DeGrandy v. Wetherell, TCA 92-40015-WS. Civ. A. No. 92-40131.
| Decision Date | 29 May 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. TCA 92-40015-WS. Civ. A. No. 92-40131.,TCA 92-40015-WS. Civ. A. No. 92-40131. |
| Citation | 794 F. Supp. 1076 |
| Parties | Miguel DeGRANDY, Mario Diaz-Balart, Andy Ireland, Casimer Smericki, Van B. Poole, Terry Ketchel, Roberto Casas, Rodolfo Garcia, Jr., Luis Rojas, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Javier Souto, Justo Luis Poso, Alberto Cardenas, Rey Velazquez, Luis Morse, Alberto Gutman, Karen E. Butler, Sgt. Augusta Carter, Jean Van Meter, Anna M. Pinellas, Robert Woody, Gina Hahn, Bill Petersen, Terry Kester, Margie Kincaid, and Brooks White, Plaintiffs, v. T.K. WETHERELL, in his official capacity as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Gwen Margolis, in her official capacity as President of the Florida Senate, Lawton Chiles, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of Florida, Jack Gordon, in his official capacity as Chairman of the Senate Reapportionment Committee, Peter R. Wallace, in his official capacity as Chairman of the House Reapportionment Committee, Jim Smith, in his official capacity as Secretary of State of Florida, Robert Butterworth, in his official capacity as Attorney General of Florida, Defendants. FLORIDA STATE CONFERENCE OF NAACP BRANCHES, T.H. Poole, Sr., Whitfield Jenkins, Leon W. Russell, Willye Dennis, Turner Clayton, Rufus Brooks, Victor Hart, Kerna Iles, Roosevelt Walters, Johnnie McMillian, Phyllis Berry, Mary A. Pearson, Mable Butler, Iris Wilson, Jeff Whigham, Al Davis, Peggy Demon, Carlton Moore, Richard Powell, Neil Adams, Leslie McDermott, Robert Saunders, Sr., Irv Minney, Ada Moore, Anita Davis, and Calvin Barnes, Plaintiffs, v. Lawton CHILES, in his official capacity as Governor of Florida, Jim Smith, in his official capacity as Secretary of State of Florida, Robert Butterworth, in his official capacity as Attorney General of Florida, Gwen Margolis, in her official capacity as President of the Florida Senate, T.K. Wetherell, in his official capacity as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Jack Gordon, in his official capacity as Chairperson of the House Reapportionment Committee, and Peter R. Wallace, in his official capacity as Chairman of the House Reapportionment Committee, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Florida |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
E. Thom Rumberger, Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell, Orlando, Fla., George N. Meros, Jr., Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell, Tallahassee, Fla., for DeGrandy.
Mark S. Levine, Tallahassee, Fla., for Simon Ferro.
George L. Waas, Denis Dean, Asst. Atty. Gen., Department of Legal Affairs, Tallahassee, Fla., for T.K. Wetherell.
James A. Peters, Cobb, Cole & Bell, Tallahassee, Fla., for Wetherell & Wallace.
F. Perry Odom, Joseph C. Jacobs, Ervin, Varn, Jacobs, Odom & Ervin, Tallahassee, Fla., for Andy Ireland.
Craig T. James, pro se.
Alberto Gutman, pro se.
Donald M. Middlebrooks, Steel, Hector & Davis, Miami, Fla., for Jim Bacchus.
Edwin I. Ford, Largo, Fla., for George C. McGough et al.
Richard E. Doran, Asst. Deputy Atty. Gen., Dept. of Legal Affairs, Tallahassee, Fla., for Chiles & Butterworth.
Sidney L. Matthew, Gorman & Matthew, P.A., Tallahassee, Fla., for Florida AFL-CIO.
Halley B. Lewis, pro se.
Daniel J. Webster, pro se.
W. Douglas Moody, Jr., Stephen N. Zack, Senate Committee on Reapportionment, Mark Herron, Mitchell D. Franks, Akerman, Senterfitt, Eidson & Moffitt, Tallahassee, Fla., for Margolis.
Parker D. Thomson, Carol A. Licko, Miami, Fla., H. Lee Moffitt, Akerman, Senterfitt, Eidson & Moffitt, Tallahassee, Fla., for Proffer as Special Master.
Stephen N. Zack, Miami, Fla., for Margolis & Gordon.
Aurora Ares, Thornton, David, Murray, Richard & Davis, P.A., Miami, Fla., for Cuban American Bar Ass'n.
Larry White, Tallahassee, Fla., Frank R. Parker, Brenda Wright, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, D.C., for Gwen Humphrey, et al.
Charles G. Burr, Tampa, Fla., Harry L. Lamb, Jr., Perry & Lamb, P.A., Orlando, Fla., Dennis Courtland Hayes, Willie Abrams, NAACP Special Contribution Fund, Baltimore, Md., for Florida State Conference of NAACP Branches.
Henry C. Hunter, Charles E. Vanture, Tallahassee, Fla., Rodney G. Gregory, Rodney G. Gregory, P.A., Jacksonville, Fla., for Reaves, Brown & Hargarett.
Edwin J. Turanchik, Zinober & McCrea, Tampa, Fla., for Gwen Margolis.
Katharine Inglis Butler, University of South Carolina Law School, Columbia, S.C., for AFL-CIO.
Before HATCHETT, Circuit Judge, and STAFFORD and VINSON, District Judges.
Florida currently has nineteen members in its congressional delegation. According to the 1990 federal decennial census, increases in Florida's population entitle Florida to four additional members in the United States House of Representatives. Thus, the number in Florida's congressional delegation has increased to twenty-three.
According to the 1990 census data, the total population of the state of Florida is 12,937,926 persons. Between the census of 1980 and the census of 1990, Florida's population increased 3,213,602 persons. To achieve equality between Florida's twenty-three districts, each district would ideally contain 562,518.5 persons. Seven Florida counties have a population greater than the ideal population of 562,518.5 persons. Those counties are: Broward, Dade, Duval, Hillsborough, Orange, Palm Beach, and Pinellas.
A longstanding general history of official discrimination against minorities has influenced Florida's electoral process. In 1885, Article VI, Section 8 of the Florida Constitution imposed a poll tax which disenfranchised poor minority voters. Additionally, Article XII, Section 12 of the 1885 Florida Constitution segregated African-American and white school children. Article XVI, Section 24 of that same Florida Constitution also outlawed the intermarriage of white with African-Americans. As recently as 1967, § 350.20, Fla.Stat. provided in part: "The Florida Public Service Commissioners may prescribe reasonable rules and regulations relating to the separation of white and colored passengers in passenger cars being operated in this state by any railroad company or other common carrier." Additionally, § 1.01(6), Fla.Stat. (1967) provided that "the words `Negro,' `colored,' `colored persons,' `mulatto,' or `persons of color,' when applied to persons, include every person having one-eighth or more of African or Negro blood." Federal precedent has also addressed numerous recent discriminatory election practices in Florida, including at-large election schemes, white primaries, majority vote requirements, and candidate filing fees. Such official state discrimination has adversely affected the ability of minorities to participate in the political process.
The parties agree that racially polarized voting exists throughout Florida to varying degrees. The results of Florida's legislative elections over the past ten years established the presence of racially polarized voting. See In re Constitutionality of Senate Joint Resolution 2G, Special Apportionment Session 1992, 597 So.2d 276, 287-93 (Fla.1992) (Chief Justice Shaw, dissenting). In areas such as education, employment and health care, Florida's minorities have borne the effects of discrimination. The 1990 census figures demonstrate that among persons sixteen years or older, African-Americans are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as whites. In Florida, the poverty rate for African-Americans is more than three times higher than the rate for whites. Additionally, we note that voting studies have consistently indicated the strong relationship between socio-economic status and political participation. Thus, the legal barriers and the economic barriers which the legacy of racism has created in the state of Florida, have prevented African-Americans from fully participating in the political process.
In the state of Florida, minorities have had very little success in being elected to either the United States Congress or the Florida Legislature. An African-American has not represented Florida in the United States Congress in over a century. In addition, only one Hispanic congressperson serves from Florida. From 1889 until 1968, African-Americans were unable to elect a single representative to the state house. Additionally, African-Americans were unable to elect a representative to the state senate until ten years ago. Until four years ago, no Hispanic state senator had ever been elected in Florida. See In re Constitutionality of Senate Joint Resolution 2G, No. 79-674 at 34-37 (Chief Justice Shaw, dissenting).
As a result of Florida's past discrimination practices, the United States Justice Department must preclear five Florida counties pursuant to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, as amended. See 42 U.S.C. § 1973 et seq. Those counties are: Collier, Hardee, Hendry, Hillsborough, and Monroe. The Florida Constitution does not provide a method for congressional redistricting if the state legislature fails to pass a redistricting plan, or the United States Justice Department fails to preclear a plan the state legislature adopted.
Pursuant to the Florida Statutes, candidates seeking federal office in Florida must qualify between July 6 and July 10, 1992. The first primary election is scheduled to occur on September 1, 1992. The general election is scheduled to occur on November 3, 1992. Given this set of circumstances, the plaintiffs filed the following action.
On the opening day of the 1992 Florida legislative session, Miguel DeGrandy, a member of the Florida House of Representatives, and other registered voters ("DeGrandy plaintiffs") filed a complaint against the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, the President of the Florida Senate, the Governor of Florida, and other state officials. The DeGrandy plaintiffs filed the complaint in the District Court for the Northern District of Florida challenging the constitutionality of Florida's current congressional and state legislative districts. The DeGrandy plaintiffs alleged that...
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