Bustrop v. Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles

Background

A group of applicants asked Nevada courts to stop the Secretary of State from putting an advisory question about the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) on the state ballot. Nevada had passed a law requiring the advisory question, saying the vote would not bind the legislature. The trial court refused to stop the ballot measure, and the Nevada Supreme Court affirmed by a four-to-one vote. The applicants then sought emergency relief from a single Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Reasoning

The single Justice explained that one Justice cannot “summarily reverse” a state high court and can only grant temporary relief to preserve the full Court’s ability to review a case. He found two key points dispositive here: the Nevada law does not prevent the state legislature from acting before or without the advisory vote, and the referendum is explicitly nonbinding. Prior cases that struck down binding referendums or extra state requirements for ratification do not control here because Nevada’s statute leaves the formal ratification decision to the legislature.

Real world impact

The Justice denied the request for interim relief, so the advisory ERA question could remain on Nevada’s ballot. Voters may give the legislature a public recommendation, but the legislature keeps the authority to ratify or not. This ruling is a denial of temporary relief, not a final decision on the constitutional arguments, and the Justice noted the chance of full Court review appeared unlikely.