Opinion ID: 722387
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Evaluation of the district court's findings.

Text: 30 The plaintiffs criticize the district court's evaluation of their election statistics. By contrast, FBISD maintains that it impeached and made questionable most of the plaintiffs' substantive evidence. After thoroughly reviewing the testimony and evidence, we agree with FBISD. 31 Though we agree that the district court probably discredited much of the evidence presented by the plaintiffs in this particular case, we must acknowledge the sensitivity of the issues involved. We do find it curious that only three minorities in the last twenty years have successfully been elected to the board of trustees for the FBISD. The parties cannot and do not dispute that FBISD's history is blemished by past racial discrimination. In addition to being cognizant of FBISD's past, we are well aware of the difficulty minority candidates generally face when seeking elections in at-large systems. See Westwego Citizens for Better Gov't v. City of Westwego, 872 F.2d 1201, 1204 (5th Cir.1989), after remand, 906 F.2d 1042 (5th Cir.1990) (noting that it is well recognized that at-large voting schemes may operate to dilute minorities' voting strength). Nevertheless, we cannot ignore that the record before us is replete with examples of contradicted testimony, inadequate evidence, errors, and concessions that permitted the district court to discount the plaintiffs' evidence and, consequently, their legal theories. 32 FBISD severely impeached the testimony of the plaintiffs and their experts. For example, FBISD exposed numerous contradictions between Rollins' and Grice's testimony at trial and their deposition testimony. Likewise, it revealed errors in Korbel's exhibits 14 as well as a questionable methodology employed by Korbel when researching vestiges of discrimination. 15 Further, FBISD demonstrated inconsistencies in Dr. Flores' data 16 and showed that some of Dr. Flores' methodologies made his results inaccurate or unreliable. 17 7] Dr. Flores manually corrected exhibits while testifying and admitted to other errors FBISD and the district court identified. 18 Dr. Flores' testimony also indicated that his analysis was incomplete and slanted in support of the black plaintiffs. 19 Consequently, both Dr. Flores and Korbel were forced to concede that several of their opinions were either suspect or incorrect. 33 FBISD further impeached the plaintiffs' evidence by injecting into the case the issue of the minority candidates' viability. Based on the opinion of defendants' expert, Dr. John Alford, a serious candidate must raise and expend considerable sums of money for his campaign; the failure to do so renders the candidate non-serious and non-viable. Plaintiff Grice and Korbel were forced to concede that several minority candidates who lost were not serious candidates either because they spent little money or were not supported by the minority community. 20 34 In addition to impeaching the plaintiffs' evidence, FBISD also presented evidence regarding the white cross-over vote. The third prong of the test established in Gingles requires proof that the white community votes consistently as a bloc to defeat minority candidates. FBISD demonstrated that the minorities collectively received large percentages of the white vote. It argues that if the statistics proved that the white community actually voted for minorities on a regular basis, there could be no voting bloc in the white community systematically being used to defeat the preferred minority candidate. 35 The district court expressly found that the statistical results presented by the parties were very similar. The parties' experts depart primarily on the interpretations drawn from the results. The plaintiffs argue that the small number of minority victories, coupled with proof that minority candidates cannot carry white precincts, prove that minorities cannot effectively elect representatives of their choosing. FBISD argues that several minorities ran against each other in many of the elections, and in those cases the minority candidates collectively received over fifty percent of the votes in the white precincts. FBISD asserts that the ability of the minorities to obtain such a large percentage of the white vote disproves the existence of white bloc voting and demonstrates that minorities might be successful if they did not split the vote among each other. 36 We conclude that the parties presented two viable theories to explain the few minority successes in school board elections; however, we find that the district court chose to believe FBISD's theory rather than the plaintiffs' theory because it discredited much of the plaintiffs' evidence. The district court expressly adopted FBISD's method of interpreting the statistics: 37 Dr. Alford emphasized that in interpreting the regression results, the R and R 2 values, the slope, and the y-intercept point must all be examined. Applying this approach, the R values show significant polarization in the black community. However, the slope and y-intercept show that the white vote is much more randomly distributed with respect to race. Voters in predominantly Anglo precincts or boxes regularly give substantial votes to minority candidates, even in a head-to-head race. White voters do not vote consistently or cohesively for minority candidates--or for nonminority candidates. 38 The court finds this analysis correct. This analysis alone recognizes the frequent presence of reasons other than a candidate's race to explain the defeat of that candidate. This analysis alone explains why some minority candidates in the FBISD have done well in both minority and Anglo boxes, and have won, and why other candidates have done less well in both minority and Anglo boxes, and have been defeated. This analysis alone explains the voting patterns in the FBISD. 39 The district court also revealed its dissatisfaction with the plaintiffs' evidence in numerous places in its opinion. 21 40 Because FBISD impeached or made questionable most of the plaintiffs' evidence, it is not surprising that the district court found FBISD's interpretation of the statistics more reliable. We believe that the district court's implicit credibility assessments necessarily affect the conclusions it reached regarding the many elections discussed at trial. With this in mind, we will discuss each of the plaintiffs' contentions. 41 First, the plaintiffs challenge the district court's inconsistent use of the term incumbency. 22 The court first discounted Collins' defeat in 1992 because of an alleged anti-incumbent sentiment generally affecting the citizens. Then, the district court seemingly contradicted this reasoning when it discounted the 1993 loss of black candidate Beard because he had low name recognition and was defeated by an incumbent. Similarly, in explaining Plaintiff Rollins' 1987 defeat, the district court attributed the loss to his being a first-time candidate running against a long-time incumbent. 42 We cannot agree with the plaintiffs' arguments. The record supports the district court's conclusions regarding the use of the term incumbency as well as the court's treatment of FBISD's first-time candidates. The district court's conclusions must be measured against the deficiencies the district court identified in the plaintiffs' evidence. For example, as we discuss in much more detail later in this opinion, the district court expressly limited the probative value of the plaintiffs' statistics 23 and discounted evidence about several elections the plaintiffs presented. 24 After reviewing the record, we cannot say that the conclusions regarding incumbency and first time candidates are clearly erroneous. 43 Second, the plaintiffs dispute the district court's explanation that Plaintiff Rollins' defeat occurred because Rollins lacked minority support, not because of white bloc voting. The plaintiffs further argue that the district court failed to discuss the plaintiffs' undisputed evidence that Rollins would have won at least one, if not both, of the black districts under the plaintiffs' redistricting proposal. The district court reasoned that Rollins did not carry two major voting areas; he was defeated by a black in an election for County Commissioner, and was a first-time candidate for a school board trustee position. 44 We conclude that the record supports the district court's findings. Rollins conceded that he failed to carry the Hunters Glen precinct which was at least seventy percent minority when he sought election to the Board. He also admitted that another minority defeated him in the election for county commissioner. Sufficient evidence exists in the record to support the conclusion that Rollins was not the preferred candidate of the black community. Error has not been committed simply because the district court does not discuss the evidence in terms of the plaintiffs' theory (i.e., that Rollins would have won in a single district election scheme), when the district court deliberately and reasonably rejects that theory. Evaluating Rollins' election with the other elections and evidence considered by the district court, the conclusion regarding Rollins' election is not clearly erroneous. 45 Moreover, the Supreme Court has reaffirmed that the district court's findings regarding voting dilution should not be disturbed unless clearly erroneous because of the district court's familiarity with the indigenous political reality. Gingles, 478 U.S. at 59, 106 S.Ct. at 2781. Here, the district court's particular familiarity with the politics in FBISD cannot be ignored. The opinion reflects that the district court considered and weighed the evidence presented by the parties. The district court exercised its prerogative to question the witnesses for both sides where necessary in order to be sure that it fully understood the evidence presented. After doing so, the district court reached the conclusion that the plaintiffs did not prove their claim of voting dilution. Specifically, there is evidence in the record to support the conclusion that the plaintiffs failed to prove the second and third prongs of the Gingles test. Therefore, we cannot say that any of these findings are clearly erroneous when considered under the totality of the circumstances. 46