CASE STUDIES IN EMERGENCY ELECTION LITIGATION

Federal Judicial Center 9/4/2023 1

Hasty Redistricting of a County Legislature 

Boone v. Nassau County Legislature 

(Joanna Seybert, E.D.N.Y. 2:11-cv-2712) 

On the day before a period of collecting ballot-petition signatures 

for a county-legislature election, voters filed a federal complaint 

challenging new district lines. The district judge held preliminaryinjunction hearings during the following week, but the state high 

court’s nullification of the district lines mooted the federal case. 

Subject: District lines. Topics: Malapportionment; matters for 

state courts; section 2 discrimination; case assignment; getting on 

the ballot; class action. 

Four voters filed a federal class-action complaint in the Eastern District of 

New York’s Central Islip’s courthouse on June 6, 2011, alleging that new district lines for Nassau County’s legislature violated the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment and section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.1

 The plaintiffs 

drew the court’s attention to the urgency of the action by pointing out that 

the period to collect ballot-petition signatures would begin on the following 

day.2

Judge Joanna Seybert received the case file a little after 2:00 p.m. and held 

a hearing at 3:15.3 It was not clear whether ballot petitions for legislative elections would be based on old district lines or new district lines.4

When they filed their complaint, the plaintiffs noted that the case was related to a 1991 action resolved by Judge Arthur D. Spatt in 1994.5

 A September 24, 1991, complaint by eight Nassau County voters challenged the modified weighted-voting scheme for Nassau County’s board of supervisors, 

which consisted of two representatives from Hempstead, the largest municipality, and one from each of the other four municipalities in the county.6

 The 

board’s 108 votes were allocated approximately according to the municipalities’ populations, adjusted for the sake of each supervisor’s “mathematical 

1. Complaint, Boone v. Nassau Cty. Legislature, No. 2:11-cv-2712 (E.D.N.Y. June 6, 

2011), D.E. 1 [hereinafter Boone Complaint]; see Voting Rights Act of 1965, Pub. L. No. 89-

110, § 2, 79 Stat. 437, 437, as amended, 52 U.S.C. § 10301; see also Dorsett v. County of Nassau, 732 F.3d 157, 159 (2d Cir. 2013). 

2. Boone Complaint, supra note 1, at 17–18; Transcript at 12, Boone, No. 2:11-cv-2712 

(E.D.N.Y. June 6, 2011, filed July 24, 2014), D.E. 69 [hereinafter Boone Transcript]. 

3. Boone Transcript, supra note 2, at 1, 12. 

4. Id. at 12–16. 

5. Notice of Related Case, Boone, No. 2:11-cv-2712 (E.D.N.Y. June 6, 2011), D.E. 6; see

Docket Sheet, Jackson v. Nassau Cty. Bd. of Supervisors, No. 9:91-cv-3720 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 

24, 1991) [hereinafter Jackson Docket Sheet]. 

Judge Spatt died on June 12, 2020. Federal Judicial Center Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges [hereinafter FJC Biographical Directory], www.fjc.gov/history/judges. 

6. Jackson v. Nassau Cty. Bd. of Supervisors, 818 F. Supp. 509, 510–11 (E.D.N.Y. 1993); 

Jackson Docket Sheet, supra note 5 (D.E. 1). 
Hasty Redistricting of a County Legislature 

2 Federal Judicial Center 9/4/2023 

possibility of his casting a decisive vote on a particular matter.”7 Denying the 

defendants’ motion for summary judgment on April 14, 1993, Judge Spatt 

concluded that the scheme violated the principle of one person, one vote.8

On August 2, 1994, the supervisors agreed to a new districting plan that 

would be submitted to voters in a November referendum, so the special master appointed by Judge Spatt to draft a plan ceased work.9

 On November 8, 

Nassau County voters approved the transition from a six-member board of 

supervisors to a 19-member legislature.10

At her June 6, 2011, hearing, Judge Seybert informed the parties, 

My chambers has conferenced with Judge Spatt’s chambers with respect 

to the prior case, and the determination has been made that it is not a related case. Clearly the passage of time and the different issues involved do not 

warrant that it be related to it and that’s already been gone into.11

Judge Seybert conducted a preliminary-injunction hearing on June 13, 

14, 15, 16, and 20, 2011, and then referred the matter to Magistrate Judge Arlene R. Lindsay.12

Parallel litigation in state court mooted the federal litigation. State Supreme Court Justice Steven M. Jaeger issued a temporary restraining order 

against enforcement of the new districts on May 31, 2014.13 Appellate Division Justice Joseph Covello stayed the injunction on June 2.14 Justice Jaeger 

determined on July 21, 2011, that the legislature could not “immediately adjust the nineteen County legislative districts for the 2011 general election.”15

The appellate division reversed this decision on August 9.16 On August 30, 

New York’s court of appeals determined that according to county law the 

7. Jackson, 818 F. Supp. at 524–26. The municipalities’ population shares in the county 

were 56%, 23%, 17%, 2.6%, and 1.9%; their supervisors’ votes were fifty-eight, twenty-two, 

fifteen, seven, and six, respectively. Id. at 524–25. 

8. Id. at 535. 

9. Jackson v. Nassau Cty. Bd. of Supervisors, 157 F.R.D. 612, 616 (E.D.N.Y. 1994). 

10. See Federal Judge Praises Vote on Nassau Charter, N.Y. Times, Nov. 11, 1994, at B5; 

Voters Favor Plan to Create a Legislature, N.Y. Times, Nov. 9, 1994, at B12 (reporting also, 

“Each new county legislator will serve part-time, be elected to two-year terms and receive a 

yearly salary of $39,500.”). 

11. Boone Transcript, supra note 2, at 7. 

12. Minutes, Boone v. Nassau Cty. Legislature, No. 2:11-cv-2712 (E.D.N.Y. June 13 

through 16 and 20, 2011), D.E. 11, 21, 23, 25, 31; see Minutes, id. (June 20, 2011), D.E. 30; see 

also Amended Complaint, id. (June 23, 2011), D.E. 37. 

13. Order, Yatauro v. Mangano, No. 6898/2011 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. May 31, 2014), filed as Ex. 

K, Proposed Order to Show Cause, Yatauro v. Mangano, No. 2:11-cv-3079 (E.D.N.Y. June 

30, 2011), D.E. 2 [hereinafter Yatauro Proposed Order to Show Cause]; see Boone Transcript, supra note 2, at 8. 

14. Order, Yatauro, No. 6898/2011 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. App. Div. June 2, 2011), filed as Ex. L, 

Yatauro Proposed Order to Show Cause, supra note 13; see Boone Transcript, supra note 2, 

at 7–8. 

15. Yatauro v. Mangano, 32 Misc. 3d 838, 927 N.Y.S.2d 868 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2011); see

Opinion, Yatauro, No. 2:11-cv-3079 (E.D.N.Y. July 1, 2011), D.E. 5, 2011 WL 2610562 (remanding the action following the county’s attempted removal to federal court). 

16. Yatauro v. Mangano, 87 A.D.3d 582, 928 N.Y.S.2d 561 (N.Y. App. Div. 2011). 
Hasty Redistricting of a County Legislature 

Federal Judicial Center 9/4/2023 3

new district lines could not go into effect until the 2013 election to afford a 

period of commission and public review.17

Judge Seybert administratively closed her case on September 23, 2011.18

On March 5, 2013, Nassau County’s legislature passed a new districting 

plan.19

On November 23, 2011, an attorney who represented the plaintiffs in 

Judge Seybert’s case filed a federal complaint against Nassau County officials 

alleging wrongful retaliation for the attorney’s representing plaintiffs in actions against the county, including Judge Seybert’s case.20 In particular, the 

complaint alleged spiteful delay by the county legislature in voting on settlements in two of the attorney’s earlier cases.21 On October 18, 2013, the court 

of appeals affirmed Judge Sandra J. Feuerstein’s dismissal of the retaliation 

action “[b]ecause we find that Plaintiffs had no right to have the settlement 

approved at all, much less by a certain date.”22

17. Yatauro v. Mangano, 17 N.Y.3d 420, 955 N.E.2d 343, 931 N.Y.S.2d 36 (2011). 

18. Order, Boone v. Nassau Cty. Legislature, No. 2:11-cv-2712 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 23, 2011), 

D.E. 65. 

19. Letter, id. (Mar. 15, 2013), D.E. 67. 

20. Complaint, Dorsett v. County of Nassau, No. 2:11-cv-5748 (E.D.N.Y. Nov. 23, 2011), 

D.E. 1; see Amended Complaint, id. (Dec. 22, 2011), D.E. 6; see also Notice of Related Case, 

Boone, No. 2:11-cv-2712 (E.D.N.Y. Nov. 28, 2011), D.E. 66. 

21. Dorsett v. County of Nassau, 732 F.3d 157, 159–60 (2d Cir. 2013). 

22. Id. at 159–60 (noting that since the action was filed one settlement was approved and 

the other was not), aff’g Opinion, Dorsett, No. 2:11-cv-5748 (E.D.N.Y. Nov. 23, 2011), D.E. 

39, 2013 WL 272796. 

A December 18, 2003, employment action against the county, Complaint, Williams v. 

County of Nassau, No. 2:03-cv-6337 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 18, 2003), D.E. 1; see Docket Sheet, id.

(Dec. 18, 2003) (amended complaint, D.E. 17), resulted in a settlement rejected in 2012 by 

the county legislature, Dorsett, 732 F.3d at 160, but the case was nevertheless brought to 

resolution in 2014 by settlement, Letter, Williams, No. 2:03-cv-6337 (E.D.N.Y. July 10, 

2014), D.E. 225. See Williams v. County of Nassau, 779 F. Supp. 2d 276 (E.D.N.Y. 2011) 

(dismissing a co-plaintiff’s claim), aff’d, 581 F. App’x 56 (2d Cir. 2014), cert. denied, 576 U.S. 

1004 (2015). 

A March 19, 2010, wrongful-death action against the county and its police department, 

Complaint, Dorsett v. County of Nassau, No. 2:10-cv-1258 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 19, 2010), D.E. 1, 

resulted in a $7.7 million settlement approved in 2012 by the county legislature, Newsday 

LLC v. County of Nassau, 730 F.3d 156, 160 (2d Cir. 2013) (affirming a protective order for 

an internal-affairs report and reversing the sealing of a transcript of contempt proceedings 

against a member of the county legislature who divulged facts stated in the report); Dorsett 

v. County of Nassau, 289 F.R.D. 54, 62 (E.D.N.Y. 2012) (noting modification of the protective order to facilitate review by the county legislature of the settlement agreement); Dorsett 

v. County of Nassau, 800 F. Supp. 2d 453 (E.D.N.Y. 2011) (noting a July 20, 2011, statement 

of settlement and affirming the magistrate judge’s protective order), aff’g 762 F. Supp. 2d 500 

(E.D.N.Y. 2011); Dorsett, 732 F.3d at 160. 

Judge Feurerstein died on April 9, 2021. FJC Biographical Directory, supra note 5.