In a victory for young NAACP insurgents, a Baltimore Circuit Court judge last night ordered the city branch of the civil rights group to allow youths to vote in its election of new officers.
Judge Robert I. H. Hammerman ruled that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's constitution entitled young members ages 17-20 who have paid $3 annual dues to vote. The NAACP national board had interpreted the constitution to mean that only youths who paid adult dues of $10 could vote.
The ruling opens the way for Kobi Little, 23, former president of the Johns Hopkins University NAACP chapter, to challenge Rodney A. Orange for the branch presidency. Mr. Little recruited about 500 new youth members to vote in the Nov. 28 election, which was suspended when he went to court seeking an injunction when youths were barred.
After a four-hour hearing, Judge Hammerman said he would issue an injunction "requiring the Baltimore branch of the NAACP to conduct a branch election for officers forthwith and without undue delay." He ordered the branch "not to disallow youth council members in good standing who have paid dues of $3 per annum to vote."
Mr. Little -- an ally of Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., who was fired as NAACP executive director -- called the successful court fight an indication of the aggressive leadership that he says he would provide the 4,000-member Baltimore NAACP.
"I think justice prevailed," Mr. Little said. "The constitution was clear."
Dennis Courtland Hayes, the NAACP's general counsel, said no decision had been made about whether to appeal the ruling.
Lawrence S. Greenwald, who argued the case on behalf of the NAACP, had urged the court not to intervene. He said Mr. Little and three other plaintiffs hadn't exhausted the NAACP's internal grievance procedure before going to court. But Judge Hammerman called that procedure "flawed" and said the plaintiffs could be irreparably harmed if the election were delayed for months.
Mr. Orange, who is seeking re-election to a second, two-year term as branch president, said he didn't know how soon the election could be held or how many members of the branch's six youth councils would be eligible to vote, besides those recruited by Mr. Little.
Mr. Orange, who had charged that Mr. Little was a disgruntled Chavis supporter, said he still thought he could win the election.
"Clearly it's no problem to turn back 500 people if, in fact, our membership comes out and decides I'm the better candidate," he said.
Dr. Chavis, who didn't attend yesterday's hearing, called the ruling a "tremendous victory for African-American youth." He said he was encouraging young people to seek NAACP leadership positions across the nation.
"If there were more youth members on the board, I would still be executive director," he said. The board fired Dr. Chavis in August after learning that he had made a secret deal to pay a former female aide up to $332,400 to settle a threatened lawsuit.
William H. Penn Sr., the NAACP's director of branches and field services, testified yesterday that youths paying $3 dues had historically not been allowed to vote in branch elections.
When yesterday's hearing began, Mr. Little's attorneys, Warren A. Brown and Lisa R. Hodges, asked Judge Hammerman to recuse himself. They said he was a "tennis partner" of Mr. Greenwald and that his ruling might be tainted by the "appearance of partiality." Noting that he was a "tennis opponent" of Mr. Greenwald, not a close friend, the judge declined to recuse himself.
During closing arguments, the judge played courtroom tennis with Mr. Greenwald for half an hour, swatting the NAACP lawyer's legal volleys back in his face as he probed for weaknesses in Mr. Greenwald's argument. The judge finally ruled that the NAACP board of directors could alter its rules for branch elections either by changing its membership fee schedule or by amending its constitution -- but not by making an 11th-hour decision to bar youth voters.
The plaintiffs had accused the NAACP of imposing a "poll tax" on youths by accepting their membership $3 a year, but demanding they pay $10 to be eligible to vote. During the civil rights movement, the NAACP fought such barriers to blacks' voting in the South.
Judge Hammerman said his ruling had nothing to do with the personalities or politics of the Baltimore NAACP election, but that it was "purely a question of law. What are the rights of youth members?"