Graves v. Barnes Regester v. Bullock Mariott v. Smith Archer v. Smith 8212 795

• Decision Date: 07 February 1972
• Docket Number: No. A,A
• Parties: Curtis GRAVES et al. v. Ben BARNES et al. Diana REGESTER et al. v. Bob BULLOCK et al. Johnny MARIOTT et al. v. Preston SMITH et al. Van Henry ARCHER, Jr. v. Preston SMITH et al. —795
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

405 U.S. 1201

92 S.Ct. 752

30 L.Ed.2d 769

Curtis GRAVES et al.

v Ben BARNES et al.

Diana REGESTER et al.

v. Bob BULLOCK et al.

Johnny MARIOTT et al.

v. Preston SMITH et al.

Van Henry ARCHER, Jr.

v. Preston SMITH et al.

No. A—795.

Feb. 7, 1972.

Mr. Justice POWELL, Circuit Justice.

This is an application for a stay of the judgment of a three-judge court sitting in the Western District of Texas. The court's decision covers issues raised in four consolidated actions. The principal issues were as follows:

1. In Graves v. Barnes, plaintiffs challenged the State's reapportionment plan for the senatorial districts in Harris County (Houston) on the ground that they were racially gerrymandered.

2. In Regester v. Bullock, the State's reapportionment plan for the Texas House of Representatives was challenged on the grounds of population deviations from the one-man, one-vote requirement, and on the impermissibility of use of multi-member districts in the metropolitan communities.

3. In Mariott v. Smith, the House plan provision calling for a multi-member district for Dallas County was challenged.

4. In Archer v. Smith, a generally similar attack was levelled against the use of multi-member districting in Bexar County (San Antonio).

The four cases were consolidated and tried by a single three-judge panel. After full pretrial discovery, during which over 2,000 pages of depositions were taken, the District Court heard testimony at a three-and-one-half day hearing. The extensive per curiam opinion, 343 F.Supp. 704, and the concurring and dissenting opinions, which were handed down after some three weeks of deliberation, reflect a careful and exhaustive consideration of the issues in light of the facts as developed. The court's conclusions, in substance, were as follows:

(a) The Senate redistricting plan, as promulgated by the Texas Legislative Redistricting Board, was approved.

(b) The House redistricting plan was held violative of the Equal Protection Clause because of population deviations from equality of representation. But, in an exercise of judicial restraint, the court suspended its decision in this respect for the purpose of affording the Legislature of Texas an opportunity to adopt a new and constitutional plan. Meanwhile, the forthcoming election may be held under the plan found to be deficient.

(c) The multi-member district plans for Dallas and Bexar Counties were found to be unconstitutional under the standard prescribed by this Court in Fortson v. Dorsey, 379 U.S. 433, 438 439, 86 S.Ct. 498, 501, 13 L.Ed.2d 401 (1965); Burns v. Richardson, 384 U.S. 73, 88, 86 S.Ct. 1286, 1294, 16 L.Ed.2d 376 (1966); and Whitcomb v. Chavis, 403 U.S. 124, 143, 91 S.Ct. 1858, 1869, 29 L.Ed.2d 363 (1971). The three-judge court found from the evidence that these multi-member district plans would operate to minimize or cancel out the voting strength of racial minority elements of the voting population, and ordered the implementation of a plan calling for single-member districts for Dallas and Bexar Counties. The State offered no plan for single-member districts for these counties, and the court was compelled to draft its own plan. To minimize the disruptive impact of its ruling, the court ordered that the State's requirement that candidates run from the district of their residence be abated for the forthcoming election. A candidate residing any- where within the county, therefore, may run for election from any district in the county.

(d) The evidence with respect to nine other metropolitan multi-member districts was found insufficient to warrant treatment similar to that required for Dallas and Bexar Counties.

(e) Finally, the court's order stated that its judgment was final and that...