Opinion ID: 551345
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Background and Effect of Gingles

Text: 15 In 1982, Congress amended Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1973, to provide minority groups a remedy for vote dilution without requiring a showing that the majority engaged in intentional discrimination. Congress set forth a non-exhaustive list of factors to guide courts in determining whether there had been a Section 2 violation. S.Rep. No. 417, 97th Cong., 2d Sess., pt. I at 28-29, U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1982, pp. 206-207. Congress indicated that in applying these factors, courts should engage in a searching practical evaluation of the 'past and present reality'  of the political system in question. Id. at 30, U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1982, p. 208. Creation of this results test for discrimination under Section 2 did not affect the remedies under Section 2 for intentional discrimination. Id. at 27. 16 In Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 106 S.Ct. 2752, 92 L.Ed.2d 25 (1986), the Supreme Court discussed the meaning of the new amendment. While noting the factors the Senate had set out as indicators of impermissible vote dilution, it stated that a court must look to the totality of the circumstances in considering a vote dilution claim. It also established three preconditions for liability under the amendment to Section 2 for claims based only on discriminatory effects: (1) geographical compactness of the minority group; (2) minority political cohesion; and (3) majority block voting. 478 U.S. at 50-51, 106 S.Ct. at 2766-67. 17 The Gingles requirements were articulated in a much different context than this case presents. Although the Gingles Court was aware of the history of discrimination against blacks, which was the minority there in question, the Court did not consider any claim that the disputed districting plan had been enacted deliberately to dilute the black vote. See 478 U.S. at 80, 106 S.Ct. at 2760-61. The claim at issue was that the multi-member districts that were being used, regardless of the intent with which they were created, had the effect of diluting the black vote. 478 U.S. at 39-41, 106 S.Ct. at 2781-82. Thus, the court instituted the possibility of majority requirement in a case in which it was asked to invalidate a political entity's choice of a multi-member district system, and impose a system of single-member districts, and was not asked to find that the multi-member scheme had been set up with a discriminatory purpose in mind. 2 An emphasis on showing a statistically significant disparate impact is typical of claims based on discriminatory effect as opposed to discriminatory intent. 18 In contrast, the district court in this case found that the County had adopted its current reapportionment plan at least in part with the intent to fragment the Hispanic population. See Findings at 44 No. 81. The court noted that continued fragmentation of the Hispanic population had been at least one goal of each redistricting since 1959. Thus, the plaintiffs' claim is not, as in Gingles, merely one alleging disparate impact of a seemingly neutral electoral scheme. Rather, it is one in which the plaintiffs have made out a claim of intentional dilution of their voting strength. 19 The County cites a number of cases in support of its argument that Gingles requires these plaintiffs to demonstrate that they could have constituted a majority in a single-member district as of 1981. None dealt with evidence of intentional discrimination. See, e.g., Romero v. City of Pomona, 883 F.2d 1418, 1422 (9th Cir.1989); McNeil v. Springfield Park, 851 F.2d 937 (7th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1031, 109 S.Ct. 1769, 104 L.Ed.2d 204 (1989); Skorepa v. City of Chula Vista, 723 F.Supp. 1384 (S.D.Cal.1989). 20 To impose the requirement the County urges would prevent any redress for districting which was deliberately designed to prevent minorities from electing representatives in future elections governed by that districting. This appears to us to be a result wholly contrary to Congress' intent in enacting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and contrary to the equal protection principles embodied in the fourteenth amendment.