Sensley v. Albritton

• Decision Date: 28 September 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-30866.,03-30866.
• Citation: 385 F.3d 591
• Parties: Willie SENSLEY; William Washington; Ralph Holley; David Wine, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Jabo ALBRITTON, In His Official Capacity as a Member of the Union Parish Police Jury; Johnny Buckley, In His Official Capacity as a Member of the Union Parish Police Jury; Keith Byram, In His Official Capacity as a Member of the Union Parish Police Jury; Dewayne Hill, In His Official Capacity as a Member of the Union Parish Police Jury; Jerry Holson, In His Official Capacity as a Member of the Union Parish Police Jury; Anna Milstead, In Her Official Capacity as a Member of the Union Parish Police Jury; Jerry Rugg, In His Official Capacity as a Member of the Union Parish Police Jury; Danny Smith, In His Official Capacity as a Member of the Union Parish Police Jury, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

385 F.3d 591

Willie SENSLEY; William Washington; Ralph Holley; David Wine, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Jabo ALBRITTON, In His Official Capacity as a Member of the Union Parish Police Jury; Johnny Buckley, In His Official Capacity as a Member of the Union Parish Police Jury; Keith Byram, In His Official Capacity as a Member of the Union Parish Police Jury; Dewayne Hill, In His Official Capacity as a Member of the Union Parish Police Jury; Jerry Holson, In His Official Capacity as a Member of the Union Parish Police Jury; Anna Milstead, In Her Official Capacity as a Member of the Union Parish Police Jury; Jerry Rugg, In His Official Capacity as a Member of the Union Parish Police Jury; Danny Smith, In His Official Capacity as a Member of the Union Parish Police Jury, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 03-30866.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

September 28, 2004.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Paul Loy Hurd (argued), Monroe, LA, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

Joseph Marcellus Bertrand (argued), Joseph M. Bertrand & Associates, R. Scott Buhrer, Flander & Buhrer, Metairie, LA, for Defendants-Appellees.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

Before JOLLY, DAVIS and JONES, Circuit Judges.

E. GRADY JOLLY, Circuit Judge:

Residents of Union Parish, Louisiana appeal the dismissal of their vote dilution challenge under § 2 of the Voting Rights Act to a redistricting plan for electing parish police jury members, a plan that continued to provide two black-majority districts instead of expanding to include three. The district court found that the plaintiffs failed to prove that the African-American population of the parish was sufficiently geographically compact to support an additional black-majority district and, alternatively, found that the plaintiffs had failed to prove that African-Americans in Union Parish have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice. At the close of the case, the plaintiffs filed a motion for the district judge to recuse himself. The motion was filed under 28 U.S.C. § 455(a), § 455(b)(4), and § 455(b)(5)(iii), alleging that the wife of the federal judge was employed as a state assistant district attorney in the office that was representing the defendants. The district judge declined to recuse. Because we find no error in the district judge's findings with respect to the merits of this case and because we find no abuse of discretion in his declining to recuse himself, we AFFIRM the judgment.

I

Union Parish is a political subdivision of Louisiana, which is governed by a nine-member Police Jury. Each member is elected from one of nine, single-member electoral districts. According to the 2000 Census, Union Parish has a population of 22,803 persons — 69.8% of whom are white and 27.9% of whom are black. Of that total population, there are 16,952 persons of voting age — 73.2% are white and 24.8% are black. The 2000 Census showed a 10.2% increase in the total population of Union Parish.¹ The increase was greater in some geographical areas than others, which resulted in population inequities among the nine districts. A redistricting was thus required to satisfy the one person, one vote constitutional standard. Consequently, the Police Jury and the School Board hired David A. Creed, executive director of the North Delta Regional Planning and Development District, Inc. to assist them in re-apportioning the district.

Creed prepared fourteen different proposed redistricting plans. In twelve of these plans, two of the nine districts were majority black — the same number as under the old plan. Two of these plans contained three majority-black districts, albeit only marginally.² The Union Parish Police Jury ultimately adopted a plan that maintained the existing arrangement of having two majority-black districts. The adopted plan reflected only minor changes to the district boundaries under the old plan. In particular, Police Jury incumbents remained in their same districts and the districts that were majority-black under the old plan remained so under the new one.

Following the parish's adoption of this plan, the plaintiffs ("the Plaintiffs") in this action brought this suit against the members of the Police Jury ("the Defendants"), who were sued in their official capacity as members of that body. The Plaintiffs are African-American citizens of Union Parish who are registered to vote. In addition, one of the Plaintiffs, Willie Sensley, is a current member of the Police Jury, representing District 1. The Plaintiffs alleged that the redistricting plan adopted by the Parish violates § 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 42 U.S.C. § 1973, because, by creating only two instead of three majority-black electoral districts, it dilutes the voting rights of African-American citizens of the Parish.

At a trial held on July 30, 2003, both parties presented the testimony of fact and expert witness in support of their positions. The district court took the case under advisement and found in favor of the Defendants on August 14, 2003. Specifically, the court found that the Plaintiffs had been unable to make the required threshold showing of "geographical compactness" under Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 106 S.Ct. 2752, 92 L.Ed.2d 25 (1986). In the alternative, the district court found that their case still would fail under the totality of the circumstances test outlined in Gingles because the Plaintiffs failed to prove that under the adopted redistricting plan, African-Americans "would have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice." 42 U.S.C. § 1973(b).

The Plaintiffs assert three points of error. First, they contend the district court erred in concluding that the African-American voting age population was insufficiently compact. Second, they argue that the district court erred in concluding that the redistricting plan did not dilute the voting rights of the African-Americans. Finally, they assert that the district judge abused his discretion in failing to recuse himself.

II

A

We first turn to the contention relating to the merits: Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, as amended, provides that: "No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision in a manner which results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color...." 42 U.S.C. § 1973(a). To establish a § 2 violation, members of the protected class must demonstrate that, based on the totality of circumstances, they "have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice." 42 U.S.C. § 1973(b); see also Gingles, 478 U.S. at 47, 106 S.Ct. 2752 ("The essence of a § 2 claim is that a certain electoral law, practice, or structure interacts with social and historical conditions to cause an inequality in the opportunities enjoyed by black and white voters to elect their preferred representatives.").

In Gingles, the Supreme Court held that a court should analyze a § 2 claim under a two-part framework. First, plaintiffs must satisfy, as a threshold matter, three preconditions. Specifically, "[t]he minority group must demonstrate that: (1) it is sufficiently large and geographically compact to constitute a majority in a single-member district; (2) it is politically cohesive; and (3) the white majority votes sufficiently as a bloc to enable it — in the absence of special circumstances — usually to defeat the minority's preferred candidates." Clark v. Calhoun County, Miss., 21 F.3d 92, 94-95 (5th Cir.1994). Failure to establish all three of these elements defeats a Section 2 claim. Teague v. Attala County, Miss., 92 F.3d 283, 287 (5th Cir.1996). Second, if the preconditions are proved, plaintiffs must then prove that "based on the totality of the circumstances," they "have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice." Clark, 21 F.3d at 94 (quoting 42 U.S.C. 1973(b)).

This court reviews de novo the legal standards the district court applied to determine whether Section 2 has been violated. N.A.A.C.P. v. Fordice, 252 F.3d 361, 364 (5th Cir.2001). However, because Section 2 vote dilution disputes are determinations "peculiarly dependent upon the facts of each case that require an intensely local appraisal of the design and impact of the contested electoral mechanisms," we review the district court's findings on the Gingles threshold requirements and its ultimate findings on vote dilution for clear error. Id. at 364-65, (quoting Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 79, 106 S.Ct. 2752, 92 L.Ed.2d 25) (quotations removed). We thereby "preserve[ ] the benefit of the trial court's particular familiarity with the indigenous political reality without endangering the rule of law." Gingles, 478 U.S. at 79, 106 S.Ct. 2752. "[A] finding is clearly erroneous when although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made." Houston v. Lafayette County, Miss., 56 F.3d 606, 610 (5th Cir.1995) (quoting Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 573, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985)) (quotations removed).

B

At trial, the parties stipulated that the second and third Gingles preconditions are met in the present case. Thus, the question before the district court was whether the Plaintiffs were able to establish the first Gingles precondition: that the African-American population in Union Parish is "sufficiently large and geographically compact" to constitute a majority of the voting age population in three...