Amicus Curiae Brief — Thornburg v. Gingles
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Supreme Court of the United States
OCTOBER TERM, 1985
LACY H. THORNBURG, et al.,
Appellants,
v.
RALPH GINGLES, et al.,
Appellees.
On Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of North Carolina
BRIEF OF AMICUS CURIAE
THE WASHINGTON LEGAL FOUNDATION
IN SUPPORT OF APPELLANTS
DANIEL J. PoPEoO
GEORGE C. SMITH *
WASHINGTON LEGAL FOUNDATION
1705 N Street, N. W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 857-0240
Attorneys for Amicus Curiae
Washington Legal F oundation
* Counsel of Record
WILeon - Eras Priwrine Co.. Inc. . 769-0096 - Waswincron. D.C. 20001
BEST AVAILABLE COPY
QUESTIONS PRESENTED
1. Whether the Voting Rights Act requires states to
devise election districts and procedures which, wherever
the concentration of minority voters is sufficiently large,
will enable minorities to dictate election outcomes if they
adhere to minority bloc voting.
2. Whether the district court in this case relied ex-
cessively on a Senate Judiciary Committee Report’s pro-
nouncements as to the meaning of Section 2 of the Voting
Rights Act, to the exclusion of the language of the stat-
ute itself.
3. Whether the failure of non-minority citizens to vote
in sufficient numbers for minority candidates in a given
jurisdiction may constitute grounds for holding that ju-
risdiction in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights
Act.
4. Whether the district court erred in holding that
there is a degree of polarized voting sufficient to sustain
a violation of the Act whenever the results of a district’s
elections would differ depending upon the race of the
voters whose votes were counted.
(i)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUESTIONS PRESENTED ..............................-..-.--0.2-0-
e —— —ꝛ—v—ä—
INTERESTS OF AMICUS CURIAE E
STATEMENT OF THE CASE».
I. THE DISTRICT COURT ERRED IN INTER-
II.
PRETING THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT AS
THOUGH IT GUARANTEES MINORITIES
“SAFE” DISTRICTS ENABLING THEM TO
CONTROL ELECTION OUTCOMES BY RA
e
A. The Court Improperly Discounted a Proven
Record of Minority Political Access and Elec-
r F......
B. The District Court Erroneously Applied the
Act as though It Guarantees Minorities a
Minimum Share of Political Power, as Op-
posed to Equal Opportunity
C. The Court Applied a Clearly Erroneous In-
terpretation of Illegal Vote Dilution
D. The District Court Erred in Interpreting the
Controversial Senate Judiciary Committee
Report as Though It Were the Statute
THE DISTRICT COURT ERRED IN ITS
CRITICAL RELIANCE ON THE FACTOR OF
“POLARIZED VOTING”, WHICH IS TOTAL-
LY INVALID AS AN INDICATOR OF VOT-
ING RIGHTS ACT VIOLATIONS 000...
(iii)
Page
11
13
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS—Continued
Page
A. Polarized Voting is a Prevalent American
Voting Pattern ................. ih RS 19
B. The Court Applied an Unreasonable Stand-
ard in Finding That a “Substantively Sig-
nificant” Degree of Polarized Voting Existed.. 23
S
e
Vv
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Cases Page
Anderson v. Martin, 375 U.S. 399 (1964) 12, 25
Collins v. City of Norfolk, 605 F.Supp. 377 (E.D.
8 rr 4, 20, 24
Davidson v. Gardner, 370 F.2d 803 (6th Cir. 1967) 16
Dove v. Moore, 539 F.2d 1152 (8th Cir. 1979)... 7-8
In Re Evans, 452 F.2d 1239 (D.C. Cir. 1971), cert.
denied, 408 U.S. 930 (19717) 16
General Building Contractors Association, Inc. v.
Pennsylvania, 102 S.Ct. 3141 (198277 2
Hardin v. Kentucky Utility Commission, 390 U.S.
r eee 17
Jones v. City of Lubbock, 727 F.2d 364 (5th Cir.
EE 18, 21
Jordan v. City of Greenwood, 534 F.Supp. 1351
I 19
Kirksey v. City of Jackson, 633 F.2d 659 (5th Cir.
, ERS LAR RE 12-13, 19, 25
Memphis Firefighters v. Stotts, 104 S.Ct. 2576
A 2
National Association of Greeting Card Publishers
v. U.S. Postal Service, 103 S.Ct. 2717 (1983) 17
Porter v. Murray, 69 F.Supp. 400 (D. D.C. 1946) 16
Seamon v. Upham, 536 F.Supp. 931 (E. D. Tex.
1982), af d. sub nom Strake v. Seamon, 105 S.Ct.
r . 7, 11
Terrazas v. Clements, 581 F.Supp. 1329 (D. Tex.
rr 7, 11. 24
United States v. Marengo County Commission, 731
P26 16466 (1ith Cir. 1964) .................................... 18
United Steelworkers v. Weber, 444 U.S. 193
. 2
White v. Regester, 412 U.S. 755 (1973 10
Constitutional and Statutory Authorities
r 13
, passim
vi
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES—Continued
Legislative History Page
I ee na nee 15
S. Rep. No. 97-417, 97th Cong., 2d Sess. (1982) 14-18
Mivcellaneous Authorities
Levy and Kramer, The Ethnic Factor: How Amer-
ica’s Minorities Decide Elections (Simon &
rr EOS AGS 22
K. Davis, Administrative Law Treatise Sec. 3A.31
r ˙——Ü———. seem 16
Election 84 Handbool:, National Journal (Oct. 29,
++dñ„' .. . 5, 22
Cavanagh and Foster, Election 84, Report #2,
Jesse Jackson’s Campaign: The Primaries and
Caucuses, Table 4 (Joint Center for Political
In THE
Supreme Court of the United States
OCTOBER TERM, 1985
No. 83-1968
LACY H. THORNBURG, et al.,
Appellants,
V.
RALPH GIN LES, et al.,
Appellees.
On Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of North Carolina
BRIEF OF AMICUS CURIAE
THE WASHINGTON LEGAL FOUNDATION
IN SUPPORT OF APPELLANTS
INTERESTS OF AMICUS CURIAE
The Washington Legal Foundation (WLF or Founda-
tion) is a national nonprofit public interest law center
that engages in litigation and the administrative process
in matters affecting the broad public interest. WLF has
more than 80,000 members located throughout the United
States, including in the State of North Carolina, whose
interests the Foundation represents.
This brief is filed with the written consent of all parties.
WLF focuses its litigation efforts on cases of nation-
wide significance affecting the liberties and values of its
members. The Foundation has been especially active in
cases challenging misgu:jed and overbroad applications
of federal civil rights laws. For example, WLF has filed
amicus briefs with this Court in such cases as Memphis
Firefighters v. Stotts, 104 S.Ct. 2576 (1984); General
Building Contractors Association, Inc. v. Pennsylvania,
102 S.Ct. 3141 (1982); and United Steelworkers v.
Weber, 444 U.S. 193 (1979). In these cases, WLF has
consistently pressed the view that the civil rights laws
provide legal protection for all Americans and cannot be
invoked to justify reverse discrimination or exacting rep-
arations from any class of citizens.
In this case, WLF seeks to protect the interests of its
members against a fundamental distortion of the federal
Voting Rights Act. The decision on appeal here—and
numerous other federal decisions of similar thrust—pur-
ports to guarantee preferred minority groups the right
to demand “safe” election districts allowing them to dic-
tate election outcomes through racial bloc voting for
minority candidates. In so holding, the district court
would mandate a form of proportional representation by
race which Congress expressly rejected in the 1982 VRA
Amendments.
Even more disturbingly, the decision elevates the com-
monplace phenomenon of “polarized voting” to a pivotal
role in determining whether state redistricting plans vio-
late Section 2 of the VRA. After defining that concept
in terms broad enough to apply virtually everywhere,
the district court held that the persistence of polarized
voting may condemn a state or locality to perpetual non-
compliance with the VRA.
The court’s interpretation of Section 2 in this case
thus entails an ominous threat to the voting autonomy
of nonminorities in countless jurisdictions; unless they
eliminate polarized voting (i.e. the common situation
where whites tend to vote differently than blacks in rela-
tion to a candidate’s race or his position on racial issues)
by voting compliantly for any minority candidate who
appears on the ballot, their local election systems can be
invalidated and enjoined by federal courts.
WLF's brief will uniquely focus on the foregoing con-
cerns. In the briefs filed prior to the noting of probable
jurisdiction, neither the North Carolina appellants nor
the United States as amicus curiae challenged the very
validity of polarized voting as an indicator of Section 2
violations. This brief does so. Thus, WLF will present
significant arguments which no existing party to this
case is likely to press.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
In the interests of brevity, the amicus curiae adopts
the statement of the case set forth in the brief of the
North Carolina appellants.
SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT
1. The district court misapplied Section 2 of the Vot-
ing Rights Act (“VRA”) in striking down the North
access to the political process through demonstrated suc-
cess at the polls by black candidates. It erroneously
assumed that the VRA requires that, whenever the
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taxes, literacy tests, and other obstacles to black political
participation and voting have all been dismantled. Blacks
are running for and capturing elective offices in un-
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But some litigious elements are not content with equal
access to the political process and equal opportunity to
vote for the candidate of one’s choice. Encouraged and
of “voting rights”. It holds that election districts must
be endlessly shaped and reshaped until they at last pro-
duce a sufficiently commanding majority of “minority”
voters. Moreover, it places dispositive significance on
the misleading and misunderstood concept of “polarized
voting” in deciding whether a jurisdiction is in viola-
tion of the VRA. Under the district court’s view, only
those jurisdictions where a majority of white voters con-
Neither the VRA nor its 1982 amendments authorized
the courts to dictate the fashioning of “safe” districts for
minorities, or to condemn jurisdictions fcr violating the
tration and turnout among blacks than among whites in Norfolk,
Virginia.) In the 1982 Congressional elections, blacks turned out
to vote at a higher rate than whites in nine states. See National
Journal, Election "84 Handbook, p. 2208 (Oct. 29, 1983).
VRA merely because the majority of white voters in
those jurisdictions have not generally voted for black
car2idates. Yet that is exactly how the court below has
applied the VRA to the North Carolina communities at
issue in this case.
This Court should emphatically reverse the district
court’s decision and thereby prevent the VRA from being
used to perpetuate racial division at the polls for years
to come.
I. THE DISTRICT COURT ERRED IN INTERPRET-
ING THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT AS THOUGH IT
GUARANTEES MINORITIES “SAFE” DISTRICTS
ENABLING THEM TO CONTROL ELECTION OUT-
COMES BY RACIAL BLOC VOTING
A. The Court Improperly Discounted a Proven Record
of Minority Political Access and Election Success
In holding that the North Carolina redistricting plans
violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (“VRA”),
the district court completely lost sight of that legisla-
tion’s proper objective.
The VRA does not compel the creation of electoral
districts or systems which will allow minority bloc vot-
ing to dictate the outcome of elections wherever there
are sufficient raw numbers of minorities from which
to fashion such districts. Rather, the Act requires only
that electoral districts must not be designed to prevent
minorities from enjoying equal access to the political
process and an equal opportunity to elect representatives
of their choice. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1973(b).
Under that legitimate standard, the challenged North
Carolina districts easily pass muster. The record con-
tains comprehensive evidence proving that minority vot-
ing has had a telling effect on the political power struc-
ture and that black candidates have enjoyed substantial
success in key election races. J. S. App. 34-37a; 47a.
7
But the District Court did not apply the “equal oppor-
tunity” standard as set forth in the statute. Instead, i
applied a standard that can only be satisfied if the re-
districting plan essentially guarantees that minority
candidates will be elected in proportion to the minori
share of the population. Yet Congress explicitly rejected
such a standard in amending Section 2, 42 U.S.C. Sec.
1973(b). And the courts have since made it clear that
“no group is entitled . . . to have its political clout maxi-
mized.” Seamon v. Upham, 536 F.Supp. 931, 945 (E.D.
Tex. 1982), aff'd sub nom Strake v. Seamon, 105 S.Ct.
63 (1984) [emphasis added].
Various decisions have recognized that there can be
no cognizable violation of Section 2 in a district where
minorities have achieved substantial success in gaining
access to key elective offices and political posts. F. g.,
Dove v. Moore, 539 F.2d 1152 (8th Cir. 1979). A find-
ing of consistently adverse electoral results for minority
candidates is a necessary, though not a sufficient, ele-
ment of a Section 2 claim under the results test. See
Seamon v. Upham, supra; Terrazas v. Clements, 581
F.Supp. 1329 (D. Tex. 1984).
Here the distriets in question are all characterized by
records of proven minority access to influential elective
posts. The election of black representatives to these posi-
tions demonstrates that—contrary to the distric court’s
ruling—a “safe” black district in terms of raw popula-
tion alignments is simply not necessary for blacks to par-
ticipate effectively in the political process or to elect
representatives of their choice, Terrazas v. Clements,
supra, 581 F.Supp. at 1354.
*
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’ of
ham County's registered voters are black. J. S. App. 35a.
Black representation has also been substantial, and often
in excess of what proportional representation would
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islative history of the Act's 1982 amendments (see Point
I. D., infra).
More importantly, the district court interpreted Sec-
tion 2 as though it compels states to devise electoral mech-
anisms which will guarantee the election of minority can-
didates by facilitating minority bloc voting. That is, if
it is at all possible to fashion a district with enough
blacks to always guarantee the election of the “black”
candidate by their “raw numbers alone”, then the court
below would compel the state to do so.
That view of the VRA is invalid and unsound. As re-
cently stated by the court in Terrazas v. Clements, su-
pra, 581 F.Supp. at 1359-60:
In the absence of a denial of access, or discrimina-
tory intent, the failure to consolidate the [minority]
population may constitute a less advantageous polit-
ical result, but not an unlawful result. [emphasis
added].
The court beiow invalidated the North Carolina re-
districting plans merely because they failed to provide a
perfect arrangement for preemptive racial voting by mi-
norities. That was reversible error, because the VRA
simply does not require the states to “maximize the politi-
cal clout” of any racial, religious, or ethnic group. Sea-
mon v. Upham, supra, 536 F.Supp. at 945. All that the
Act requires is equal access to the political process—and
the creation of “safe” minority districts is simply not a
prerequisite to equal access. Terrazas v. Clements, supra,
581 F.Supp. at 1354.
C. The Court Applied a Clearly Erroneous Interpreta-
tion of Illegal Vote Dilution
The overinclusive concept of illegal vote dilution relied
on by the district court completely distorts the principle
of equal political access which underlies the Voting Rights
Act. Equal opportunity for minorities to participate in
the elective process does not—cannot—include any re-
12
quirement that non-minorities must subordinate or com-
promise their constitutional right to vote for whomever
they please, and for whatever reason. Kirksey v. City of
Jackson, 633 F.2d 659, 662 (5th Cir. 1981); Anderson
v. Martin, 375 U.S. 399, 402 (1964).
Yet the district court tied its holding in this case to
the following extraordinary interpretation of vote dilu-
tion under the VRA:
[T]he demonstrable unwillingness of substantial
numbers of the racial majority to vote for any mi-
nority race candidate or any candidate identified
with minority race interests is the linchpin of vote
dilution by districting. [J.S. App. 14a-15a.]
The court made its position still clearer when, after
acknowledging that blacks have made substantial progress
in gaining access to political power in the North Caro-
lina districts, it emphasized that this progress
. . . has not proceeded to the point of overcoming
still entrenched racial vote polarization, and indeed
has apparently done little to diminish the level of
that single most powerful factor in causing racial
vote dilution. IId. at 47a.]
Thus, the district court repeatedly emphasized its view
that the most critical component of the violations in this
case—and the “single most powerful factor” in finding a
vote dilutior violation—was the failure (or “unwilling-
ness”) of white citizens to vote in essentially the same
way as black citizens. When one reads between the lines
of the foregoing pronouncements, it is evident that the
court is issuing a none-too-subtle warning to North Caro-
lina’s white voters. The warning is that unless they start
to vote for minority candidates (regardless of the candi-
date’s individual merit or qualities) in “substantial num-
bers“, the court will continue to hold that there is “racial
vote dilution” in their districts. And as long as the court
holds that view, it will continue to invalidate and enjoin
the district’s elections.
13
This constitutes a profound distortion of the true goals
and principles of the Voting Rights Act. The district
court blithely dismissed hard evidence that blacks do en-
joy equal access to the political/elective processes (e.g.,
40% representation on House delegation of district com-
posed of only 22% black voters) and focused instead on
the allegedly culpable behavior of white voters in failing
to alter their voting preferences in favor of minority
candidates.
This crabbed and punitive approach to voting rights
law abandons the basic element that Section 2 of the
VRA can only be violated by the discriminatory prac-
tices and policies of governments; Section 2 cannot be
violated by citizens in tke exercise of their absolute First
Amendment right to vote for the candidate they prefer,
for whatever reason. Kirksey, supra, 663 F.2d at 662.
The district court’s opinion erred in failing to grasp this
distinction.
D. The District Court Erred in Interpreting the Con-
troversial Senate Judiciary Committee Report as
Though It Were the Statute
The district court was able to reach its erroneous con-
clusions only by misinterpreting Section 2 of the Act.
Its misinterpretation was hardly surprising, however, be-
cause the court never even attempted to interpret the
actual language of the statute itself. Instead, it relied
almost exclusively upon selected portions of a Senate Com-
The VRA itself, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1971(b), prohibits any form of
intimidation or coercion intended to interfere with any person’s
right “to vote as he may choose.” [emphasis added] But the
court’s admonition that the racial majority’s “entrenched” failure
to vote for minority candic ates may result in a violation of Section 2
is itself a form of coercion or intimidation intended to alter white
voting behavior. It is not farfetched to argue that the court’s
ominous warnings could themselves violate the VRA’s prohibition
of intimidation or coercion, were it not for judicial immunity.
14
mittee Report.“ That report reflected the views of only
a modest majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
whereas the enacted statute reflected a complex compro-
mise between a wide variety of factions in the full Sen-
ate and the full House, as well as the views of the
President.
The district court’s slavish adherence to the one-sided
observations of the Senate Committee Report is totally
unjustifiable under black letter rules of statutory inter-
pretation—but it is understandable in one significant
respect.
Only by treating the Committee Report as though it
were the definitive authority on amended Section 2 could
the court possibly justify its rigid application of the Re-
port’s so-called “nine factors” test (including “polarized”
voting) as the definitive standard for determining viola-
tions of Section 2. See S.Rep. at 28-29. And only by
placing such exaggerated reliance on the Committee Re-
port’s “nine factors” could the court find a violation in
the North Carolina districts at issue. For the actual stat-
utory language of Section 2 nowhere mentions such open-
ended factors as “polarized voting”, minority employment
conditions, or political “responsiveness”—and the 1982
amendments would never have passed the full Senate or
been signed by the President had such controversial and
divisive factors been explicitly incorporated in the statute.
The ultimate language of the 1982 amendments to Sec-
tion 2 was indeed a compromise of conflicting viewpoints.
But the Senate Judiciary Committee Report does not even
begin to reflect the diverse elements of that multi-partite
8. Rep. No. 97-417, Report of the Senate Judiciary Committee on
S. 1992, 97th Cong., 2d Sess., ordered to be printed May 25, 1982
(hereafter cited as “S.Rep.”). Senators Thurmond, Hatch, Laxalt,
Dole, Grassley East, and Denton all found it necessary to append
“additional”, “supplemental”, or dissenting views to the Committee
Report.
15
compromise. Instead, it reflects only the one-sided aspira-
tions of a faction of Judiciary Committee Senators who
favored the most expansive interpretation of Section 2
they could mulgate without killing the legislation
altogether.
The earlier House-passed bill (H.R. 3112), which was
subsequently introduced verbatim in the Senate by Ken-
nedy and Mathias, had raised serious concerns that it
might ultimately require proportional representation of
minorities among elected officials. To eliminate these
concerns, Senator Dole introduced the proviso which ex-
plicitly disclaims that the section creates any right to
proportional representation.
At the Senate mark-up of the bill, Senator Dole articu-
lated the essence of the compromise which finally resulted
(S. Rep. at 223):
[TIhat is the thrust of our compromise: equal ac-
cess, whether it is open; equal comma r.
process, not whether they have achieved propertional
election results.
Only when President Reagan signaled that the Dole
substitute was acceptable to him (i.e., that he would not
veto the bill if passed) did the divergent forces and fac-
tions in the House and Senate come togethe: act
the legislation. Since the House simply adopted the Sen-
ate-passed Dole substitute without change, there was no
need for a Conference Committee—and there was no
Conference Committee Report reflecting the understand-
ing and intent of both Houses in passing the bill.
Moreover, there is no plausible basis for viewing the
Senate Judiciary Committee Report—which was intensely
disputed even within that one committee of one House—
as though it reflected the consensus understanding and
intent of both Houses, as well as that of the President.
It simply did not. It reflected only the subjective views
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Here, in the same vein, the views of those who sought
ihe most expansive wording of Section 2 likewise cannot
control interpretation of the compromise legislation. Yet,
there can be no doubt that the Senate Judiciary Commit-
tee Report primarily reflects
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comp
obscures the original purposes of the Act. Since the va-
lidity of the district court’s decision depends on the con-
trolling legal force of the Committee Report’s “nine fac-
RELIANCE ON THE FACTOR OF “PUL. “ZED
VOTING”, WHICH IS TOTALLY INVALID Abd “N
INDICATOR OF VOTING RIGHTS ACT VIOLA-
States v. Marengo County Commission, 731 F.2d
1546, 1567 (11th Cir. 1984); Jones v. City of Lubbock,
727 F.2d 364, 380-81 (5th Cir. 1984). In the Marengo
County case, for example, the court stated chat
12 is
1
1175
1351, 1366 (D. Miss. 1982).
115
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vote wich discriminatory motives, those motives cannot
be imputed to the State. Kirksey v. City of Jackson,
supra, 663 F.2d at 662; Jordan v. City of Greenwood,
slit
si.
11
marily because its citizens manifest the same cross-racial
voting discrepancies that characterize voters nationwide.
Polarized voting means only that voters of different
races, as groups, tend to vote differently from one an-
other in relation to the race of the candidates (or in re-
lation to the candidate’s id tification with minority is-
sues). J.S. App. 38a-39a n.29; Collins v. City of Nor-
folk, supra, 605 F.Supp. at 377. In this case, the dis-
trict court adopted the view that there is a “substan-
21
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their freedom of choice in order to appease the court’s
threats to condemn their election system,, it violates the
First Amendment-based guarantee of absolute freedom
to vote as one chooses. Kirksey v. City of Jackson, supra,
633 F.2d at 662; Anderson v. Martin, supra, 375 US.
at 402.
Under the district court’s approach to polarized voting,
there would be few, if any, districts in the whole United
States which could pass muster under Section 2.
Consistent with the liberal view of the Senate Com-
mittee Report, the district court proceeded as though a
finding of polarized voting plus one other of the “nine
factors” would be enough to sustain a finding that See-
tion 2 had been violated. J.S. App. 14a-15a and n. 13.
Given that the nine factors are hopelessly broad and
amorphous—e.g., “any history of official discrimination”
(Factor I - locale can easily be found guilty of at
least several of them. And few American jurisdictions
would not also be “guilty” of polarized voting under the
district court’s standards. The 1984 Democratic Presi-
dential Primary results (not to mention the 1984 Presi-
dential election itself) conclusively demonstrate that
extreme polarized voting is manifest throughout the
United States. See Appendix A.
Thus, the approach taken by the district court in this
case simply proves too much. Congress cannot have in-
tended to enact a standard for Section 2 compliance
which can only be met with certainty by homogenovs
jurisdictions that do not have to cope with the political
tensions of racial diversity. The district court’s inter-
pretation of the VRA would condemn the election sys-
In fact, the court’s own opinion shows that this phenomenon
ma have already occurred in North Carolina. J.S. App. 37A n.27.
The notable success of black candidates in the 1982 election was
ascri bed to white support which was reputedly based on fear that
the defeat of black candidates would adversely affect the VRA
tems of any jurisdiction where, for instance, conservative
non-minority voters “refuse” to vote for liberal or rad-
ical candidates who happen to be black; and where can-
didates have the audacity to urge reduced welfare spend-
ing or to oppose forced busing (which the court would
undoubtedly condemn as “overt or subtle racial appeals”
under Factor 6 of the Senate Report, J. S. App. 13a).
The approach adopted by the court below does not
advance valid and lawful principles of voting rights for
minorities; instead, it prescribes a form of judicial
tyranny over the political and voting freedoms of mem-
bers of the racial or ethnic majority. This Court should
emphatically and unambiguously reject the district
court’s decision as a profound distortion of the Voting
Rights Act and an affront to the Constitution.
CONCLUSION
For all the foregoing reasons, the decision of the dis-
trict court should be reversed.
Respectfully submitted,
DANIEL J. POPEO
Grorce C. SMITH *
WASHINGTON LEGAL FOUNDATION
1705 N Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 857-0240
Attorneys for Amicus Curiae
Washington Legal Foundation
* Counsel of Record
July 5, 1985
|
8888888388338
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Whites
8 8888838238
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*
8
*
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Jackson Mondale of sample Glenn Hart Jackson Mondale
N D D f ADAH Ow HN
*
J eee
nif SBA 2 882882
Hart
APPENDIX A
Table 4. 1984 Democratic presidential primary voting by race.
Blacks
This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.