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Constitutional Law Keyed to Paulsen
Kotch v. Board of River Port Pilot Commissioners for the Port of New Orleans
Citation:
330 U.S. 552 (1947)Facts
The appellants, Kotch and others, possessed at least fifteen years of experience piloting vessels in the Mississippi River, the port of New Orleans, and elsewhere, and were licensed under federal law to pilot coastwise vessels. Louisiana statutes required that all seagoing vessels moving between New Orleans and foreign ports be navigated exclusively by state-appointed pilots. New state pilots could only be appointed by the governor upon certification by a State Board of River Port Pilot Commissioners, who were themselves pilots. Certification required applicants to serve a six-month apprenticeship under incumbent pilots and meet other qualifications. Although appellants possessed all statutory qualifications except the apprenticeship requirement, they were denied appointment. Appellants alleged that incumbent pilots, having unfettered discretion in selecting apprentices, selected with occasional exception only relatives and friends of incumbents through election into the pilots’ association, which was formed by state law authority. This practice effectively closed membership to all except those favored by the pilots, resulting in only their relatives and friends becoming state pilots.
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