United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Hall v. Beals, 396 U.S. 45 (1969)

Hall v. Beals

No. 39

Argued October 14, 1969

Decided November 24, 1969

396 U.S. 45

Syllabus

Appellants, who moved to Colorado in June, 1968, were refused permission to vote in the November, 1968, presidential election because they could not meet Colorado's six-month statutory residency requirement. They brought this class action challenging the constitutionality of that restriction and seeking, inter alia, mandamus and injunctive relief. The District Court upheld the statute and dismissed the complaint. After appellants appealed to this Court, the residency period for presidential elections was reduced to two months, and appellants also challenge that requirement in this Court.

Held:

1. The amendment of the residency statute, under which appellants could have voted in the 1968 election, has mooted this case.

2. Appellants cannot represent a class (here, Colorado voters disqualified by the two-month requirement) to which they never belonged.

3. The contingencies which would have to occur before appellants could be disenfranchised in Colorado in the next presidential election are too speculative to warrant this Court's passing on the substantive issues of this case. Moore v. Ogilvie, 394 U. S. 814, distinguished.

292 F.Supp. 610, vacated and remanded.

Page 396 U. S. 46