Prejean v. Foster

Decision Date02 October 2000
Docket NumberNo. 99-30360,99-30360
Citation227 F.3d 504
Parties(5th Cir. 2000) WILLIAM H. PREJEAN, et al., Plaintiffs, HARRY J. CHAUVIN; EMILE POCHE; NED C. GOLDSTON; DENNIS P. LOUVIERE; EUGENE J. SCHEXNAYDER; and ROBERT J. HEATH, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. M.J. "MIKE" FOSTER, JR., et al., Defendants, M.J. FOSTER, JR., Governor of the State of Louisiana; RICHARD IEYOUB, Attorney General, State of Louisiana; W. FOX MCKEITHEN, Secretary, State of Louisiana; and JERRY M. FOWLER, Commissioner of Elections of the State of Louisiana, Defendants-Appellees. Janice G.Clark, Orscini B. Beard; Eddie G. Crawford; Voter Information Project Inc.; Louis Scott; Sylvia Cooks; Connie Sadler; Lloyd Dangerfield; Tom Nelson; Albert Richard; Brenda Ford; Edward Larvadain; Josie Frank, Intervenors-Appellees. JON OREN, et al., Plaintiffs, ROBERT J. HEATH; HARRY J. CHAUVIN; EMILE POCHE; NED C. GOLDSTON; DENNIS P. LOUVIERE; and EUGENE J. SCHEXNAYDER, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. M.J. FOSTER, JR., Governor of the State of Louisiana, in his official capacity, also known as Mike Foster; RICHARD IEYOUB, Attorney General, State of Louisiana in his official capacity; W. FOX MCKEITHEN, Secretary, State of Louisiana in his official capacity; and JERRY M. FOWLER, Commissioner of Elections of the State of Louisiana, in his official capacity, Defendants-Appellees, Janice Clark, Intervenor-Appellee
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana

Before REYNALDO G. GARZA, JONES and EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judges.

EDITH H. JONES, Circuit Judge:

Since 1986, Louisiana's method of electing judges has been under attack for its alleged infringement of voting rights. The most recent litigation resulted from the state's efforts to settle an earlier case by creating majority-minority electoral subdistricts within a number of its trial court districts. According to the plaintiffs, who reside and vote in the district of the 23rd Judicial District Court (23rd JDC), the settlement itself intentionally discriminates among voters and thus violates the 14th and 15th Amendments and Section 2(a) of the Voting Rights Act. The district court, no doubt frustrated by the recent vicissitudes of voting rights law, granted summary judgment for the state. We are constrained to reverse and remand for trial.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The legislation at issue here, Act 780, responded to the many twists and turns of Clark v. Edwards, civil action No. 86-435-A,1 filed in 1986. In Clark, black voters asserted that the use of multi-member, at-large judicial districts diluted black voting strength in violation of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the Constitution as well as Section 2(a) of the Voting Rights Act.2 Their vote dilution claims were predicated on Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 106 S.Ct. 2752 (1986), and involved all of the Louisiana courts of appeal and most of the state's 41 judicial district courts.

The federal district court initially found that the state's entire at-large scheme for judicial elections violated Section 2. Clark v. Edwards, 725 F. Supp. 285, 302 (M.D. La. 1988). Although minority vote dilution had not been proven in every district, the court enjoined elections for all family, district, and appellate courts until the state system could be revised. The Louisiana legislature proposed a package of constitutional and statutory changes to address the court's ruling, but the voters rejected them.

The district court subsequently vacated the statewide injunction because it came to realize that Gingles requires district-by-district findings, and it issued revised findings that eleven districts, excluding the 23rd JDC, violated Section 2.3 For those eleven districts, the court reluctantly concluded that subdistricts must be created to enhance minority judicial candidates' chances. Clark v. Roemer, 777 F. Supp. 445, 450 (M.D. La. 1990).

Both parties appealed, placing at issue the findings of Section 2 violations in some districts and the refusal to enter such findings in others, including the 23rd JDC. The imperative to end the struggle eventually yielded a settlement calling for revisions of fifteen judicial districts, including the eleven which had been covered by the district court's remedial order for subdistricting and the 23rd JDC. The Clark plaintiffs agreed to drop their challenges to the other districts. Obtaining preclearance by the U.S. Attorney General pursuant to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act was an essential component of the settlement, as preclearance was needed before elections could be held in the judicial districts. Preclearance of the plan was granted. Act 780 was the end result of the settlement agreement.4

Act 780 of the 1993 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature increased from four to five the number of district judges for the 23rd JDC, which covers Ascension, Assumption, and St. James Parishes. In the process, Act 780 created two electoral subdistricts within the district. In the whole district, the population ratio is about 70% white/30% black. Subdistrict one is 75% black, contains roughly 20% of the total population, and elects one of the five district judges for the 23rd JDC; subdistrict two is 80% white, contains roughly 80% of the total population, and elects four of the district judges. Alvin Turner became the first African-American judge in the 23rd JDC when he was elected in subdistrict one.

Critically, the jurisdiction of the judges elected under Act 780 covers all three parishes in the 23rd JDC. But because of subdistricting, voters in the black subdistrict may only elect one of the five judges and have no right to vote on the other four. Conversely, voters in the white subdistrict may vote for four of the trial judges but not for the fifth one. Any citizen may, however, be a party in the court of a judge, or judges, he has been prohibited from voting on.

After considering cross-motions for summary judgment, the district court granted the defendants' motion. The plaintiffs filed a timely appeal.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

This court reviews the granting of summary judgment de novo and applies the same criteria as the district court. See Baker v. Putnal, 75 F.3d 190, 197 (5th Cir. 1996). Summary judgment is appropriate when, viewing the evidence and all justifiable inferences in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Hunt v. Cromartie, 526 U.S. 541, 552, 119 S.Ct. 1545, 1551-52 (1999); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). If the moving party meets its burden, the non-movant must designate specific facts showing there is a genuine issue for trial. Little v. Liquid Air Corp., 37 F.3d 1069, 1075 (5th Cir. 1994).

III. ANALYSIS

The appellants contend that in creating racially identifiable subdistricts for electing trial judges in the 23rd JDC, the statute effects an impermissible racial gerrymander. They point to the shape of the subdistricts, the racial statistics submitted to the court, the Clark litigation history, and the state's Section 5 preclearance submissions as direct and circumstantial evidence that race was the "sole and singular motivation" for Act 780. As a result, plaintiffs assert, Act 780 violates the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Fifteenth Amendment, and Section 2(a) of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973(a).

The state defendants and black voter intervenors (collectively "the defendants") counter with an affidavit by Judge Turner, who states that race was not the predominant factor in drawing the subdistrict lines. Alternatively, the defendants contend that the districting plan implemented by Act 780 is narrowly tailored to meet the compelling state interests of complying with Sections 2 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act and of terminating the lengthy Clark litigation.

A. Fourteenth Amendment

The original purpose of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is to prevent states from intentionally discriminating against persons on the basis of race. See Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 239, 96 S.Ct. 2040, 2047 (1976). Racial gerrymandering of electoral districts, which involves the "'deliberate and arbitrary distortion of district boundaries . . . for [racial] purposes,'" Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630, 640, 113 S.Ct. 2816, 2823 (1993)("Shaw I")(citation omitted), falls "within the core of that prohibition." Id. at 642, 113 S.Ct. at 2824.

Given the presumption of the legislature's good faith in redistricting,5 showing that a redistricting plan intentionally discriminates is not ordinarily an easy task. A trial court must "perform a 'sensitive inquiry into such circumstantial and direct evidence as may be available.'" Hunt v. Cromartie, 526 U.S. at 546, 119 S.Ct. at 1549 (1999)(quoting Arlington Heights v. Metro. Hous. Dev. Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 266, 97 S.Ct. 555, 564 (1977)). Unlike statutes that explicitly classify people based on race, see Personnel Adm'r of Mass. v. Feeney, 442 U.S. 256, 272, 99 S.Ct. 2282, 2293 (1979), "[a] reapportionment statute typically does not classify persons at all; it classifies tracts of land or addresses." Shaw, 509 U.S. at 646, 113 S.Ct. at 2826.6 And as Bush makes clear, "[s]trict scrutiny does not apply merely because redistricting is performed with consciousness of race . . . . Nor does it apply to all cases of intentional creation of majority-minority districts." Bush v. Vera, 517 U.S. 952, 958, 116 S.Ct. 1941, 1951 (1996)(plurality opinion). A plaintiff must show that traditional districting principles were subordinated to race, i.e., that race was "the predominant factor motivating the legislature's [redistricting] decision." Miller, 515 U.S. at 916, 115 S.Ct. at 2488 (1995).7

Legislative motivation or intent is a paradigmatic fact question. Hunt, 526 U.S. at 549, ...

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