Opinion ID: 3065347
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Plaintiffs are entitled to summary judgment

Text: Plaintiffs also contend that the district court erred in denying their motion for summary judgment.30 We agree. And, contrary to the dissent’s suggestion, Diss. at 160-61, we are mindful of our obligation, when considering a motion for summary judgment, that we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, and draw “all justifiable inferences” in that party’s favor. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255 (1986). However, “[o]n a motion for summary judgment, ‘facts must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party only if there is a “genuine” dispute as to those facts.’ ” Ricci v. DeStefano, 129 S. Ct. 2658, 2677 (2009) (quoting Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 380 (2007)); see also Beard v. Banks, 548 U.S. 521, 529-30 (2006) (noting that “we must distinguish between evidence of disputed facts and disputed matters of professional judgment”). Here, there is no such “genuine” dispute. Plaintiffs carried their burden of producing evidence of discrimination; defendants were then required to “do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts.” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586-87 (1986). Based on the substantial showing by Plaintiffs, Defendants had the burden “to set forth any specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue . . . for trial.” Dep’t of Commerce v. U.S. House of Representatives, 525 U.S. 316, 330 (1999). This they did not do. The record is uncontroverted. 30 “Ordinarily, a denial of a motion for summary judgment is not a final order and thus not appealable. 28 U.S.C. § 1291. However, the district court’s grant of summary judgment [to Defendants] was a final decision giving us jurisdiction to review its denial of plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment.” Abend v. MCA, Inc., 863 F.2d 1465, 1482 n.20 (9th Cir. 1988). FARRAKHAN v. GREGOIRE 153 In its procedural posture, this case is also, in many respects, similar to the recent case of Ricci v. DeStefano, which also involved the resolution of cross-motions for summary judgment, and in which the Court noted: “As the District Court noted, although ‘the parties strenuously dispute the relevance and legal import of, and inferences to be drawn from, many aspects of this case, the underlying facts are largely undisputed.’ ” 129 S. Ct. at 2665 (quoting Ricci v. DeStefano, 554 F. Supp. 2d 142, 145 (D. Conn. 2006)). The Court granted summary judgment to petitioners, because “there [was] no evidence — let alone the required strong basis in evidence” to support the respondent’s position. Id. at 2681. [26] In any case, even viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Defendants, Plaintiffs have demonstrated that racial minorities are overrepresented in the felon population based upon factors that cannot be explained by non-racial reasons. Given that uncontroverted showing, in the words of the district court, there can be “no doubt that members of racial minorities have experienced discrimination in Washington’s criminal justice system.” In the face of this showing, all Defendants did was question the credibility of Plaintiffs’ experts without “rais[ing] a genuine issue of material fact regarding” the ultimate effect of Washington’s felon disenfranchisement law. Dep’t of Commerce, 525 U.S. at 331. They have “not offer[ed] any fact-based or expert-based refutation,” Beard, 548 U.S. at 534, that challenges the conclusions reached by Plaintiffs’ experts. Section 2 of the VRA demands that such racial discrimination not spread to the ballot box. Thus, based on the uncontroverted record, Plaintiffs are entitled to summary judgment. E. Washington’s Amended Felon Disenfranchisement Law Defendants argue that Washington’s recent amendment to its felon disenfranchisement law alters the totality of the circumstances analysis required by § 2 of the VRA. The amend154 FARRAKHAN v. GREGOIRE ment modified Washington’s felon disenfranchisement scheme by providing for the provisional restoration of the voting rights of felons upon their release from prison or from community custody (a Washington program through which offenders live in the community, but are subject to restraints imposed by the Department of Corrections). See Wash. Laws of 2009, ch. 325, HB 1517; Wash. Rev. Code § 9.94A.030(5). A released felon’s provisionally restored right to vote may be revoked for willful failure to fulfill all financial obligations imposed as part of his sentence. Id. at 2(a). Under the previous law, a felon was barred from voting until he had completed all the requirements of his criminal sentence, including any financial obligations imposed as part of that sentence and had obtained certificates of discharge restoring his civil rights. See Farrakhan I, 338 F. 3d at 1012. Defendants first contend that if felon disenfranchisement laws disproportionately affect minorities, then the amendment, which reduces the number of felons disenfranchised, disproportionately benefits minorities, and in so doing provides evidence of positive action by the state with regard to minority voting rights that is relevant to Senate Factors 1, 3 and 8. However, a mere decrease in the length of time for which the State’s discriminatory criminal justice system deprives minorities of the right to vote does not change our determination that those Factors have little relevance to this case. [27] In terms of Factor 5, the gravamen of defendants’ argument is that the amendment decreases the total number of minorities who are without voting rights at any given time, and so diminishes the extent of the discriminatory effects of the State’s felon disenfranchisement system.31 We hope that 31 Whether this is true remains to be seen. The amended Washington law only “provisionally” restores the voting rights of felons upon their release from custody. HB 1517 § 1.1. Permanent restoration of the voting rights requires additional action by the sentencing court, the indeterminate sentence review board or the governor. Id. at 5(f). FARRAKHAN v. GREGOIRE 155 defendants are correct about the positive effects of the amendment: it appears that under the old law almost a quarter of otherwise qualified African American men in Washington were disenfranchised. See Jamie Fellner & Marc Mauer, Losing the Vote: The Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States 9-10 (1998); see also Jeff Manza & Christopher Uggen, Locked Out: Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy 250 (2006) (over 17% of the entire adult black population of Washington disenfranchised). However, no matter how well the amended law functions to restore at an earlier time the voting rights of felons who have emerged from incarceration, it does not protect minorities from being denied the right to vote upon conviction by a criminal justice system that Plaintiffs have demonstrated is materially tainted by discrimination and bias. Accordingly, it does not alter our analysis as to Senate Factor 5 or as to the totality of the circumstances.