Robinson v. Ardoin
| Citation | 605 F.Supp.3d 759 |
| Decision Date | 06 June 2022 |
| Docket Number | CIVIL ACTION 22-211-SDD-SDJ, CIVIL ACTION 22-214-SDD-SDJ |
| Parties | Press ROBINSON, et al. v. Kyle ARDOIN, in his official capacity as Secretary of State for Louisiana consolidated with Edward Galmon, Sr., et al. v. Kyle Ardoin, in his official capacity as Secretary of State for Louisiana |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Louisiana |
RULING AND ORDER
Before the Court are the Motion for Preliminary Injunction1 filed by the Robinson Plaintiffs and the Motion for Preliminary Injunction2 by the Galmon Plaintiffs. Defendant Secretary Ardoin and the Intervenor Defendants filed Oppositions ,3 to which Plaintiffs filed Replies.4 The Court also received a Brief Amicus Curiae in Support of Neither Party5 from a group of mathematics and computer science professors at Louisiana State and Tulane Universities. A five-day hearing on the Motions was held, beginning May 9, 2022 and ending May 13, 2022. After the hearing, Plaintiffs and Defendants (along with the Intervenor Defendants) both filed Proposed Findings of Fact ,6 as well as post-hearing briefs.7
For the reasons set forth herein, the Court concludes that Plaintiffs are substantially likely to prevail on the merits of their claims brought under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The Court finds that absent injunctive relief, the movants are substantially likely to suffer irreparable harm. The Court has considered the balance of equities and hardships associated with injunctive relief, as well as the public policies attendant to the issuance of injunctive relief, and concludes that injunctive relief is required under the law and the facts of this case. The Court hereby GRANTS the Motions for Preliminary Injunction8 and PRELIMINARILY ENJOINS Secretary Ardoin from conducting any congressional elections under the map enacted by the Louisiana Legislature in H.B. 1.
The appropriate remedy in this context is a remedial congressional redistricting plan that includes an additional majority-Black congressional district. The United States Supreme Court instructs that the Legislature should have the first opportunity to draw that plan.9 Therefore, the Court ORDERS the Louisiana Legislature to enact a remedial plan on or before June 20, 2022. If the Legislature is unable to pass a remedial plan by that date, the Court will issue additional orders to enact a remedial plan compliant with the laws and Constitution of the United States. The Court hereby STAYS and EXTENDS the deadline for candidates to qualify by nominating petition in lieu of filing fees10 (currently set for June 22, 2022) until July 8, 2022. The candidate qualifying period set for July 20 - 22, 2022 and all other related deadlines are unaffected by this Order and shall proceed as scheduled.
In April 2021, the United States Census Bureau delivered the 2020 Census data that would drive the state of Louisiana's redistricting process. Under the new numbers, Louisiana's congressional apportionment was unchanged from 2010, holding steady at six seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.11 The task of redrawing those six districts fell upon the Louisiana Legislature, where the drawing of new maps was guided in part by Joint Rule No. 21, passed by the Louisiana Legislature in 2021 to establish criteria that would "promote the development of constitutionally and legally acceptable redistricting plans."12 Joint Rule 21 provided as follows:
Leading up to their redistricting session, legislators held a series of "roadshow" meetings across the state, designed to share information about redistricting and solicit public comment and testimony, which lawmakers described as "absolutely vital to this process."13 Citizens who engaged in the process at the roadshows were assured that "your ideas and recommendations matter to me and they matter to us."14 The Legislature convened on February 1, 2022 to begin the redistricting process; on February 18, 2022, H.B. 1 and S.B. 5, the bills setting forth new maps for the 2022 election cycle, passed the Legislature. The enacted plan created the six districts pictured below:15
Having long telegraphed that he would,16 Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards vetoed H.B. 1 and S.B. 5 on March 9, 2022.17 The Legislature voted to override the Governor's veto on March 30, 2022.18 That same day, the Robinson and Galmon Plaintiffs filed their Complaints in this Court, alleging that the 2022 congressional map dilutes Black voting strength in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (the "VRA") by "packing" large numbers of Black voters into a single majority-Black congressional district (Congressional District 2 or "CD 2") and "cracking" the remaining Black voters among the other five districts, where, Plaintiffs argue, they are sufficiently outnumbered to ensure that they are unable to participate equally in the electoral process.19
After the Complaints were filed, Patrick Page Cortez, the President of the Louisiana State Senate, and Clay Schexnayder, the Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives (collectively, "the Legislative Intervenors"), moved to intervene as Defendants in the suit, as did Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry ("Attorney General Landry" or "the Attorney General"). 20
The Court granted those motions21 and, on April 12, 2022, consolidated the Robinson and Galmon matters.22 The Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus also sought, and was granted, intervention.23
The motions now before the Court -- the Motion for Preliminary Injunction24 by the Robinson Plaintiffs and the Motion for Preliminary Injunction25 by the Galmon Plaintiffs – were filed on April 15, 2022. Therein, Plaintiffs urge the Court to enjoin Secretary Ardoin from conducting the 2022 congressional elections under the enacted district maps, to set a deadline for the Legislature to enact a compliant map and, if the Legislature fails to do so, to order that the November 2022 election be conducted under one of the illustrative plans proposed by Plaintiffs.26
After a more condensed schedule proposed by the Court drew objections from Defendants, the Court set the Motions for a five-day evidentiary hearing to begin May 9, 2022.27 On the eve of the preliminary injunction hearing, Attorney General Landry filed a Motion to Stay , arguing that the Supreme Court's forthcoming merits decision in Merrill v. Milligan28 "could be dispositive of this litigation" and will, "[a]t the very least ... be informative to the Parties’ claims and defenses in the instant case."29 The Court denied that motion, reasoning that "[t]he blow to judicial economy and prejudice to Plaintiffs that would result from granting the moved-for stay cannot be justified by speculation over future Supreme Court deliberations ..."30
Article I, § 2 of the United States Constitution compels that members of the House of Representatives "shall be apportioned among the several States ... according to their respective Numbers."31 Thus, every ten years, state legislators use census data to divvy their state up into congressional districts via a redistricting process. As the Legislature's Joint Rule No. 21 notes, redistricting efforts are bound by a number of federal constitutional and statutory requirements. Perhaps most fundamentally, the "one person, one vote" rule requires that districts be drawn such that one person's "vote in a congressional election" is "nearly as is practicable ... worth as much as another's."32 The United States Supreme Court has observed that "to say that a vote is worth more in one district than in another would not only run counter to our fundamental ideas of democratic government, it would cast aside the principle of a House of Representatives elected ‘by the People,’ a principle tenaciously fought for and established at the Constitutional Convention."33 To that...
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Robinson v. Ardoin
...census data was delivered in April 2021 and revealed that Louisiana would continue to have six congressional seats. Robinson v. Ardoin, 605 F.Supp.3d 759, 767 (M.D. La. 2022). At its 2021 regular session, the Louisiana Legislature adopted Rule No. 21 of the Joint Rules of the Senate and Hou......