Latino Political Action v. City of Boston
| Decision Date | 02 August 1983 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 82-2633-C. |
| Citation | 568 F. Supp. 1012 |
| Parties | LATINO POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, INC., et al., Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF BOSTON, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts |
Joseph L. Kociubes, R.J. Cinquegrana, Bingham, Dana & Gould, Boston, Mass., for plaintiffs.
Jacqueline L. Allen, William J. Smith, Harold J. Carroll, City of Boston Law Dept., Boston, Mass., for defendants.
This matter came before the Court on plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment as to counts I, II, and III of their complaint, and on defendants' motion for summary judgment on the same three counts. Counts I through III allege that the Plan for district representation adopted by the City of Boston, which Plan establishes districts for the election of the members of the Boston City Council and the Boston School Committee, violates the "one person, one vote" standard mandated by the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution; 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, and 1985(3); Article 9 of the Declaration of Rights of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and; Mass. Gen.Laws ch. 43, § 131.
The plaintiffs' represent, individually and as a class, all the residents and registered voters in the City of Boston. The named plaintiffs include the Latino Political Action Committee, Caucus Latino de Poliza Social de Massachusetts, Inc. ("Latino PAC"), a non-profit organization formed in 1981 to influence the "selection, nomination, election or appointment of individuals to federal, state or local public offices ..."; the Black Political Task Force, a non-profit organization formed in 1979 to increase the political power of Black people and to ensure that federal, state, and local elected or appointed officers respond to the interests of Black people; Boston Peoples Organization, a non-profit incorporated membership organization founded in 1979 to encourage progressive participation in electoral politics in Boston. Plaintiffs also include individual residents of Boston who are of Puerto Rican ancestry, individual Black citizens, and one individual White citizen. Defendants are the City of Boston; Kevin H. White in his capacity as Mayor; the Boston City Council, the individual members thereof; the Boston School Committee, the individual members thereof; the Boston Election Commission and Michael A. Joyce chairman thereof.
At the present time the Boston City Council consists of nine members elected at-large from the entire City and the Boston School Committee consists of five members also elected at-large. The present term for membership in both groups is two years. In 1977, the Massachusetts legislature enacted a law which created an option, exercisable by municipal referendum, whereby Boston's voters could amend its then, and present form of city government. Chapter 549 of the Acts of 1977, Mass.Gen. Laws ch. 43, §§ 128-134.
Pursuant to Mass.Gen.Laws ch. 43, § 129, the following two binding referendum questions were placed on the November 3, 1981 ballot:
Mass.Gen.Laws ch. 43, § 130 provides that if a majority of the total number of votes cast are in favor of adopting either or both of the above alternatives, they shall be adopted. In the 1981 election, both of the referendum questions were approved by a majority of the total number of votes cast.
After a majority of the voters approved the referendum questions, the City Council set out to devise a plan which would divide Boston into electoral districts as required by the enabling statute. Section 131 of the statute is the source of legislative guidance as to how the Council was to accomplish this task. It provides, in relevant part:
In cities which adopt both a new plan of city council and a new plan of school committee organization, the respective district lines shall be the same for both bodies. Each such district shall be compact and shall contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants, shall be composed of contiguous existing precincts, and shall be drawn with a view towards preserving the integrity of existing neighborhoods.
In establishing the districts in 1982, the City Council elected to use the 1975 state decennial census (state census) which showed a Boston population of 637,986. The Council did not use the then-available 1980 federal census (federal census) which determined Boston's population to be 562,994. The number of Boston residents reported in the 1980 federal census was 74,992 (11.8%) fewer residents than the number reported in the 1975 state census. The racial minority population of Boston based on the 1980 federal census is 205,115 or 36.43% of the total 1980 population. The breakdown is as follows: 126,229 or 22.42% Black; 36,068 or 6.40% Hispanic; 1,302 or .23% American Indian, Eskimo and Aleutian; 15,150 or 2.69% Asian and Pacific Islander; and 26,376 or 4.68% other. U.S. Bureau of the Census, "Census of Population and Housing, 1980: PL 94-171 Counts." The 1975 state decennial census does not break down Boston's population by race, but the percentage of minorities has steadily grown since comparable figures from the 1970 federal census which showed a total population of 641,071. The minority population in 1970 was 134,346 or 20.956% of the total population. The breakdown then was as follows: 104,707 or 16.33% Black, 17,984 or 2.805% Hispanic and 11,655 or 1.818% for all other racial groups described above combined. Boston Redevelopment Authority, "Boston Population Trends and Shifts by Neighborhood, Ward and Precinct, Census Tract District and Census Tract, 1980, 1975 and 1970."
On February 24, 1982, the City Council adopted an ordinance to implement its new plan by grouping the 22 wards and 223 precincts in Boston into nine electoral districts. On March 8, 1982, Mayor White approved the plan. The new plan provides that both the City Council and School Committee shall henceforth be composed of 13 members; nine members to be elected on the basis of one from each of the nine new Districts and four members to be elected on an at-large basis.
Prior to passage of the new plan, the City Council had available to it a report by the staff of the Boston Redevelopment Authority entitled, "Boston Population Trends and Shifts by Neighborhood, Ward and Precinct, Census Tract District and Census Tract, 1980, 1975 and 1970." This document, which is appended to the Affidavit of Janice E. Ellis, submitted on behalf of defendants, and which was prepared specifically for the Boston City Council Special Committee on Electoral Districts, converted 1980 United States Census data into subtotals, by ward and precinct in Boston, for: total population; total Black population; and total Hispanic population. On the basis of this 1980 federal census data, Boston's total population is 562,994. Therefore, the population of nine approximately equal districts (the norm), should be 62,555 per district.
The districts actually established by the new plan contain, according to the defendants' own statement of the 1980 federal census figures, the following numbers of inhabitants which vary from the 62,555 norm as shown in the table below:
District Population % Variance
District I 60,289 -3.6
District II 66,125 +5.7
District III 57,307 -8.4
District IV 53,253 -14.9
District V 56,291 -10.0
District VI 58,640 -6.3
District VII 64,711 +3.4
District VIII 64,920 +3.8
District IX 68,007 +8.7
The greatest variance above the norm is 8.7%, the percentage by which the 68,007 person District IX exceeds the norm of 62,555. The greatest variance below the norm is 14.9%, the percentage by which the 53,253 person District IV falls below the norm. The resulting span of population variance between the largest and smallest district is therefore 23.6%.
Despite the availability of the 1980 federal census figures, the City Council chose to use the 1975 state census figures in apportioning the electoral districts. Using the state census, the districts as apportioned contain more nearly equal numbers of people with a variance from largest to smallest district of about 8 percent. The City Council allegedly based its decision to use the older state census on the following factors: the state census is used in apportioning state representative districts; the state census was believed by the Council to be more reliable than the 1980 federal census which is presently under challenge in the courts; and the state census was used in all the proposals for the City Council districts. Defendants now also seek to justify their use of the 1975 state census by their reliance on a state law which did not even exist at the time they made their election as to which census to use. The recently enacted state law seeks retroactively to impose on the Boston City Council a duty to use the 1975 state census....
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