Johnson v. Mortham

CourtUnited States District Courts. 11th Circuit. United States District Courts. 11th Circuit. Northern District of Florida
Citation926 F. Supp. 1460
Docket NumberNo. TCA 94-40025-MMP.,TCA 94-40025-MMP.
PartiesAndrew E. JOHNSON, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Sandra MORTHAM, etc., et al., Defendants.
Decision Date06 June 1996

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Rod Sullivan, Pro Hac Vice, Alan B. Vlcek, P.A., Jacksonville, FL, Gerald J. Sullivan, Jr., Gerald J. Sullivan, P.A., Jacksonville, FL, for Andrew E. Johnson.

Gerald J. Sullivan, Jr., Gerald J. Sullivan, P.A., Jacksonville, FL, for Thomas S. Bloodworth, Charles Henry Bloodworth, III, Bill Boyer, Frances G. Brown, Robert T. Conner, Harold F. Davis, Arthur Wilson Devoe, Robert Ellison, George Erdel, Paul Farley, Sue Hall, Hugh Milton Hays, Hugh Milton Hays, Sr., Carson Thomas Howes, Jr., Ron Jackson, Carolyn Janice Johnson, Coranell H. Johnson, Susan M. Lamb, Jim Lewis, Pat Mathis, Cynthia McKinney, Daniel McKinney, Jim Neill, Tommy Praeter, Charles Romero, Vicki T. Romero, Dana Wine.

George L. Waas, Attorney General's Office, Department of Legal Affairs, Tallahassee, FL, Brenda Wright, Pro Hac Vice, Jackqueline A. Berrien, Pro Hac Vice, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, DC, Gerald B. Curington, General Counsel, House of Representatives, Tallahassee, FL, for Jim Smith.

Stephen N. Zack, Pro Hac Vice, Stephen N. Zack, Miami, FL, Brenda Wright, Pro Hac Vice, Jackqueline A. Berrien, Pro Hac Vice, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, DC, Gerald B. Curington, General Counsel, House of Representatives, Tallahassee, FL, for Pat Thomas.

Richard A. Hixson, Richard A. Hixson, P.A., Tallahassee, FL, Thomas R. Tedcastle, Florida House of Representatives, Tallahassee, FL, Stephen N. Zack, Pro Hac Vice, Miami, FL, Brenda Wright, Pro Hac Vice, Jackqueline A. Berrien, Pro Hac Vice, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, DC, Gerald B. Curington, General Counsel, House of Representatives, Tallahassee, FL, B. Elaine New, General Counsel, House of Representatives, Tallahassee, FL, for Bolley L. Johnson.

George L. Waas, Attorney General's Office, Department of Legal Affairs, Tallahassee, FL, David Alan Tepper, Department of State, Office of the General Counsel, Tallahassee, FL, for Sandra Mortham.

Brenda Wright, Pro Hac Vice, Todd A. Cox, Pro Hac Vice, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, DC, for Frank Cummings.

Brenda Wright, Pro Hac Vice, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, DC, for Samuel L. Green, Sr., Leonard O'Neal, Glynell Presley, Mary Lawson Brown.

Rodney G. Gregory, Rodney G. Gregory, P.A., Jacksonville, FL, J. Gerald Hebert, Pro Hac Vice, J. Gerald Hebert, P.A., Alexandria, VA, for Corrine Brown.

Charles G. Burr, Charles G. Burr, P.A., Tampa, FL, for Florida State Conference of NAACP Branches.

Before HATCHETT, Circuit Judge, PAUL, Chief District Judge, and VINSON, District Judge.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

BY THE COURT:

This case arises from the 1992 Florida congressional redistricting process in which a three-judge federal court established a number of districts with racial or ethnic minorities constituting a majority of the voting age population. Plaintiffs are white and hispanic voters who raise an equal protection challenge to Florida's Third Congressional District under the authority of Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630, 113 S.Ct. 2816, 125 L.Ed.2d 511 (1993).* Plaintiffs claim that District Three is unconstitutional because it segregates voters on the basis of race, and is not narrowly tailored to further a compelling governmental interest.

On November 20, 1995, we granted plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment on two issues: first, the three-judge court ("the DeGrandy court") which established the district's boundaries1 lacked the constitutional authority to adopt a permanent redistricting plan; and second, District Three was drawn for predominately race-based reasons, thereby triggering strict scrutiny. Johnson v. Mortham, 915 F.Supp. 1529, 1552-53, (N.D.Fla.1995). See generally Miller v. Johnson, 514 U.S. ___, ___, 115 S.Ct. 2475, 2481, 2490, 132 L.Ed.2d 762 (1995) (strict scrutiny triggered when a redistricting or reapportionment plan is drawn for predominately race-based reasons), on remand, 922 F.Supp. 1556, No. 194-008, (S.D.Ga.1995), petition for cert. filed, 64 U.S.L.W. 3625, 3642 (U.S. Mar. 6, 1996) (Nos. 95-1425, 95-1460); Shaw, 509 U.S. at 642-47, 113 S.Ct. at 2825-27 (same).

This cause has now proceeded through discovery on the remaining issue of whether District Three survives strict scrutiny review. A three-day bench trial was concluded in this matter on February 22, 1996. All parties and party-intervenors were represented at the trial. The Court now sets out its findings of fact and conclusions of law in accordance with Rule 52(a), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, based upon all admissible evidence presented at trial, or otherwise contained in the record.

DISCUSSION:

As discussed below, the remaining plaintiffs in this action2 have shown that they have suffered an actual injury in fact. Therefore, plaintiffs have standing to maintain their equal protection challenge to District Three. See Miller, 514 U.S. at ___, ___, 115 S.Ct. at 2481, 2485; United States v. Hays, 514 U.S. ___-___, 115 S.Ct. 2431, 2436-37, 132 L.Ed.2d 635 (1995). This Court has jurisdiction to consider plaintiffs' claims pursuant to Title 28, United States Code, Section 1343(a)(3).

Since plaintiffs have already met their burden of showing that race was the predominant motivating factor in the drawing of District Three, strict scrutiny applies. Miller, 514 U.S. at ___, ___, 115 S.Ct. at 2481, 2490; Shaw, 509 U.S. at ___-___, 113 S.Ct. at 2825-27.3 "To satisfy strict scrutiny, the state must demonstrate that its districting legislation is narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling interest." Miller, 514 U.S. at ___, 115 S.Ct. at 2490. As we earlier noted in a separate order, the trial burdens in this case are as follows: "Defendants and Defendant-Intervenors bear the burden of producing evidence demonstrating there is a strong basis in evidence that the DeGrandy court's predominant use of race-conscious districting satisfies strict scrutiny." On the other hand, plaintiffs bear the burden of "rebutting the evidence put forward by Defendants and Defendant-Intervenors on the strict scrutiny issue, and persuading the Court that Defendants have not made a sufficient showing to satisfy strict scrutiny review." Johnson v. Mortham, 915 F.Supp. 1574, 1580 (N.D.Fla. 1996) (citations omitted). We altered the order of presentation at trial for purposes of convenience and clarity, with the defendants and the defendant-intervenors proceeding first, in order to properly reflect the parties' respective trial burdens.

I. Compelling Governmental Interest:

The first trial issue is whether the DeGrandy court had a compelling governmental interest in drawing District Three for predominately race-based reasons. A compelling interest has been described by the Supreme Court as one "of the highest order." Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520, 546, 113 S.Ct. 2217, 2233, 124 L.Ed.2d 472 (1993). Defendants contend two compelling interests motivated the DeGrandy court in its redistricting plan: first, that the DeGrandy court was motivated by a desire to comply with section 2 of the Voting Rights Act; and second, that the DeGrandy court desired to adopt a remedial measure designed to eradicate effects of past discrimination in Florida.

On the other hand, plaintiffs assert that there were no compelling interests that justified the creation of District Three. Specifically, plaintiffs contend that there was no voting practice or procedure in northeast Florida that interacted with present effects of past discrimination in a manner that denied or abridged the right of African-Americans to vote. They further maintain that District Three was not drawn in order to avoid a dilution of African-American voting strength in northeast Florida, since the African-American community in northeast Florida was too small and too geographically separated to satisfy the Gingles4 threshold criteria.

Each of the compelling interests advanced by Defendants and Defendant-Intervenors will be separately addressed.

A. Compliance with the Voting Rights Act:

Although a number of lower courts have concluded that compliance with the Voting Rights Act is a compelling governmental interest5, the Supreme Court has stopped short of adopting such a blanket rule. For example, in Shaw, the Court noted:

The States certainly have a very strong interest in complying with federal antidiscrimination laws that are constitutionally valid as interpreted and as applied. But in the context of a Fourteenth Amendment challenge, courts must bear in mind the difference between what the law permits, and what it requires.... We note, however, that only three Justices in UJO were prepared to say that States have a significant interest in minimizing the consequences of racial block voting apart from the requirements of the Voting Rights Act. And those three Justices specifically concluded that race-based districting, as a response to racially polarized voting, is constitutionally permissible only when the State "employs sound districting principles," and only when the affected racial group's "residential patterns afford the opportunity of creating districts in which they will be in the majority."

509 U.S. at 654-57, 113 S.Ct. at 2830-32 (quoting United Jewish Org. of Williamsburgh, Inc. v. Carey, 430 U.S. 144, 167-68, 97 S.Ct. 996, 1011, 51 L.Ed.2d 229 (1977) (opinion of White, J., joined by Stevens and Rehnquist, JJ.)) (emphasis added). Similarly, in Miller, the Court held that "compliance with federal antidiscrimination laws cannot justify race-based districting where the challenged district was not...

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  • Martinez v. Bush
    • United States
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    ...racial gerrymander in violation of Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630, 113 S.Ct. 2816, 125 L.Ed.2d 511 (1993). See Johnson v. Mortham, 926 F.Supp. 1460 (N.D.Fla.1996). The legislature redrew CD 3 to make it more compact and regular in shape. The court upheld the redrawn CD 3. See Johnson v. Mortham......
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