Opinion ID: 1660094
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Heading: state and federal constitutional requirements for reapportionment plans

Text: There are several constitutional standards which the Legislature must consider in adopting a reapportionment plan. First and foremost is the requirement of equality of population among districts, insofar as is practicable. Gaffney v. Cummings, 412 U.S. 735, 93 S.Ct. 2321, 37 L.Ed.2d 298 (1973); Mahan v. Howell, 410 U.S. 315, 93 S.Ct. 979, 35 L.Ed.2d 320 (1973); Reynolds v. Sims, supra ; Clements v. Valles, 620 S.W.2d 112 (Tex. 1981); Smith v. Craddick, 471 S.W.2d 375 (Tex. 1971). Not only is this required by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, but also it is required by Art. II, §§ 4 and 6 of the Tennessee Constitution. Under the Act, the General Assembly created senatorial districts with a maximum total variance between the largest and smallest districts of only 1.65%. It should be remembered that variances larger than this would be constitutional. Indeed, the United States Supreme Court in White v. Regester, 412 U.S. 755, 93 S.Ct. 2332, 37 L.Ed.2d 314 (1973), and Gaffney v. Cummings, supra , held that those attacking the state apportionment plans had failed to show a prima facie equal protection violation where the maximum total variances were 9.9% in White, and 1.81% for the Connecticut Senate and 7.83% for the House in Gaffney . In Mahan v. Howell, supra , the Court held that a larger total variance may be constitutional if it is justified in order to further a rational state policy. In particular, a variance of 16.4% was validated for the Virginia House of Delegates when the state's purpose therefor had been to maintain the integrity of traditional county and city boundaries. The Court in Reynolds v. Sims, supra , recognized the validity of maintaining political subdivision lines as justifying deviation from mathematical perfection in drawing state (as opposed to congressional) legislative districts. From these cases, a rule of thumb appears to have developed, whereunder variances of 10% or less need not be justified absent a showing of invidious discrimination; and greater variances will be constitutional if the state has a rational policy in support thereof. Virginia's 16.4% variance is the greatest which, to our knowledge, has been found constitutional, and the court in Mahan speculated that this approached the limit of constitutional variance. Apportionment statutes with variances greater than this have been struck down, see Whitcomb v. Chavis, 403 U.S. 124, 91 S.Ct. 1858, 29 L.Ed.2d 363 (1971); Kilgarlin v. Hill, 386 U.S. 120, 87 S.Ct. 820, 17 L.Ed.2d 771 (1967); Swann v. Adams, 385 U.S. 440, 87 S.Ct. 569, 17 L.Ed.2d 501 (1967). [4] That is not to say that a plan with less than 10% variance must automatically be upheld in the face of an equal protection challenge. When the variance is less than 10%, the United States Supreme Court has held that there is no prima facie showing of unconstitutionality. Plaintiffs in such a case would have to prove more: that the plan invidiously discriminated. We also do not hold that any plan with a variance of up to 16.4% would be upheld merely because it did not cross county lines, and because 16.4% was upheld for Virginia. As the Court held in Reynolds v. Sims, supra , What is marginally permissible in one State may be unsatisfactory in another, depending on the particular circumstances of the case. 377 U.S. at 578, 84 S.Ct. at 1390. It later noted in Mahan v. Howell, supra , quoting from Swann v. Adams, supra , the fact that a 10% or 15% variation from the norm is approved in one State has little bearing on the validity of a similar variation in another State. 410 U.S. at 328, 93 S.Ct. at 987. It must be remembered that the Equal Protection Clause requires that a State make an honest and good faith effort to construct districts, in both houses of its legislature, as nearly of equal population as is practicable. Reynolds v. Sims, supra, 377 U.S. at 577, 84 S.Ct. at 1390. For a State's policy urged in justification of disparity in district population, however rational, cannot constitutionally be permitted to emasculate the goal of substantial equality. Mahan v. Howell, supra, 410 U.S. at 326, 93 S.Ct. at 986. Applying these principles to the reapportionment of the Tennessee Senate, we feel that the variance between largest and smallest districts could increase substantially in order to preserve county boundaries and comply with other constitutional standards. See Sullivan v. Crowell, 444 F. Supp. 606 (W.D.Tenn. 1978), wherein a reapportionment among several House districts increased the variance from 4.51% to 12.51% in order to avoid having voting precincts wherein voters were in two districts. The court held that this was a valid reason for increasing the variance. However, if a plan could be devised which would achieve the same end while maintaining much lower variances, the 12.51% variance would be unconstitutional. Yet the equal protection factor should certainly not be thrown to the winds. Specifically, the record indicates that the best 33-Senator plan which can be drawn without crossing any county lines would have a maximum total variance of over 22%. [5] We cannot conceive of such a plan being held constitutional. The one person, one vote principle would require a variance of substantially less than this.
There is a second issue which, like the equal protection issue, falls under the United States Constitution. This is the issue, raised for the first time on appeal to this Court by amicus curiae Tennessee Voters Council, an unincorporated association, by the General Chairman Avon N. Williams, Jr., of whether or not the Act is a necessary means for avoiding an unlawful dilution of minority voting strength. Many United States Supreme Court cases have dealt with the argument that a certain form of legislative districting, usually at-large, multi-member districting, has resulted in unconstitutional dilution of minority voting strength. See, e.g., City of Mobile v. Bolden, 446 U.S. 55, 100 S.Ct. 1490, 64 L.Ed.2d 47 (1980); White v. Regester, 412 U.S. 755, 93 S.Ct. 2332, 37 L.Ed.2d 314 (1973); Whitcomb v. Chavis, 403 U.S. 124, 91 S.Ct. 1858, 29 L.Ed.2d 363 (1971); and cases cited therein. These cases contain instructive statements as to what constitutes invidious discrimination in this area, and what does not. At the hearing on remand, evidence should be heard concerning whether or not minorities are invidiously discriminated against by any of the apportionment plans before the court; and whether, assuming that the Act does not invidiously discriminate, any alternative apportionment plan can be drawn which also does not invidiously discriminate and yet conforms to the guidelines for constitutionality under the Tennessee Constitution set forth herein.
The first two requirements discussed in Sections A and B dealt with state and federal constitutional standards. Not dividing county lines is solely a state requirement. If there is an unavoidable conflict between federal and state requirements as defendants assert, then the state requirements become secondary to the necessity of complying with the equal protection clause. All of the parties erroneously assumed that the only constitutional alternative to the present Act, which crosses 16 county lines, is a plan which crosses no county lines whatsoever. It was shown in the trial court that at least one 33 Senator plan can be devised which crosses significantly fewer county lines than does the Act, and yet clearly meets the equal protection guidelines delineated above. The prohibition against crossing county lines should be complied with insofar as is possible under equal protection requirements. There are excellent policy reasons for the presence of a provision that counties must be represented in the Senate. Mahan v. Howell, supra ; Reynolds v. Sims, supra . As the complaint in this case alleges: ... Counties are divided and thus their citizens are denied their constitutional right to be represented in the State Senate as a political group by senators subject to election by all voters within that political group. These plaintiffs aver that the legal and political framework of Tennessee allows and requires that the legislature enact legislation having only a local application. Thus the legislature has the ability through local legislation to directly affect citizens merely because those citizens reside in a particular county. Therefore, the legislature has the right to govern citizens in one county differently from citizens in another county. We find very persuasive the law which has developed in Texas under the cases of Smith v. Craddick, 471 S.W.2d 375 (Tex. 1971) and Clements v. Valles, 620 S.W.2d 112 (Tex. 1981). The pertinent provision of the Texas Constitution (Art III, § 26) dictated as follows:

3. When any county has more than sufficient population to be entitled to a Representative or Representatives, he or they shall be apportioned to that county. For any surplus population, it may be joined in a district with any other county or counties. The court first held that the equal protection requirement took precedence, and any inconsistency therewith in the Texas Constitution is thereby vitiated. 471 S.W.2d at 377. When federal requirements were superimposed, as it were, upon the above provisions, the following effects upon the State Constitution were had: Clause 1: This would be effective only so long as county population was within the permissible limits of variance. Clause 2: When two or more counties are needed to make up a district, the only impairment of this mandate is that a county may be divided if to do so is necessary in order to comply with the Fourteenth Amendment. Clause 3: This was nullified. It became permissible to join the portion of a county in which there was surplus population not in a district wholly within the county, with contiguous area or another county to form a district. It was still necessary for a county to receive the number of districts to which its own population was entitled when the ideal population was equalled or exceeded. It was clear that the court interpreted the language of its Constitution to mean that counties must be dealt with as a whole, and that it allowed that meaning to be softened only to the extent necessary to comply with the federal constitution. The plan passed by the Texas Legislature in Smith v. Craddick, supra , cut the boundaries of 33 counties. Forty-three of one hundred fifty districts contained a portion of a county. As the court held: [Defendants] offered no evidence to establish that the wholesale cutting of county lines ... was either required or justified to comply with the one-man, one-vote decisions. The burden is on one attacking an act to establish its invalidity. [Citations omitted.] [Plaintiffs] proved conclusively that the statute fails to do what is required by the constitution in those respects discussed ... above. No presumption of validity remains in the face of that showing. If these districting requirements were excused by the requirements of equal representation, the [defendants] had the burden of presenting that evidence. They presented none. Id. at 378. The apportionment plan struck down in Clements v. Valles, supra , also sets out the way in which the division of counties failed to comply with the Smith v. Craddick guidelines. These are analogous to the Tennessee Act. The Texas Act cut 34 counties, 24 with surplus population and 10 with insufficient population to form a district. The plaintiffs presented numerous alternative plans which more closely followed county lines and still maintained permissible population deviations. In Gaffney v. Cummings, 412 U.S. 735, 93 S.Ct. 2321, 37 L.Ed.2d 298 (1973), the Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of a plan apportioning the Connecticut House. In Connecticut, towns rather than counties are the basic unit of local government. The state Constitution provides that no town shall be divided for the purpose of creating House districts, except where districts are formed wholly within the town. The Constitution further provides, as does our own, that the establishment of districts ... shall be consistent with federal constitutional standards. The House plan under scrutiny in Gaffney cut 47 boundary lines of the state's 169 towns. As in the case at bar, an action was brought seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against implementation of the plan. The complaint alleged that the plan erroneously applied the Fourteenth Amendment so as to achieve smaller deviations from population equality for the districts than were required under the Fourteenth Amendment. In achieving such unnecessary mathematical precision, the plan segmented an excessive number of towns in forming the districts. At the hearing in the federal district court, plaintiffs introduced three alternative apportionment plans that required fewer town-line cuts, although all three plans involved total deviations from population equality in excess of the 7.83% contained in the House plan. A fourth alternative plan was submitted which had a maximum variation of only 2.61%, but had no regard for the integrity of town lines. The district court invalidated the plan and enjoined its future use in elections. The Supreme Court stayed the district court's judgment and upheld the original plan, which violated the Connecticut Constitution's prohibition against crossing town lines. The Court made the following pertinent observations: ... From the very outset, we recognized that the apportionment task, dealing as it must with fundamental choices about the nature of representation [citation omitted], is primarily a political and legislative process... . ... . ... Politics and political considerations are inseparable from districting and apportionment... . .... ... [M]ultimember districts may be vulnerable, if racial or political groups have been fenced out of the political process and their voting strength invidiously minimized. 412 U.S. at 749, 753, 754, 93 S.Ct. at 2329, 2331, 2332, 37 L.Ed.2d at 310, 312. This case illustrates the point that, where necessary to meet federal constitutional requirements, a state constitutional provision may be violated to an extent, but still must be given due consideration and all possible effect.
In addition to the above requirements in Sections A, B and C, the courts must of course consider other factors in passing upon the constitutionality of a state apportionment plan. The counties in each district must be contiguous (Art. II, § 6). In a county having more than one senatorial district, such districts shall be numbered consecutively (Art. II, § 3).