Mcdaniel v. Paty

435 U.S. 618 (1978)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

In its first Constitution, in 1796, Tennessee disqualified ministers from serving as legislators. That disqualifying provision has continued unchanged since its adoption; it is now Art. 9, § 1, of the State Constitution. The state legislature applied this provision to candidates for delegate to the State's 1977 limited constitutional convention when it enacted ch. 848, § 4, of 1976 Tenn. Pub. Acts: 'Any citizen of the state who can qualify for membership in the House of Representatives of the General Assembly may become a candidate for delegate to the convention . . . .' D is an ordained minister of a Baptist Church. D filed as a candidate for delegate to the constitutional convention. Paty (P), an opposing candidate, sued in the Chancery Court for a declaratory judgment that D was disqualified from serving as a delegate. Chancellor Franks held that § 4 of ch. 848 violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Federal Constitution and declared D eligible for the office of delegate. D was elected by a vote almost equal to that of three opposing candidates. The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the Chancery Court, holding that the disqualification of clergy imposed no burden upon 'religious belief' and restricted 'religious action . . . [only] in the lawmaking process of government -- where religious action is absolutely prohibited by the establishment clause . . . .' The Supreme Court granted certiorari.