League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry
League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry | |
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Holding | |
Texas's redrawing of District 23’s lines amounts to vote dilution violative of §2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, while other newly created districts remain constitutional. The judgment is affirmed in part, reversed in part, vacated in part, and remanded. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Kennedy (Parts II–A and III), joined by Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer |
Plurality | Kennedy (Parts I and IV), joined by Roberts, Alito |
Plurality | Kennedy (Part II–D), joined by Souter, Ginsburg |
Concur/dissent | Roberts, joined by Alito |
Concur/dissent | Stevens, joined by Breyer (Parts I and II) |
Concur/dissent | Scalia, joined by Thomas; Roberts, Alito (Part III) |
Concur/dissent | Souter, joined by Ginsburg |
Concur/dissent | Breyer |
Laws applied | |
Voting Rights Act of 1965 |
League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, 548 U.S. 399 (2006), is a
The opinion requires lawmakers to adjust congressional district boundaries in comport with the Court's ruling, though the ruling ultimately did not substantially reduce or reverse the Republican gains as a result of the redistricting in Texas.[2] The Court also declined to resolve a dispute over whether partisan gerrymandering claims present nonjusticiable political questions.
Background
After the
At the November 2004 election, Republican seats increased from fifteen to twenty-one, with even Martin Frost, the third-ranking Democrat in the House, losing his seat.[3] Private plaintiffs sued, alleging any mid-decade redistricting was illegal, the plan was an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, and it was in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.[5] On January 6, 2004, a three-judge district court now made up of Circuit Judge Higgenbotham, and District Judges Ward and Lee H. Rosenthal rejected all the plaintiffs’ claims, with Judge Ward concurring in part and dissenting in part.[6] On October 18, 2004, however, the Supreme Court vacated and remanded the case after its new plurality decision in Vieth v. Jubelirer readdressed the political question doctrine. On June 9, 2005, the three-judge court rejected all the plaintiffs’ claims again, with Judge Ward writing a special concurrence.[7]
Plaintiffs appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, where two hours of argument were heard on March 1, 2006, with Paul M. Smith appearing for the statewide plaintiffs, Nina Perales of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund appearing for the District 23 plaintiffs, Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz appearing for the state,[8] and then-Deputy U.S. Solicitor General Gregory G. Garre appearing as a friend of Texas.[9]
Supreme Court
On June 28, 2006, the second to last day of the term, a highly fractured Court rejected all of the plaintiffs’ claims except for the vote dilution claim in Texas's 23rd congressional district, producing six different opinions spanning 121 pages of the United States Reports.[5]
Statewide claims
Justice
- The plaintiff's argument of this being a statewide unconstitutional partisan gerrymanderwas rejected 7-2.
- The plaintiff's argument that states can redistrict only once per census under the federal constitution or acts of Congress was explicitly rejected. States can redistrict as often they please as long as they do it at least once every ten years.
Districts 23 & 25
The Court, now of[clarification needed] Justice Kennedy, joined by Justices Souter, Ginsburg, Stevens and Breyer, applied Thornburg v. Gingles (1986) to find vote dilution in District 23 in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.[5]
By a 5–4 vote the majority ruled that:
- Old district 23 was a qualified protected majority-minorityLatino district (indeed in 2002 on the verge of throwing out the incumbent that wasn't of their choice).
- New district 25 wasn't compact enough to be considered a qualifying replacement majority-minority Latino district. The two Latino communities within new district 25 were more than 300 miles apart, raising the appearance that the district was drawn to pick up as many Latinos as possible without regard to compactness.
- And therefore new District 23 is a section 2 violation of the Voting Rights Act and must be redrawn.
- There is no need to rule on whether or not new district 25 is itself a racial gerrymander in violation of section 2 because the changes to district 23 will of necessity affect district 25 and it is therefore moot. However, the lower court decision that it was not in violation of section 2 is vacated.
- The case is remanded for further proceedings.
Dissents on Districts 23 & 25
Chief Justice Roberts, joined by Alito dissented.[5] Justice Scalia also dissented and, joined by the Chief Justice and Justices Thomas and Alito, argued that District 23 violated neither the Voting Rights Act nor the Equal Protection Clause.[5]
- Nowhere in the Voting Rights Act or its legislative history is compactness of districts mentioned and that the majority is causing the jurisprudence of section 2 to diverge more and more from the legislative history.
- New district 25 is more than an adequate replacement for old 23 (if necessarily), and indeed the majority accepts that new district 25 performed better for Latinos in 2004 than old district 23 from 1992—2002.
District 24
Justice Kennedy, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, found that the plan did not crack Texas's 24th congressional district in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.[5] Justice Scalia, joined by Thomas, concurred in that judgment but felt the case should be dismissed as non-judicable.[5] Justice Souter, joined by Ginsburg, dissented, arguing to vacate and remand.[5] Justice Stevens dissented, arguing to reverse.[5]
The majority of the court noted that old district 24 had three separate communities to begin with (Whites, Blacks, Latino) and Martin Frost (a White Democrat) never having been challenged in 22 years in a primary made it impossible to dispute the state legislative history that it was specifically created for a White Democrat.
Practical result
On August 4, 2006, the three-judge court made its remedial order.
See also
References
- ^ League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, 548 U.S. 399 (2006). This article incorporates public domain material from this U.S government document.
- ^ The Associated Press (June 28, 2006). "Justices Back Most G.O.P. Changes to Texas Districts". New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2006.
- ^ a b c d e Jeffrey Toobin. "Drawing the Line: Will Tom DeLay's redistricting in Texas cost him his seat?". The New Yorker. No. March 6, 2006. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
- Rick Hasen (December 2, 2005). "Another Explosive DOJ Voting Rights Memo Leaked to the Washington Post; Could It Affect Supreme Court's Decision in Texas Redistricting Case?". Election Law Blog. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m The Supreme Court, 2005 Term — Leading Cases, 120 Harv. L. Rev. 243 (2006). Archived at the Wayback Machine (archived 7 April 2017)
- ^ Session v. Perry, 298 F. Supp. 2d 451 (E.D. Tex. 2004).
- ^ Henderson v. Perry, 399 F. Supp. 2d 756 (E.D. Tex. 2005).
- ^ Baker, Sam (March 23, 2015). "When Ted Cruz Argued at SCOTUS" – via National Journal.
- ^ "League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry". Oyez Project. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
- ^ League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, 457 F. Supp. 2d 716 (E.D. Tex. 2006).
External links
- Text of League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, 548 U.S. 399 (2006) is available from: Cornell CourtListener Findlaw Google Scholar Justia Oyez (oral argument audio)
- State of Texas – Texas Redistricting
- JURIST – Paper Chase: Supreme Court leaves Texas redistricting map largely intact