Fletcher v. Lamone

• Decision Date: 23 December 2011
• Docket Number: Case No. RWT–11cv3220.
• Citation: 831 F.Supp.2d 887
• Parties: Patricia FLETCHER, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Linda H. LAMONE, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

831 F.Supp.2d 887

Patricia FLETCHER, et al., Plaintiffs,

v.Linda H. LAMONE, et al., Defendants.

Case No. RWT–11cv3220.

United States District Court, D. Maryland.

Dec. 23, 2011.

Jason Brett Torchinsky, Warrenton, VA, and James Paul Mayes, Jamestown, NC, for Plaintiffs.

Dan Friedman, Annapolis, MD, and Steven M. Sullivan, Baltimore, Maryland, Assistant Attorneys General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Maryland, for Defendants.

Before NIEMEYER, Circuit Judge, and WILLIAMS and TITUS, District Judges.

OPINION OF THE THREE–JUDGE COURT

NIEMEYER, Circuit Judge:

After the 2010 decennial census, Maryland enacted a new redistricting plan in October 2011 for its eight congressional districts. The plaintiffs, nine African–American residents of Maryland, commenced this action against election officials of Maryland (“Maryland” or “the State”), contending that the redistricting plan violates their rights under Article I, § 2, of the U.S. Constitution; the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution; and § 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 because the plan dilutes African–American voting strength within the State and intentionally discriminates against African–Americans. For the same reasons, plaintiffs also challenge Maryland's “No Representation Without Population Act” (“the Act”), which purports to correct census data for the distortional effects of the Census Bureau's practice of counting prison inmates as residents of their place of incarceration.

This three-judge court, convened pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2284(a), heard arguments on December 20, 2011, on the plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction and Maryland's motion to dismiss or for summary judgment, as well as on the merits of the case. By agreement of the parties, the court received the testimony of all witnesses by affidavit.

For the reasons given herein, we deny Maryland's motion to dismiss based upon an inappropriate convening of the three-judge court, deny the plaintiffs' motion for an injunction—preliminary or permanent—and grant Maryland's motion for summary judgment, obviating its motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).

I. Factual Context

The 2010 census determined Maryland's population to be 5,773,552. This number entitled the State to eight congressional seats, the same number it had after the 2000 census.

On July 4, 2011, Governor Martin O'Malley appointed the Governor's Redistricting Advisory Committee (the “GRAC”),¹ and that committee held twelve public meetings across the state between July 23 and September 12, 2011. Over the course of these meetings, the GRAC received more than 350 comments from members of the public. Among these comments were several proposed redistricting plans from third-party groups, including one from the Fannie Lou Hamer Political Action Committee. The Fannie Lou Hamer plan differed from all the other third-party submissions in that it proposed the creation of three, rather than two, majority African–American districts.

The GRAC presented its proposed plan to the Governor on October 4, 2011. (Compl. Attach. B.) After posting the plan online and receiving additional comments from the public, the Governor announced that he would submit to the legislature a plan that was “substantially similar” to the GRAC proposal.

The Governor's proposed redistricting map (Compl. Attach. C) was introduced as House Bill (H.B.) 1 and Senate Bill (S.B.) 1 in an emergency legislative session beginning October 17, 2011. H.B. 1 was assigned to the House Rules Committee but was never reported out of committee. The Senate Committee on Reapportionment and Redistricting, however, held a joint hearing on S.B. 1 with the House Rules Committee on the same day the bill was introduced. After the hearing, the Senate Committee approved the bill and sent it to the floor of the Senate. While the bill was being debated, State Senator E.J. Pipkin moved to amend the bill. Like the Fannie Lou Hamer plan, Senator Pipkin's proposed amendment created three majority African–American districts. (Compl. Attach. C.) Specifically, the Pipkin map proposed the creation of a new Fifth District that would stretch from the southern portion of Charles County, through Prince George's County, and into the western Baltimore suburbs. The Senate rejected Pipkin's amendment and, after adopting minor technical amendments, passed the bill. The bill was then sent to the House of Delegates on October 18, 2011.

During the House debate, several substantive amendments to the bill were proposed and rejected. On October 19, after making some technical amendments, the House passed the bill. It then returned the bill to the Senate, which concurred in the House's technical amendments and enacted the bill on October 20, 2011. The Governor signed S.B. 1 into law later that day.

Like the redistricting plan passed after the 2000 census, the enacted State Plan creates two majority African–American congressional districts. The Seventh District, which includes large portions of Baltimore City and its surrounding suburbs, has an African–American voting age population (“VAP”) of 53.75%, and a non-Hispanic white VAP of 35.75%. The Fourth District, which is centered in Prince George's County, has an African–American VAP of 53.72% and a non-Hispanic white VAP of 28.65%.

The plaintiffs in this case, who are African–American residents of Maryland, commenced this action on November 10, 2011, naming Linda H. Lamone in her official capacity as Maryland's Administrator of Elections and Robert L. Walker in his official capacity as Chairman of the State Board of Elections. In their complaint, the plaintiffs allege that the State Plan was deficient in several respects, claiming specifically (1) that the State Plan's creation of two, rather than three, majority African–American districts intentionally discriminates against minorities, in violation of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments (Counts 1 and 2), and unlawfully dilutes African–American voting strength in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 42 U.S.C. § 1973 (Count 5); (2) that the State Plan is unconstitutionally malapportioned (Counts 3, 4, and 6); and (3) that the State Plan is a partisan gerrymander, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment (Count 7). At the time the plaintiffs filed their complaint, they also filed a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2284 to convene a three-judge court to adjudicate their claims, as well as a Motion for a Preliminary Injunction on Counts 3 and 6.

The State opposed convening a three-judge court. And after it was convened, the State filed a Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim or, in the Alternative, for Summary Judgment, and a Request for Review of the Order Convening a Three–Judge Panel.

The parties thereafter filed responsive and reply briefs and, upon agreeing to present the testimony of witnesses by affidavit, the affidavits of numerous witnesses.

II. Three–Judge Court

At the outset, Maryland requests that we review the single-district judge's ruling that the plaintiffs' complaint is sufficiently substantial to justify convening a three-judge court under 28 U.S.C. § 2284. It argues that the ruling failed to take into account the Fourth's Circuit's precedent in Duckworth v. State Administration Board of Election Laws, 332 F.3d 769 (4th Cir.2003). In that case, the Fourth Circuit held that when a complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), “by definition [it is] insubstantial and so properly [is] subject to dismissal by the district court without convening a three-judge court.” Id. at 772–73. The State's argument rests on an assumed distinction between a complaint that “does not state a substantial claim for ... relief” and the Rule 12(b)(6) standard. For purposes of construing § 2284, we find no material distinction, and deny Maryland's motion.

The Rule 12(b)(6) standard is a threshold condition for proceeding with an action, testing the sufficiency of a complaint to state a claim for relief. See Brzonkala v. Va. Polytechnic & State Univ., 169 F.3d 820, 829 (4th Cir.1999) (en banc). In applying the standard, we have required more than formulaic, conclusory allegations. See Duckworth, 332 F.3d at 774–75. Indeed, the Supreme Court has required that a complaint must have sufficient “heft” in alleging facts so as to state a “plausible” claim for relief. Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007).

Here, the single-judge court reviewed the complaint and concluded that the claims presented were sufficiently substantial to proceed with convening a three-judge court. Under the standard for convening a three-judge court, which is informed by the standard for granting Rule 12(b)(6) motions, we agree. See Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009); Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555–56, 127 S.Ct. 1955;Duckworth, 332 F.3d at 773–75;Simkins v. Gressette, 631 F.2d 287, 295 (4th Cir.1980) (noting that convening a three-judge court is not required to address insubstantial claims). Accordingly, we deny the State's motion to dismiss the three-judge court.

III. “No Representation Without Population Act” (Counts 3, 4, and 6)

The plaintiffs challenge as unconstitutional Maryland's “No Representation Without Population Act” (“the Act”), 2010 Md. Laws, ch. 67, codified at Md.Code Ann., Art. 24 § 1–111, Election Law (“EL”) § 8–701. They contend that the adjustments made under the Act result in malapportionment, in violation of Article I, § 2, of the Constitution, and racial discrimination, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Maryland enacted the “No Representation Without Population Act” in 2010. According to the State, the Act is intended to “correct for the distortional effects of the Census Bureau's practice of counting prisoners as residents of their place of incarceration.” (Defs.' Mot. Summ. J. 1.)...