dismissing “influence” claim where minority group was alleged to be large enough “to effectively influence elections, getting their candidate of choice elected”
How later courts described this case
- dismissing “influence” claim where minority group was alleged to be large enough “to effectively influence elections, getting their candidate of choice elected”
- “While plaintiffs are correct that the First Circuit and the Supreme Court have not yet ruled on influence districts, we are bound by precedent in this circuit.”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
GRAHAM, District Judge,
concurring.
I concur with Chief Judge Martin’s opinion, with the exception of his treatment of the issue of standing as respects four of the house districts challenged by the plaintiffs. Defendants have moved for partial summary judgment on the ground that there are no plaintiffs who have standing to challenge the redistricting of House Districts 19, 21, 27 and 32. Defendants assert that those plaintiffs who reside in these districts have no objection to their configuration, and that the remaining plaintiffs, who are not residents of these districts, do not have standing to challenge their configuration.
The Supreme Court has held that nonresidents of allegedly racially gerrymandered districts have not suffered “a cognizable injury under the Fourteenth Amendment.” United States v. Hays, 515 U.S. 737, 746 , 115 S.Ct. 2431 , 132 L.Ed.2d 635 (1995). In Shaw v. Hunt, 517 U.S. 899, 904 , 116 S.Ct. 1894 , 135 L.Ed.2d 207 (1996), the Supreme Court reaffirmed and summarized the rule of Hays , as follows:
In United States v. Hays, 515 U.S. 737 , 115 S.Ct. 2431 , 132 L.Ed.2d 635 (1995), we recognized that a plaintiff “who resides in a district which is the subject of a racial gerrymander claim has standing to challenge the legislation which created that district, but that a plaintiff from outside that district lacks standing absent specific evidence that he personally has been subjected to a racial classification.”
The same rules for standing should apply to plaintiffs’ claims under § 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973 , which was enacted to enforce the guarantees of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. 1 Nonresidents of House Districts 19, 21, 27 and 32 are not aggrieved persons with respect to the configuration of those districts. Their right to vote is not affected by the configuration of those districts. None of the nonresident plaintiffs has produced evidence that he or she has been subjected to a racial classification.
Plaintiffs bear the burden of proving their standing to challenge particular districts. Hays, 515 U.S. at 743-45 , 115 S.Ct. 2431 . Plaintiff Stern, who fives in House District 19, admitted in his deposition that he had no complaint about how his district was configured. Exhibit 46, Stern Depo. at 18. Plaintiff Parker was asked during his deposition to identify any house districts with which he disagreed in respect to their configuration. Parker said, “None specifically that I can name at this point.” Parker Depo. at 36. At trial, Parker testified that although he objected to the new districts in Franklin County in general, he had not examined the configuration of House District 21, the district in which he resides, “to any great extent.” Trial Tr. at 263. Plaintiff Beatty was asked during her deposition whether she had any objections to the configuration of her district, House District 27. She said, “I don’t have any major objection.... I did prefer some of the 'areas that I had in my previous *1108 district that I no longer have.” Exhibit 45, Beatty Depo. at 11-12. Beatty also testified that she consented to become a plaintiff in this case because “it allows for some diversity of representatives across the state.” Beatty Depo. at 16. Plaintiff Mallory testified in his deposition that he had no objections to House District 32, the district in which he resides. Mallory Depo. at 30. At trial, Mallory testified that House District 32 was “fine,” but that some African-American voters residing there should be transferred to an adjacent district, and that his objections were to the configuration of the adjacent district. Trial Tr. at 32, 326.
No other plaintiffs are residents of House Districts 19, 21, 27 and 32. None of the nonresident plaintiffs have standing to challenge the configuration of those districts. I would grant defendants’ motion for summary judgment on the issue of standing with respect to House Districts 19, 21, 27 and 32.
I concur with Judge Gwin’s finding that plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that the white majority votes sufficiently as a block to enable it to defeat the minority’s preferred candidate, and I agree with his analysis of the evidence on that issue.
However, I disagree with Judge Gwin’s suggestion that influence claims are permitted under § 2 of the Voting Rights Act. This issue was squarely addressed by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cousin v. Sundquist, 145 F.3d 818, 828-29 (6th Cir.1998) (“We believe the district court erred in assuming from the Gingles footnote and the Senate Report that an influence claim is actionable under Section 2.”) Since the court in Sundquist rejected one of plaintiffs’ claims as an impermissible influence claim, and also rejected plaintiffs’ proposed two-district system on that basis, it is inaccurate to characterize the court’s ruling as “dicta.” I also believe that Sundquist is binding authority for three-judge district courts sitting within the Sixth Circuit. As Judge Gwin has pointed out, a majority of three-judge district courts and circuit courts of appeals hold that circuit court precedent is binding on a three-judge district court.
Even if we were not bound by Sund-quist, I would find that influence claims are not authorized under § 2 of the Voting Rights Act for the same reasons that the court in Sundquist and other courts and judges have rejected influence claims. See Sundquist, 145 F.3d at 828-29 ; McNeil v. Springfield Park Dist., 851 F.2d 937, 944, 947-48 (7th Cir.1988) (“Movement away from the Gingles standard invites courts to build castles in the air, based on quite speculative foundations.”); Hastert v. State Bd. of Elections, 777 F.Supp. 634, 654 (N.D.Ill.1991) (“We perceive the Gingles electoral district majority precondition as the only rational measure for limiting voter group size under the Voting Rights Act.”); Armour v. State of Ohio, 775 F.Supp. 1044, 1082 (N.D.Ohio 1991) (Batchelder, J., dissenting) (“Such a limitless and standardless cause of action is too ambiguous and unenforceable to be valid.”). See also DeBaca v. County of San Diego, 794 F.Supp. 990, 996-97 (S.D.Cal.1992) (rejecting Armour and following Hastert).
If influence claims are permitted, then any system of districting, no matter how fair and impartial in its conception, is subject to attack unless it pools minority voters in sufficiently large enclaves so that they can “influence” the result of elections. This would transfer the principle of “one man — one vote” into “one group — -one election victory.” 2
. For example, § 3 of the Act provides for the appointment of federal examiners when the Attorney General or "an aggrieved person” institutes a proceeding "under any statute to enforce the voting guarantees” of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. 42 U.S.C. § 1973a.
. See Armour v. State of Ohio, No. 88-4040, 1990 WL 8710 at *10 (6th Cir. Feb.7, 1990) (Guy, J., dissenting) (opinion withdrawn).