woodruff - 08/08/2007


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