Arbor Hill Concerned Citizens v. County of Albany, 03-CV-502.

• Decision Date: 22 October 2003
• Docket Number: No. 03-CV-502.,03-CV-502.
• Citation: 289 F.Supp.2d 269
• Parties: ARBOR HILL CONCERNED CITIZENS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION, Albany County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Aaron Mair; Maryam Mair; and Mildred Chang, Plaintiffs, v. COUNTY OF ALBANY and Albany County Board of Elections, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of New York

289 F.Supp.2d 269

ARBOR HILL CONCERNED CITIZENS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION, Albany County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Aaron Mair; Maryam Mair; and Mildred Chang, Plaintiffs, v. COUNTY OF ALBANY and Albany County Board of Elections, Defendants.

No. 03-CV-502.

United States District Court, N.D. New York.

October 22, 2003.

DerOhannesian & DerOhannesian (Paul DerOhannesian II, Esq., of Counsel), Albany, NY, for Plaintiffs.

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Cara Fineman, Esq., of Counsel), Washington, DC, for Plaintiffs.

Michael C. Lynch, Esq., Albany County Attorney, Albany, NY, for Defendants.

Thomas Marcelle, Esq., Delmar, NY, for the Albany County Republican, Committee and the Republican Caucus of the Albany County Legislature.

MEMORANDUM-DECISION AND ORDER

MORDUE, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs commenced this action on April 22, 2003, alleging that a legislative redistricting plan adopted by defendant Albany County following the 2000 Census violated § 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, ("VRA") as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 1973. Plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction enjoining defendants from conducting elections for the Albany County Legislature until a new redistricting plan is adopted was referred to the Hon. David R. Homer, United States Magistrate Judge, for a Report-Recommendation pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and Local Rule 72.3(C). After finding that plaintiffs had demonstrated the subject redistricting plan was likely to be held violative of the VRA, Magistrate Judge Homer recommended that plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction be granted. Defendants filed timely objections. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C), this Court engaged in a de novo review of the Magistrate Judge's Report-Recommendation. On August 22, 2003, this Court adopted the Report-Recommendation in its entirety, granted plaintiffs' application for a preliminary injunction and directed Magistrate Judge Homer:

To consult with counsel for the parties and establish a scheduling order for submission of a revised redistricting plan and to conduct hearings, including evidentiary hearings if necessary and/or a trial on the question of the whether any such revised plan meets the requirements of the [VRA] and to submit to the undersigned proposed findings of fact and recommendations for the disposition of this matter, including pendency of the preliminary injunction issued herewith.

Between September 8-10, 2003, Magistrate Judge Homer conducted an evidentiary hearing concerning the propriety of the new redistricting plan proposed by the County and a public hearing regarding the appropriate procedures to be followed, if any, in conducting 2003 County legislative elections. On consent of the parties, the Albany County Republican Committee and the Republican Caucus of the Albany County Legislature intervened in and submitted a proposal for conducting a delayed 2003 primary and special election for Albany County Legislators. The Magistrate Judge filed a second Report-Recommendation in this matter on September 17, 2003. Therein he recommended that the County's remedial redistricting plan be approved and that requests by the parties for directives from the Court for conducting 2003 legislative seat elections be denied. Plaintiffs and defendants filed timely objections. The interveners also submitted objections to the Report-Recommendation.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Familiarity with the factual history in this case is assumed based on this Court's previous Memorandum-Decision and Order. See Arbor Hill Concerned Citizens Neighborhood Ass'n v. County of Albany, et al., 281 F.Supp.2d 436 (N.D.N.Y.2003). In his Report-Recommendation, Magistrate Judge Homer summarized the most recent factual developments as follows:

Following entry of the preliminary injunction, Albany County ("County") adopted a revised redistricting plan, identified both as "Plan 3B" and as "Local Law E" (hereinafter "County's remedial plan"). Ex. D-2.¹ That plan amended the County's redistricting plan which was the subject of the injunction. Ex. D-1. The County's remedial plan created four majority/minority districts, altering the boundaries of ten of the thirty-nine districts in the prior redistricting plan. The County included in its calculations of the minority populations in the majority/minority districts not only blacks but Hispanics and those of mixed race who included either black or Hispanic as one of their races. The four districts, 2-5, are generally located in the eastern portion of the City of Albany ("City"). Ex. D-3. These four districts include the following populations:

                Total Total (%) Total Voting Total Voting
                District Population Minorities Age Population Age Minorities (%)
                   2          7,380         65.89            5,208              58.53
                   3          7,441         65.09            5,412              57.54
                   4          7,365         67.50            4,930              60.79
                   5          7,347         67.07            5,113              59.71
                

Exs. D-5(a)-(b); P-2. Plaintiffs also proposed a remedial redistricting plan. Exs. P-(a-c) (plaintiffs' remedial plan). That plan also included four majority/minority districts in Districts 2-5, also in the Eastern portion of the City. Id. Plaintiff's remedial plan would alter the boundaries of thirty-eight of the thirty-nine districts from the County's prior redistricting plan. Plaintiffs' remedial plan includes the following populations:

                Total Total (%) Total Voting Total Voting
                District Population Minorities Age Population Age Minorities (%)
                   2          7,245         71.87            5,036              65.39
                   3          7,252         71.81            5,292              64.87
                   4          7,253         68.70            5,180              60.60
                   5          7,259         75.40            4,936              68.64
                

III. THE REPORT-RECOMMENDATION

After setting forth the appropriate standard for review of the remedial plan submitted by the County as a result of this Court's issuance of a preliminary injunction, the Magistrate Judge concluded that the County's new plan was compliant with the Constitution and Voting Rights Act. Based thereupon, the Magistrate Judge recommended that this Court approve of the remedial plan submitted by the County despite the fact that plaintiffs had also submitted a redistricting plan which also satisfied the standards of the VRA and was, in some respects, less objectionable concerning the rights of voting minorities. The Magistrate Judge opined that the Court's role was to examine the County's remedial plan for compliance with the Constitution and VRA, not to decide which of the parties' plans was the best or most effective at maximizing minority voting opportunity. Magistrate Judge Homer also recommended leaving any and all decisions and directives regarding whether and how to hold 2003 elections for Albany County Legislators to state and county officials charged with authorizing and administering elections.

Having conducted a de novo review of the record, the Court agrees with the determinations of the Magistrate Judge that the County's remedial redistricting plan should be approved and that this Court should play no part in authorizing, directing or administering a special or postponed election of County legislators in lieu of the regularly scheduled quadrennial election previously enjoined by this Court's August 22, 2003, order.

IV. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

"Redistricting is a legislative task that federal courts `should make every effort not to pre-empt.'" Goosby v. Town Bd. of Hempstead, 981 F.Supp. 751, 755 (E.D.N.Y.1997), aff'd on other grounds 180 F.3d 476 (2d Cir.1999) (quoting Wise v. Lipscomb, 437 U.S. 535, 539, 98 S.Ct. 2493, 57 L.Ed.2d 411 (1978)).

Where a court has struck down a voting system, it must give the appropriate elected body an opportunity to propose a remedial plan. If it submits such a plan, the court must accord the proposal substantial deference. It does not matter whether the court considers the proposal the "best" plan, and it may not reject the plan to adopt what it considers to be a better one. Rather, the court's role is only to consider whether the plan proposed by the elected body is legally acceptable, i.e., whether it comports with the requirements of the [VRA] and the Constitution.

Id. (citing Wise, 437 U.S. at 540, 98 S.Ct. 2493; Upham v. Seamon, 456 U.S. 37, 42-43, 102 S.Ct. 1518, 71 L.Ed.2d 725 (1982)).

A minority group must be "sufficiently large and geographically compact to constitute a majority in a single-member district." Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 50, 106 S.Ct. 2752, 92 L.Ed.2d 25 (1986). In the process of drawing majority/minority districts in order to comply with federal law, the state or county must decide "how substantial those majorities must be in order to satisfy the [VRA.]" United Jewish Orgs. of Williamsburgh, Inc. v. Carey, 430 U.S. 144, 162, 97 S.Ct. 996, 51 L.Ed.2d 229 (1977). "At a minimum and by definition, a `black majority district' must be more than 50% black. But whatever the specific percentage, the State will inevitably arrive at it as a necessary means to ensure the opportunity for the election of a black representative and to obtain approval of its reapportionment plan." Id. Most courts have held that it is appropriate to consider the percentage of voting age population ("VAP") in the district rather than the total minority population, in recognition of the "higher nonvoting age population percentages, lower voter registration and lower voter turnout found in minority communities." Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Educ. Fund, Inc. v. Gantt, 796 F.Supp. 681, 689 (E.D.N.Y.1992) (citing Hastert v. State Bd. of Elections, 777 F.Supp. 634, 647 n. 20 (N.D.Ill.1991)) (citing Ketchum v. Byrne, 740 F.2d 1398, 1413-15 (7th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1135, 105 S.Ct. 2673, 86...