Opinion ID: 773533
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Tenuousness

Text: 53 The sole remaining factor is whether the policies underlying Mississippi's use of the three electoral districts is tenuous. Fordice asserts that Mississippi has a legitimate, nontenuous interest in perpetuating the east to west district lines. Under the districts' current configuration, Mississippi is organized into six Department of Transportation maintenance districts, each complete with a headquarters, testing laboratory, and other physical plant features. Fordice contends that to reorganize these facilities to accommodate Wilson's proffered change in district lines would not only cost millions of dollars, but also severely hamper the Department's efficient operation because each district's engineer and crews have particular knowledge of and familiarity with the highways within their districts. 54 Wilson argues, however, that Fordice failed to prove and the district court did not find that only white majority voting age population districts could achieve the aforementioned policies. He alternatively contends that, even if the district court were correct in concluding that Fordice's asserted policies for maintaining the three east to west districts are non-tenuous, non-tenuousness is not a defense to a plan that is otherwise racially discriminatory. See Clark II, 88 F.3d at 1401 ('The weight, as well as tenuousness, of the state's interest is a legitimate factor in analyzing the totality of circumstances, [however] . . . [p]roof of a merely non-tenuous state interest discounts one Zimmer factor, but cannot defeat liability.') (quoting LULAC IV, 999 F.2d at 870). 55 The record supports Fordice's argument that Mississippi's reasons for maintaining the three east to west districts for electing public service and transportation commissioners are nontenuous. Stewart testified extensively on direct and cross-examination regarding the expense and inefficiency that would be associated with adopting Wilson's proposed districts. Because, the record contains no evidence to the contrary, Wilson failed to meet his burden of proof on the tenuousness factor. Therefore, the district court did not err in finding that Fordice's stated interests in preserving the public service and transportation commissioner districts in their current configuration are nontenuous. 56