Opinion ID: 1962344
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: population deviation

Text: The plaintiffs contend that they have shown a violation of the town integrity principle because the adopted plan does not use a higher maximum population deviation which would result in a reduction in the number of towns cut. In particular, the plaintiffs point to their plans CT 125X and CT 180X (see appendix) both of which, though with high population deviations, cut no towns. It is undisputed that there is an inverse relationship between population deviation and town segmentation so that fewer towns are cut as population deviation increases. See Miller v. Schaffer, supra, 25. It is the plaintiffs' contention that the town integrity principle requires that the General Assembly take full advantage of the allowable maximum population deviation in order to minimize or even eliminate town segmentation. In particular, the plaintiffs rely on Mahan v. Howell, 410 U.S. 315, 325-30, 93 S. Ct. 979, 35 L. Ed. 2d 320 (1973), where the court, in upholding Virginia's reapportionment plan, approved a maximum population deviation of 16.4 percent because it resulted from the state's policy of maintaining the integrity of political subdivision lines. The plaintiffs' contention, in effect, amounts to a claim that the town integrity principle requires the General Assembly to adopt as high a maximum population deviation as possible so as to achieve the resulting decrease in town segmentation. This claim, however, is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of the federal one-person, one-vote principle and its impact on legislative districts in Connecticut. The federal one-person, one-vote principle does not include a bright line test which would allow a determination of when the amount of deviation from equality crosses from the permissible to the impermissible. Under current law, there appears to be a two-tiered approach to the evaluation of state reapportionment plans. A plan with a maximum deviation of 10 percent or less is presumed to meet the federal equality requirement; a plan with a maximum deviation over 10 percent is presumed to violate the federal equality requirement, unless the state is able to justify it as a result of a permissible state policy. See Connor v. Finch, 431 U.S. 407, 418, 97 S. Ct. 1828, 52 L. Ed. 2d 465 (1977). One valid reason, therefore, for the General Assembly to choose a maximum population deviation of less than 10 percent is to avoid or reduce the chances of a challenge to the adopted plan on federal grounds. The plaintiffs'plans which cut no towns, CT 125X and CT 180X, for example, both involve maximum population deviations of over 60 percent. They would be highly unlikely to survive a challenge on federal grounds and, therefore, cannot be considered as serious alternatives. There is, however, an even more important underlying reason why the town integrity principle has not been violated by the General Assembly's failure to use a maximum population deviation higher than that of the adopted plan: the point of the oneperson, one-vote principle is to achieve equality in voting districts to the nearest extent practicable. See Connor v. Finch, supra, 419; Reynolds v. Sims, supra, 577. The point is not, as the plaintiffs suggest, to achieve the greatest inequality that can survive a court challenge. Therefore, when the General Assembly adopts a certain maximum population deviation in furtherance of the federal requirement, it does not violate the town integrity principle merely because fewer town cuts would have resulted from a higher deviation. The plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate a violation of the town integrity principle by simply showing that a higher maximum population deviation would have resulted in fewer town cuts.