Opinion ID: 551345
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Use of Post-1980 Population Data

Text: 32 The County further claims that the district court erred in considering any data other than data from the 1980 census. Since the 1980 census data does not suggest the possibility of creating a Hispanic majority district, the County claims that the plaintiffs must lose in their 1988 claim to redistrict to provide for such a district. This claim, too, misinterprets the case law on which it purports to rest. 33 Since Reynolds would permit redistricting between censuses, it appears to assume that post-census data may be used as a basis for such redistricting. Furthermore, in a subsequent opinion the Court noted with approval the possibility of using predictive data in addition to census data in designing decennial reapportionment plans. The court stated that [s]ituations may arise where substantial population shifts over such a period [the ten years between redistricting] can be anticipated. Where these shifts can be predicted with a high degree of accuracy, States that are redistricting may properly consider them. Kirkpatrick v. Preisler, 394 U.S. 526, 535, 89 S.Ct. 1225, 1231, 22 L.Ed.2d 519, reh'g denied, 395 U.S. 917, 89 S.Ct. 1737, 23 L.Ed.2d 231 (1969). See also Burns v. Richardson, 384 U.S. 73, 91, 86 S.Ct. 1286, 1296, 16 L.Ed.2d 376 (1966) (the Equal Protection Clause does not require the States to use total population figures derived from the federal census as the standard by which ... substantial population equivalency is to be measured.). The Court has never hinted that plaintiffs claiming present Voting Rights Act violations should be required to wait until the next census before they can receive any remedy. 34 The Fifth Circuit has held that non-census data may be considered in reapportionments between censuses if the relevant information cannot be obtained through census data. Westwego Citizens for Better Government v. Westwego, 906 F.2d 1042, 1045-46 (5th Cir.1990). Such a practice makes sense not only where, as in Westwego itself, census data on the population in question was unavailable because of the limited nature of the compilations and manipulations performed by the census; it is also logical where, as here, the census data is almost a decade old and therefore no longer accurate. 3 35 The County contests the validity of the population statistics that the court employed. The district court's findings, however, present an extensive review of the data itself and of the methodology that produced it, coupled with an inquiry into its validity. The County has not offered any reason why the district court should have rejected this data, other than the fact that it does not come from the census. Since it was permissible for the district court to rely on non-census data, we find that the district court did not err in its assessment of the size and geographic distribution of the Hispanic population in Los Angeles. 36 The district court's findings concerning vote dilution may be set aside only if they are clearly erroneous. Gingles, 478 U.S. at 79, 106 S.Ct. at 2781. The findings at issue here were amply supported by the evidence that was before the district court. 37