Opinion ID: 2182201
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Invidious Discrimination

Text: As already indicated, eight petitions challenged districts for varying reasons as being invidiously discriminatory in violation of the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment, i.e., (1) as to Petitions Nos. 2, 3 and 5, that the districts diluted the voting strength of residents of incorporated municipalities and an unincorporated town; (2) as to Petitions Nos. 2 and 5, that the districts were drawn to protect incumbents by assuring that not more than one incumbent senator or three incumbent delegates were placed in any single district; (3) as to Petitions 3, 4, 8, 9 and 11, that the districts diluted the voting strength of blacks and political minority groups, and (4) as to Petitions 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 and 11, that the voting strength of discrete groups was otherwise diluted by utilizing multimember districts and by dividing communities of interest. We agree with the Special Master's conclusion that there is no merit in any of these claims. There is nothing in the record even remotely suggesting that the districts in H.J.R. 32 were conceived as a purposeful device to further racial or other invidious forms of discrimination. The petitioners did not, therefore, carry the strong burden imposed upon them under the cited Supreme Court cases to support their claims of invidious discrimination and, accordingly, their claims must fail. More specifically, however, Petitions 2 and 5 challenged the inclusion in District 17 (Montgomery County) of the incorporated municipalities of Rockville and Gaithersburg. The evidence showed that Rockville has a population of 43,000, that Gaithersburg's population is 26,000 and that the statistically ideal district population is 89,723. Neither municipality, therefore, possessed the population required for a single district. It is equally clear that the respective northern-southern boundaries of these municipalities are separated in part by a narrow corridor, with a common boundary in one precinct of the district. The joinder of the two municipalities within a single district gave consideration to the municipal boundaries of each and additional population was added from adjoining areas to comprise the balance of the district, bringing it within 2.56% of the statistically ideal district population. The petitioners' claim of debasement of the voting strength of the residents of the two municipalities appears, in reality, predicated upon the notion that, if in separate districts, they would possess greater influence over their legislative representatives than if joined within a single district. As we see it, the residents have no right, constitutional or otherwise, to placement in different districts in order that their voting strength may be maximized at the expense of other voters within the county. Along similar lines, the petitioner in No. 3 (Howard County) complained of the division of the unincorporated Town of Columbia so that some of its villages were placed in District 13 (comprising residents of Howard and Prince George's Counties) while others were included in District 14 (comprising residents of Howard and Montgomery Counties). [18] Howard County's population of 118,572, however, prohibited retention of the county's boundaries within a single district. It is readily apparent that in the formulation of Districts 13 and 14 H.J.R. 32 gave consideration to the interests of population groups in and around the municipal boundaries of Laurel, as well as those within unincorporated Columbia. The competing interests were resolved in H.J.R. 32 by dividing unincorporated Columbia along a major highway between the two districts. Under the Plan, District 13 was formulated with a population variance of only 2.4% from the statistically ideal while District 14's population variance was 4.9%. We think it obvious that the construction of these districts had a rational purpose, and there is no indication that the division of residents within Columbia was invidiously calculated to dilute their voting strength. Nor is there evidence to support the claim of invidious discrimination asserted in Petitions 2 and 5 that District 17 (Montgomery County) and others were drawn to unfairly protect incumbent delegates and senators. At most, the record shows that the challenged districts were drawn so as to minimize contests between incumbents; but this, without more, does not mandate a finding of invidious discrimination in the districting process. Indeed, a politically fair consideration of incumbency in the redistricting process does not offend the constitution, absent a showing that the districts were unfairly fashioned to favor or hinder either incumbents or nonincumbents. It is incongruous in our view to profess the virtues of constituent-representative communication while at the same time condemning the practice of permitting the voters to decide whether an incumbent is to continue as an elected representative. See Burns v. Richardson, supra, 384 U.S. at 89 n. 16, 86 S.Ct. at 1295 n. 16. See also White v. Weiser, 412 U.S. 783, 93 S.Ct. 2348, 37 L.Ed.2d 335 (1973); Gaffney v. Cummings, 412 U.S. 735, 93 S.Ct. 2321, 37 L.Ed.2d 298 (1973). Those petitions which claimed dilution of voting strength of blacks or minority political groups in Howard County, Baltimore City and in the southern Eastern Shore Counties are wholly unsubstantiated by evidence. Indeed, there is nothing in the record to show a discriminatory effect by reason of any of the challenged districting or, if there was such an effect, that it was intended to be invidiously discriminatory. As already observed, the controlling Supreme Court cases make it clear that a claim of invidious discrimination cannot be sustained in the absence of supporting evidence (and there is none here) that the political processes leading to election were not equally open to those challenging the districting plan on constitutional grounds. [19] Nor is there anything in the record to show that H.J.R. 32, by utilizing multimember districts, sought to minimize or cancel out the voting potential of any racial or political group. [20] And neither was there substantiation of the bare allegations in some petitions that communities of interest were divided in the districting process for intentionally discriminatory purposes. [21]