Colleton County Council v. McConnell
| Decision Date | 20 March 2002 |
| Docket Number | Nos. CIV.A. 01-3581-10, CIV.A. 3:01-3609-10, CIV.A. 3:01-3892-10.,s. CIV.A. 01-3581-10, CIV.A. 3:01-3609-10, CIV.A. 3:01-3892-10. |
| Citation | 201 F.Supp.2d 618 |
| Parties | COLLETON COUNTY COUNCIL; Steven Murdaugh, individually and in his official capacity as Chairman of Colleton County Council; Dr. Joseph Flowers, individually and in his official capacity as a member of Colleton County Council; Janice H. Alexander, Andrew F. Calcutt, Joseph Hamilton, Hazel Harrelson, Jas. P. Harrelson, William K. Padgett, Daisy F. Rizer, I.N. Rizer, David M. Smalls, A.L. Smoak, Jr., Kathleen V. Steedly, Wendell M. Steedly, Cheryl R. Tilman, and W. Gene Whetsell, Plaintiffs, and Sel Hemingway, individually, Intervenor-Plaintiff, v. Glenn F. McCONNELL, in his official capacity as the President Pro Tempore of the South Carolina Senate; David H. Wilkins, in his official capacity as the Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives, and James H. Hodges, in his official capacity as the Governor of South Carolina, Defendants. Hugh K. Leatherman, individually and as Senator from the 31st District, Scott H. Richardson, individually and as Senator from the 46th District, and Robert W. Hayes, Jr., individually and as Senator from the 15th District, Plaintiffs, v. Glenn F. McConnell, in his capacity as President Pro Tempore of the Senate and Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, David H. Wilkins, in his capacity as Speaker of the House of Representatives, and James F. Hendrix, in his capacity as Executive Director of the State Election Commission, Defendants, James H. Hodges, in his official capacity as the Governor of South Carolina, Intervenor-Defendant. Kamau Marcharia, James Melvin Holloway, Ann Johnson, and Elder James Johnson, Plaintiffs, v. James H. Hodges, in his official capacity as Governor of South Carolina; Glenn F. McConnell, in his official capacity as President Pro Tempore of the South Carolina Senate; David H. Wilkins, in his official capacity as Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives; and James F. Hendrix, in his official capacity as Executive Director of the South Carolina State Election Commission, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of South Carolina |
Carl Frederick Muller, John C. Moylan, III, James C. Parham, Alice Parham, Matthew Richardson, Wyche, Burgess, Freeman, and Parham, P.A., Greenville, SC, for Plaintiffs Colleton County Council, Steven Murdaugh, Joseph Flowers, Janice H. Alexander, Andrew F. Calcutt, Joseph Hamilton, Hazel Harrelson, Jas. P. Harrelson, William K. Padgett, Daisy F. Rizer, I.N. Rizer, David M. Smalls, A.L. Smoak, Jr., Kathleen V. Steedly, Wendell M. Steedly, Cheryl R. Tilman, and W. Gene Whetsell.
William L. Pope, Pope and Rogers, Columbia, SC, for Intervenor-Plaintiff Sel Hemingway.
John F. Hardaway, Columbia, SC, Robert N. Hunter, Jr., Patton, Boggs & Blow, Greensboro, NC, for plaintiffs, Hugh K. Leatherman, Scott H. Richardson, Robert W. Hayes, Jr.
Herbert Edward Buhl, III, Columbia, SC, Laughlin McDonald, American Civ. Liberties Union Foundation, Inc., Atlanta, GA, Maha Zaki, Atlanta, GA, for plaintiffs Kamau Marcharia, James Melvin Holloway, Ann Johnson, and Elder James Johnson.
Charles A. Terreni, Terreni Law Firm, Columbia, SC, Steven W. Hamm, Richardson, Plowden, Carpenter and Robinson, P.A., Columbia, SC, Michael A. Carvin, Louis K. Fischer, Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue, Washington, SC, for defendant Glenn F. McConnell.
Reginald I. Lloyd, Paige Jones Gossett, Willoughby and Hoefer, P.A., Columbia, SC, Charles Fennell Reid, McNair Law Firm, P.A., Columbia, SC, for defendant David H. Wilkins.
Brent O. E. Clinkscale, Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge, & Rice, Greenville, SC, Richard M. Gergel, David E. Rothstein, Carl Solomon, Gergel, Nickles, & Solomon, Columbia, SC, A. Lee Parks, Parks, Chesin, Walbert & Miller, Atlanta, GA, I.S. Leevy Johnson, Johnson, Toal & Battiste, P.A., Columbia, SC, Brenda Reddix-Smalls, Reddix-Smalls & Carter Law Firm, Columbia, SC, for defendant James H. Hodges.
Charlie Condon, Atty. Gen. of South Carolina, Treva Ashworth, Deputy Atty. Gen., J. Emory Smith, Jr., Asst. Deputy Atty. Gen., Columbia, SC, for James F. Hendrix.
Before WILLIAM B. TRAXLER, Jr., United States Circuit Judge, and JOSEPH F. ANDERSON, Jr., Chief Judge, and PERRY, Senior District Judge.
The United States Constitution requires the governing officials of the State of South Carolina to enact new districting plans for the South Carolina Senate, the South Carolina House of Representatives, and the United States Congressional districts within the state on an equipopulous basis every ten years, in accordance with population changes revealed by the decennial census. Unfortunately, the governing officials of the State of South Carolina, following receipt of the 2000 census data, failed to successfully fulfill this duty and have now reached an impasse. After a lengthy period of mapping, the South Carolina General Assembly, in which Republicans constitute a majority of both houses, prepared redistricting plans for all three bodies, but the plans were vetoed by Governor James H. Hodges, a Democrat. The General Assembly failed in its attempt to override the veto, prompting the filing of these consolidated lawsuits. In each case now before the court, the plaintiffs seek a declaration that the existing districting plans for each elective district are unconstitutional and the implementation of interim court-ordered plans in time for impending 2002 elections. Thus, this court has once again been placed into the center of partisan politics in South Carolina, assigned the "unwelcome obligation" of devising and approving redistricting plans for each legislative body. Connor v. Finch, 431 U.S. 407, 415, 97 S.Ct. 1828, 52 L.Ed.2d 465 (1977).1
South Carolina's General Assembly is composed of two bodies: a Senate with forty-six single-member district seats, see S.C. Const. art. III, §§ 1 & 6, and a House of Representatives with 124 single-member district seats, see S.C. Const. art. III, § 3. South Carolina is also entitled to six representatives in the United States House of Representatives. Within quite limited variances, federal law requires that the South Carolina General Assembly redraw each seat in its bicameral state legislature, see Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 577-80, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 12 L.Ed.2d 506 (1964), as well as each of its six congressional seats in the United States House of Representatives, see U.S. Const. art. I, § 2, cl. 3; Karcher v. Daggett, 462 U.S. 725, 730-31, 103 S.Ct. 2653, 77 L.Ed.2d 133 (1983), on an equipopulous basis in accordance with the results of the decennial census.
In anticipation of receiving the results of the 2000 census, and the inevitable malapportionment of existing districts it would reveal, the South Carolina General Assembly set upon a course to adopt new redistricting plans for its two governing bodies, as well as for its six United States Congressional districts. The process began in January 2001, with the introduction of skeleton bills H.3003 (for the South Carolina House of Representatives) and H.4182 (for the United States House of Representatives). The bills were given first reading and referred by the House Speaker to the House Judiciary Committee for use as redistricting vehicles in the General Assembly.
The House Judiciary Committee received the year 2000 census data from the United States Census Bureau on March 15, 2001. During the month of June 2001, the House Election Laws Subcommittee held public hearings in several locations throughout the state, taking testimony from citizens and public officials regarding the proposed House, Senate, and Congressional plans. The full House of Representatives began consideration of House and Congressional redistricting plans passed by the House Judiciary Committee on August 13, 2001. Plans for the House (H.3003) and Congressional seats (H.4182) were subsequently passed by the House and then submitted to the Senate for consideration on August 17, 2001.
The Senate, through a similar Redistricting Subcommittee of its Judiciary Committee, had also been working on a redistricting plan for the South Carolina Senate. Upon receipt of the passed House Plan and the House version of the Congressional Plan, the Senate combined its Senate Plan with the House Plan into H.3003, attached an amended Congressional Plan, and returned H.3003 to the House on August 22, 2001. The House, after concurring in the Senate amendments, ratified H.3003 and sent the bill to Governor Hodges on August 27, 2001.
Three days later, Governor Hodges returned a veto message for H.3003 to the General Assembly. The Governor's stated reason for vetoing the legislatively passed redistricting plan centered on the claim that the House and Senate plans should have created more so-called minority "influence districts," defined by the Governor as districts with a black voting age population ("BVAP") of between 25% and 50%, and a claim that the Congressional Plan unnecessarily split several counties within the state. On September 4, 2001, the House attempted to override the Governor's veto, but failed by a vote of 73 to 46. Consequently, H.3003 was never enacted as law. See S.C. Const. art. IV, § 21 ().
Our involvement in this uniquely state matter resulted from the filing of three separate lawsuits, all of which allege that the existing election districts for the South Carolina General Assembly and the United States Congressional seats in South Carolina violate the "one-person, one-vote" requirement of the United States Constitution. See Karcher, 462 U.S. at 731, 103 S.Ct. 2653; Reynolds, 377 U.S. at 568, 84 S.Ct....
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