City of Port Arthur v. United States

• Decision Date: 13 December 1982
• Docket Number: No. 81-708,81-708
• Citation: 74 L.Ed.2d 334,459 U.S. 159,103 S.Ct. 530
• Parties: CITY OF PORT ARTHUR, Texas, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

459 U.S. 159

103 S.Ct. 530

74 L.Ed.2d 334

CITY OF PORT ARTHUR, Texas, Appellant,

v UNITED STATES et al.

No. 81-708.

Argued Oct. 6, 1982.

Decided Dec. 13, 1982.

Syllabus

Under § 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a covered State or political subdivision, such as appellant city of Port Arthur, must obtain federal preclearance of a change in its voting practices or procedures either from the Attorney General or by obtaining a declaratory judgment from the District Court for the District of Columbia that the proposed change has neither the purpose nor the effect of denying the right to vote on account of race. In 1977 and 1978, Port Arthur was consolidated with two neighboring cities and annexed an incorporated area, with the result that the percentage of the black population within Port Arthur's borders decreased from 45.21% to 40.56%. Appellant ultimately filed a § 5 suit in the District Court, seeking approval of the consolidations and the annexation, and of a proposed expansion of its City Council from seven members (including a mayor), who had been previously elected at large by majority vote, to a nine-member Council. After the rejection of earlier electoral plans, appellant submitted a plan involving election of councilmen from four single-member districts, two of which included black majorities; at-large election of two members from two other districts, each of which consisted of two of the four single-member districts, and one of which had a black majority; and at-large election of the mayor. All council seats would be governed by a majority-vote rule, requiring run-offs if none of the candidates received a majority of the votes cast. Although concluding that the expansion of Port Arthur's borders could not be denied preclearance as being discriminatory in purpose, the District Court held that the electoral plan could not be approved under § 5 because it insufficiently neutralized the adverse impact upon minority voting strength that resulted from the expansion. However, the court stated that if the plan were modified to eliminate the majority-vote requirement with respect to the two non-mayoral, at-large candidates, and to permit election to those two seats to be made by a plurality vote, the court would consider the defect remedied and would offer its approval.

Held: The District Court did not exceed its authority in conditioning clearance of the electoral plan on the elimination of the majority-vote requirement. Pp. 165-168.

(a) Section 5 does not forbid all expansion of municipal borders that dilute the voting power of particular groups in the community. However, such an expansion can be approved only if modifications in the electoral plan, calculated to neutralize to the extent possible any adverse effect on the political participation of minority groups, are adopted. Pp. 165-166.

(b) The District Court did not err in holding that the majority-vote requirement as to the non-mayoral, at-large council seats must be eliminated in order to sufficiently dispel the impact of Port Arthur's expansion on the relative political strength of the black community. Whether the plan adequately reflected black political strength in the enlarged city is not an issue that is determinable with mathematical precision. Since the plan undervalued to some extent the political strength of the black community, eliminating the majority-vote requirement was an understandable adjustment. And, even if the electoral scheme might otherwise be said to reflect the political strength of the minority community, elimination of the majority-vote element was a reasonable hedge against the possibility that the scheme contained a purposefully discriminatory element. Pp. 166-168.

517 F.Supp. 987, affirmed.

Robert Q. Keith, Beaumont, Tex., for appellant.

Carter G. Phillips, Washington, D.C., for appellees.

Justice WHITE delivered the opinion of the Court.

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 42 U.S.C. § 1973c, requires that when a state or political subdivision covered by the Act ¹ adopts or seeks to administer any change in its standards, practices, or procedures with respect to voting, it must obtain a preclearance either from the Attorney General of the United States or by obtaining a declaratory judgment from the District Court for the District of Columbia that the proposed change has neither the purpose nor the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race.² Perkins v. Matthews, 400 U.S. 379, 91 S.Ct. 431, 27 L.Ed.2d 476 (1971), held that changes in the boundary lines of a city by annexations that enlarge the number of eligible voters are events covered by § 5. The question in this case is whether the District Court for the District of Columbia cor- rectly held that the electoral plan for the Port Arthur, Texas, City Council could not be approved under § 5 because it insufficiently neutralized the adverse impact upon minority voting strength that resulted from the expansion of the city's borders by two consolidations and an annexation.

I

In December 1977, the city of Port Arthur, Texas, consolidated with the neighboring cities of Pear Ridge and Lakeview. Six months later, the city annexed Sabine Pass, an incorporated area. As a result of these expansions of the City's borders, the percentage of the black population in Port Arthur decreased from 45.21% to 40.56%. Blacks of voting age comprised 35% of the population of the enlarged city.³

Prior to the expansions, the City was governed by a seven-member council, including a mayor, each member being elected at large by majority vote. Each member except the mayor was required to reside in a specific district of the city. Members were elected for staggered terms. Following the two consolidations, the City Council passed an ordinance adding an eighth member to the council, while retaining the at-large system with residency requirements. After the annexation of Sabine Pass, the City further proposed that the council be expanded to nine members, with at large elections as before. The two consolidations and the annexation, together with the proposed changes in the governing system, were submitted to the Attorney General for preclearance pursuant to § 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The Attorney General refused preclearance, suggesting, however, that he would reconsider if the council members were elected from fairly drawn single-member districts.

As § 5 permitted it to do, the City then filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking a declaratory judgment that the expansions and the nine-member plan did not have the purpose or effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of color or race within the meaning of § 5. While that suit was pending, the city approved by referendum the "4-4-1" plan, calling for four members to be elected from single-member districts, four to be elected at large from residency districts identical to the single-member districts, and the ninth member, the mayor, to be elected at large without any residency requirement.⁴ That plan, like the previous plans, required a majority vote to elect each council member. The city then moved to amend its complaint so as to seek a declaratory judgment as to the legality of the 4-4-1 plan.

The District Court concluded that because there were legitimate purposes behind the annexation and the consolidations, those actions, under City of Richmond v. United States, 422 U.S. 358, 95 S.Ct. 2296, 45 L.Ed.2d 245 (1975), could not be denied preclearance as discriminatory in purpose. Because the expansions had substantially reduced the relative political strength of the black population, however, it was necessary for preclearance that the post-expansion electoral system be found to satisfy the requirements of § 5. The District Court held that neither the first nine-member plan nor the 4-4-1 plan measured up, not only because each was adopted with a discriminatory purpose, but also because in the context of the severe racial bloc voting characteristic of the recent past in the City neither plan adequately reflected the minority's potential political strength in the enlarged community as required under City of Rome v. United States, 446 U.S. 156, 100 S.Ct. 1548, 64 L.Ed.2d 119 (1980); City of Richmond v. United States, supra; and City of Petersburg v. United States, 354 F.Supp. 1021 (DDC1972), aff'd, 410 U.S. 962, 93 S.Ct. 1441, 35 L.Ed.2d 698 (1973).

Soon after this decision, the city and the United States jointly submitted to the Court for approval the "4-2-3" electoral plan. Under this scheme, the city would be divided into four single-member districts, Districts 1 through 4. District 5, comprising Districts 1 and 4 would elect another member, as would District 6, which combined Districts 2 and 3. Three additional members would be elected at large, one each from Districts 5 and 6, the third at-large seat to be occupied by the mayor and to have no residency requirement. All council seats would be governed by the majority-vote rule, that is, runoffs would be required if none of the candidates voted on received a majority of the votes cast. Blacks constituted a majority in Districts 1 and 4, 79% and 62.78% respectively, as well as a 70.83% majority of the fifth district combining the two majority black districts. The sixth district was 10.98% black. Although the United States expressed reservations about the at-large and majority-vote features, its position was that neither of these aspects of the plan warranted a denial of preclearance.

After response to and oral argument upon the submission, the District Court concluded "that the proposed plan insufficiently neutralizes the adverse impact upon minority voting strength which resulted from the expansion of Port Arthur's borders." The court added, however, that if the plan were modified to eliminate the majority-vote requirement with respect to the two non-mayoral, at-large candidates, and to permit...