Kotch v. Board Of River Pilot Commissioners

330 U.S. 552 (1947)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

State law required all seagoing vessels moving between New Orleans and foreign ports must be navigated through the Mississippi River approaches to the port of New Orleans and within it exclusively by pilots who are State officers. New pilots are appointed by the governor only upon certification of Board (D), who themselves are pilots. To become eligible you have to serve a six-month apprenticeship under incumbent pilots and who possess other specific qualifications may be certified to the governor by D. Ps have had at least fifteen years experience in the river, the port, and elsewhere, as pilots of vessels whose pilotage was not governed by the State law in question. They are qualified to be pilots except they have not served the requisite six months apprenticeship under Louisiana officer pilots. Ps sued D alleging that the incumbent pilots, having unfettered discretion in the selection of apprentices, had selected, for the most part, only the relatives and friends of incumbents. Ps claimed that only relatives and friends of current pilots have and can become State pilots. Eventually, the Supreme Court of Louisiana held that the pilotage law so administered does not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.