N.A.A.C.P., Inc. v. City of Niagara Falls, N.Y., 1552
| Citation | 65 F.3d 1002 |
| Decision Date | 11 September 1995 |
| Docket Number | D,No. 1552,1552 |
| Parties | NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE, INC., (NAACP) through its Niagara Falls, New York Branch, Renae Kimble, Political Action Chairperson, Bloneva Bond, Frederick L. Brown, Matthew J. Bushelon, William Feagins, Wayne Galloway, Brenda L. Hamilton, Jay Harris, Homer Hicks, Jr., Mary Johnson, Joseph Jones, Robert Laster, Sr., Clinton Palmer, Eddie L. Palmore, Terry Pressley, Jesse Sconiers, Ore Lean Simmons, Charles Towns, and Pauline Walker, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CITY OF NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK, a municipal corporation, Jacob Palillo, Mayor, Guy Tom Sottile, Barbara Geracitano, Andrew Walker, Henry Buchalski, Michael Gawel, Anthony Quaranto, John G. Accardo, members of the Niagara Falls City Council, and Elsie Paradise, City Clerk, Defendants-Appellees. ocket 94-9078. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit) |
Willie Abrams, Baltimore, MD (Dennis Courtland Hayes, Baltimore, MD; Sylvia M. Fordice, Buffalo, NY) for plaintiffs-appellants.
Patrick J. Berrigan, Niagara Falls, NY, for defendants-appellees.
Evan H. Krinick, Kenneth Novikoff, Rivkin, Radler & Kremer, Uniondale, NY, for amicus curiae, Town of Hempstead, New York.
Before: McLAUGHLIN, CABRANES, and PARKER, Circuit Judges.
We consider here a challenge under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1973, to a municipality's at-large method of electing members to its governing body. In 1985, the City of Niagara Falls, New York ("City" or "Niagara Falls") approved by referendum the formation of a seven-member City Council, the members of which are elected at large. The first election under this system took place in the fall of 1987. Plaintiffs filed suit in September 1989, contending that the at-large system operates to "dilute" black voting strength in violation of Sec. 2. They seek to replace it with a single-member-district method of electing members to the City Council, including a requirement that one district have a majority black population.
We review the judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (William M. Skretny, Judge), denying the plaintiffs declaratory and injunctive relief after a bench trial held in October and November 1993. The district court held that the plaintiffs failed to show that the white majority in Niagara Falls votes sufficiently as a bloc to enable it, in the absence of special circumstances, usually to defeat blacks' preferred candidate--the third prong of the so-called Gingles test. See Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 51, 106 S.Ct. 2752, 2766-67, 92 L.Ed.2d 25 (1986). We first consider whether, in reaching this conclusion, the district court gave too little weight to elections that took place before the City adopted the contested governing scheme. We then consider whether the court gave too much weight to the electoral
successes of white candidates supported by black voters. Finally, we review the district court's ultimate conclusion that, under the totality of the circumstances, the plaintiffs failed to prove vote dilution. We hold that the district court erred in finding that the plaintiffs failed to satisfy the third Gingles prong. But we hold that its ultimate conclusion that, under the totality of the circumstances, the plaintiffs failed to prove vote dilution under Sec. 2, is not clearly erroneous. On this basis, we affirm.
From 1915 until January 1, 1988, the City of Niagara Falls was governed by a mayor and a separate Council of four members, all of whom were elected at large for four-year terms. Terms were staggered, with two Council members elected every two years. A City Charter Revision Commission studied this system and recommended four options for change, on which a referendum was held in November 1985. The voters of Niagara Falls chose between two basic forms of municipal government, and for each basic type there was a choice between an at-large election system and an election system based on single-member districts. The majority of voters chose the so-called Mayor-Council form of government, with the mayor as the chief executive officer, and a separate Council of seven members, all to be elected at large. The voters rejected the option of having the seven Council members elected from seven separate, single-member districts. Under the new system, put into place January 1, 1988, the mayor and Council members are elected to four-year terms; the elections of Council members are staggered and held every two years; and voters are able to vote for as many candidates as there are seats available. There are no district residency requirements. Elections have been conducted under the new scheme since 1987.
In 1970, blacks constituted 10.06% of the voting-age population in the City of Niagara Falls and 9.3% of the total population. In 1980, the black population grew to 12.94% of the total population, but its percentage of the voting-age population remained roughly the same. By 1990, blacks constituted 15.58% of the total population and 13.02% of the City's voting-age population. 1
The plaintiffs include the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ("NAACP"), Renae Kimble (its political action chairperson in Niagara Falls), and eighteen other registered black voters of Niagara Falls. When the plaintiffs filed this suit in September 1989 against the City, its Mayor, the members of the City Council, and the City Clerk, no black had ever been elected to the City Council. At that time, only one election to fill seats on the newly enlarged City Council had been held. In 1991, Andrew Walker, a black candidate, won the Democratic Party primary for City Council, and he received the most votes in the general election. He was chairman of the Niagara Falls City Council at the time of the trial and is thus a defendant in this case.
Plaintiffs' proof consisted in large part of expert analyses of various elections dating back to 1969 that involved black and white candidates. One of their experts, Professor Michael McDonald, analyzed elections using simple regression analysis 2 and, to a lesser McDonald testified that there were no significant differences in voter turnout by race in the City Council primary elections. 5 He testified that black voter turnout trailed that of whites in the general elections, but the district court found that the "plaintiffs did not undertake to analyze comprehensively the significance of these turnout differences." Decision and Order at 15. The plaintiffs do not challenge this finding on appeal.
extent, extreme case analysis. 3 The defendants' expert, Professor Harold Stanley, analyzed many more elections, including those that involved only white candidates, and he primarily applied double regression analysis. 4 The parties agreed, and the district court found, that the results obtained by the different methodologies were not materially different. The court relied on the testimony of both experts in entering its findings of fact
In 1982 Congress amended Sec. 2 of the Voting Rights Act in large part to eliminate the requirement, declared by a plurality of the Supreme Court in City of Mobile v. Bolden, 446 U.S. 55, 100 S.Ct. 1490, 64 L.Ed.2d 47 (1980), that plaintiffs in Sec. 2 cases prove that the challenged electoral system was created or maintained for the purpose of discriminating against minorities. Gingles, 478 U.S. at 35, 106 S.Ct. at 2758. The amendments to Sec. 2 of the Act, together with a Senate Judiciary Committee Report that accompanied the bill amending Sec. 2, S.Rep. No. 417, 97th Cong., 2d Sess. (1982) ("S.Rep." or "Senate Report"), reprinted in 1982 U.S.C.C.A.N. 177, made clear that proving such discriminatory intent was not a statutory requirement. Instead, Sec. 2 plaintiffs could prevail by proving that minorities were denied an equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect candidates of their choice as a result of an electoral practice. See Gingles, 478 U.S. at 43-44 & n. 8, 106 S.Ct. at 2762-63 & n. 8 ().
Section 2, as amended, reads as follows:
(a) No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision in a manner which results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color....
(b) A violation of subsection (a) is established if, based on the totality of circumstances, it is shown that the political processes leading to nomination or election in the State or political subdivision are not equally open to participation by members of a class of citizens protected by subsection (a) in that its members have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice. The extent to which members of a protected class have been elected to office in the State or political subdivision is one circumstance which may be considered: Provided, That nothing in this section establishes a right to have members of a protected class elected in numbers equal to their proportion in the population.
42 U.S.C. Sec. 1973 ().
The Supreme Court interpreted this amended statute for the first time in a challenge Proof of these three factors is not enough to demonstrate vote dilution. Even if these factors are satisfied, a court must consider whether, under the totality of the circumstances, the challenged standard, practice or procedure "impair[s] the ability of ... [minority] voters to participate equally in the political process and to elect candidates of their...
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