United States v. Dallas County Com'n, Civ. A. No. 78-578-H.
| Decision Date | 10 September 1982 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 78-578-H. |
| Citation | 548 F. Supp. 875 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. DALLAS COUNTY COMMISSION, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Alabama |
W. A. Kimbrough, Jr., U. S. Atty., Mobile, Ala., J. Gerald Hebert and Ellen M. Weber, Voting Section, Civ. Rights Div., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff.
Joe T. Pilcher, Jr., Selma, Ala., for Dallas County Bd. of Educ., et al.
Cartledge W. Blackwell, Jr., W. McLean Pitts, William T. Faile, Selma, Ala., for Dallas County, Ala., et al.
Edward S. Allen, Birmingham, Ala., for Robert Douglas, etc.
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
This action was filed on October 19, 1978 by the United States of America acting through the Attorney General. The named defendants are the Dallas County Commission and its members (L. Seawell Jones, W. H. Kendrick succeeding R. F. Ellis, C. Stanley Baldwin and Gene Norris succeeding Andrew Calhoun); Judge of Probate John W. Jones, Jr., who serves as Chairman Ex-Officio of the Dallas County Commission; the Dallas County Board of Education and its members (William R. Martin, as Chairman, John J. Grimes, Sr., Martin Chance, Joe K. Rives and James N. Priestley); the Chairman of the Dallas County Democratic Executive Committee and the Chairman of the Dallas County Republican Executive Committee. The political party committee chairmen were joined as parties for relief purposes only and did not participate in the action.
This action was filed at about the same time as the Government's suit against the Marengo County Commission and Board of Education, see United States of America v. Marengo County Commission, et al., decision reported at 469 F.Supp. 1150. As in Marengo County there was a prior lawsuit filed by private plaintiffs (in the case of Dallas County being Tyus, et al. v. Dallas County, Alabama, et al., Civil Action No. 77-152-H). Unlike the Marengo County cases, the Tyus lawsuit in Dallas County did not proceed and was dismissed with prejudice on motion of counsel for the plaintiff in that action on October 23, 1978.
The allegations of the complaint are that the at-large election of County Commission members unconstitutionally dilute or cancel the voting strength of the black population in violation of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1971, 1973. The Government requests that the Court declare the at-large election method employed in the election of both County Commission and School Board members to be violative of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and the Voting Rights Act, to enjoin any future at-large elections, and to require the adoption of an election system employing single-member districts. The county commission and school board defendants each filed answers denying that any aspect of the election method in Dallas County has served to deprive black persons of the right to vote or has diluted or cancelled out their voting strength. The defendants filed various motions to dismiss, all of which were denied by the Court. The defendants' answers deny jurisdiction.
The Court has jurisdiction over the Plaintiff's claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1971, 42 U.S.C. § 1973j(f), and 28 U.S.C. § 1343.
The at-large method of election of the membership of the governing body of Dallas County, Alabama was previously challenged in Court on a one-man, one-vote theory and the method was upheld, see Dallas County, Alabama, et al. v. Reese, 421 U.S. 477, 95 S.Ct. 1706, 44 L.Ed.2d 312 (1975).
1. Dallas County, Alabama is located in the Blackbelt area of Alabama in the central part of the state. It is bordered by Perry, Wilcox, Lowndes, Autauga and Chilton Counties. The total population of the County, according to the 1970 Census, was as follows:
White 26,330 47.6%
Black 28,892 52.3%
Other 74 .1%
______
Total Population 55,296
(See Paragraph 4(a)22 of Pretrial Order)
The census further reflects that there are 17,611 whites of voting age (53%) and 15,456 blacks of voting age (47%). (See Paragraph 4(a)23 of Pretrial Order).
The Dallas County Commission, previously known by the name Dallas County Board of Revenue and Court of County Commissioners, was created by enactment of the Legislature of Alabama in 1901. Act No. 328 of the Legislature of Alabama 1900-1901 (approved February 8, 1901) at 892. The act provided for four commissioners to be elected by the county at-large electorate with a district residency requirement. The Judge of Probate serves as Chairman Ex-Officio, voting only in the case of a tie.
Prior to the 1901 statute, from 1876 members of the governing body of Dallas County were appointed by the Governor of Alabama under the provisions of Act No. 265 of the Legislature of Alabama 1875-1876 approved (February 19, 1876) at 385. Prior to the 1876 statute the members of the governing body of Dallas County were elected by the county at-large electorate under the general state codes.
The Dallas County Board of Education is elected under the provisions of Chapter 8 of Title 16 of the Code of Alabama of 1975, which statute generally derives from Act No. 220 of the Acts of Alabama of 1915.
The Plaintiff and the Defendants entered into a joint Pretrial Order which was approved by the Court and which constitutes a final statement of the issues involved, governed the conduct of the trial and constitutes the basis for any relief afforded by the Court. In that Pretrial Order the parties were unable to agree as to the jurisdiction and the propriety of the parties, and those issues were certified to the Court for resolution. In the Pretrial Order the parties also stipulated to a number of uncontested facts, which stipulations were adopted by the Court and constitute a part of the Findings of Fact hereinafter made. The Plaintiff and the Dallas County Board of Education and its members also stipulated, agreed, and consented in the Pretrial Order that the Court shall and may take judicial notice of the entire record and proceedings in Civil Action No. 5945-70-H pending in this Court and styled: Anthony T. Lee, et al., Plaintiff, United States of America, et al., Plaintiff-Intervenor vs. Dallas County Board of Education, et al., Defendants. Said parties stipulated and agreed that the Court may take judicial notice of all documents, evidence and testimony taken and received into evidence in that action, and that any and all orders and trial exhibits admitted into evidence in that action may be considered as evidence in this action. Pursuant to that stipulation, agreement, and consent of said parties, the Court has considered and taken judicial notice of the entire record and proceedings in said Civil Action No. 5945-70-H, including all documents, evidence and testimony taken and received into evidence therein.
In and by the terms of that Pretrial Order, the parties also stipulated, agreed and admitted that the following were and constituted all of the Contested Issues of Fact in this action:
a. Whether as a result of the at-large electoral system used to elect the members of the Dallas County Commission and the Dallas County Board of Education, black citizens of the county have less opportunity than do white citizens to participate in the political process and to elect members of their choice to these governing bodies.
b. Whether the at-large electoral system unlawfully dilutes the voting strength of black voters, and whether black voters are largely concentrated in certain geographic areas of the County.
c. Whether voting for state, district, county and local offices in Dallas County has followed racial lines.
d. Whether black candidates have ever been elected to the Dallas County Commission or the Dallas County Board of Education.
e. Whether a black person has ever been the nominee of the Democratic party or the Republican party for a position on the Dallas County Commission or the Dallas County Board of Education.
f. Whether there has been a lack of responsiveness by the Dallas County Commission and the Dallas County Board of Education to the needs of the black citizens and voters of Dallas County.
g. Whether the State of Alabama and Dallas County have in the past unlawfully discriminated against black residents of Dallas County by disenfranchising black voters through the use of discriminatory devices such as literacy tests, poll taxes and by applying more stringent registration requirements to black prospective voters.
h. Whether black voters of Dallas County have also been the subject of unlawful discrimination in education, employment, housing, public accommodations and public facilities.
i. Whether there is a past history of racial discrimination in Dallas County by state, local and party officials, particularly with respect to public education and minority participation in the electoral process, and if so, whether the same adversely affects minority participation in the political process.
j. Whether there is a firm, long-standing state policy favoring the at-large election of the Dallas County Commission.
k. Whether there is a firm, long-standing state policy favoring the at-large election of the Dallas County Board of Education as stipulated and specified in Chapter 8 of Title 16 of the 1975 Code of Alabama.
l. Whether there is a firm, long-standing state policy favoring the at-large election of members of the County Commissioners or other county governing bodies in the State of Alabama.
m. Whether there is a firm, long-standing state policy favoring the at-large election of members of county Boards of Education in the State of Alabama.
n. Whether the at-large electoral method adversely affects minority participation in the electoral process.
o. Whether the majority vote...
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