Court Opinion

ID: 9430782
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:30:34.909777+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:25.509313
License: Public Domain

Justice Powell,
with whom The Chief Justice and Justice O’Connor join, dissenting.
The Court today affirms the decision of the District Court, holding that a city can act with a purpose to “den[y] or abridg[e]” black voting rights, 42 U. S. C. § 1973c, even when the city’s actions can have no present effect on the voting rights of any black individual and any future effect on black voting rights is purely speculative. Because the Court’s finding of a violation of the Voting Rights Act is inconsistent with the language and purpose of the Act, I dissent.
*473I — I
Before examining the decision in this case, it is appropriate to restate the principles articulated in this Court’s decisions under §5 of the Voting Rights Act. We have consistently-noted: “The language of §5 clearly provides that it applies only to proposed changes in voting procedures.” Beer v. United States, 425 U. S. 130, 138 (1976) (emphasis added). See Allen v. State Board of Elections, 393 U. S. 544, 566 (1969). In Perkins v. Matthews, 400 U. S. 379 (1971), the Court first found that a proposed annexation could constitute a “change” in voting procedures covered by § 5. It explained the reason for this holding: “[Section] 5 was designed to cover changes having a potential for racial discrimination in voting, and such potential inheres in a change in the composition of the electorate affected by an annexation.” Id., at 388-389 (emphasis added). See Port Arthur v. United States, 459 U. S. 159, 161 (1982) (“Perkins . . . held that changes in the boundary lines of a city by annexations that enlarge the number of eligible voters are events covered by § 5”) (emphasis added). Thus, this Court’s decisions establish that preclearance under § 5 is required when — and only when — an annexation changes the previous “voting procedures” by altering the number or racial composition of the municipal voters.
We also have defined the type of change in voting procedures that violates the Voting Rights Act: “‘[T]he purpose of §5 has always been to insure that no voting-procedure changes would be made that would lead to a retrogression in the position of racial minorities with respect to their effective exercise of the franchise.’” Lockhart v. United States, 460 U. S. 125, 134 (1983) (quoting Beer v. United States, supra, at 141). An annexation can have such a retrogressive effect on the voting rights of blacks by “diluting] the weight of the votes of the voters to whom the franchise was limited before the annexation.” Perkins v. Matthews, supra, at 388. But the Court’s inquiry has not terminated with a finding that a *474proposed annexation “reduc[es] the relative political strength of the minority race in the enlarged city as compared with what it was before the annexation.” City of Richmond v. United States, 422 U. S. 358, 378 (1975). An annexation that dilutes the minority vote “is not a statutory violation as long as the post-annexation electoral system fairly recognizes the minority’s political potential.” Ibid.
While this Court’s decisions have made clear that a voting-procedure change must lack both discriminatory purpose and effect to survive §5 scrutiny, City of Rome v. United States, 446 U. S. 156, 172 (1980), the Court has always recognized that a discriminatory purpose within the meaning of § 5 must relate to voting. This Court’s broad statement respecting discriminatory purpose under § 5 must be read in context:
“An official action, whether an annexation or otherwise, taken for the purpose of discriminating against Negroes on account of their race has no legitimacy at all under our Constitution or under the statute. Section 5 forbids voting changes taken with the purpose of denying the vote on the grounds of race or color. Congress surely has the power to prevent such gross racial slurs, the only point of which is ‘to despoil colored citizens, and only colored citizens, of their theretofore enjoyed voting rights.’ Gomillion v. Lightfoot, 364 U. S. 339, 347 (I960).” City of Richmond v. United States, supra, at 378 (emphasis added).
Thus, the previous decisions of this Court make explicitly clear that for a city to have a discriminatory purpose within the meaning of the Voting Rights Act, it must intend its action to have a retrogressive effect on the voting rights of blacks. Lockhart v. United States, supra, at 134.
1 — I 1 — 1
The Court today affirms a finding that m annexing the two parcels of land at issue, the city had the purpose, prohibited by the Voting Rights Act, “of denying or abridging the right *475to vote on account of race or color.” 42 U. S. C. § 1973c. Because the actions challenged in this case could not have had any effect on minority voting rights, much less a retrogressive effect, it is clear that the city of Pleasant Grove could not have acted with such an intent respecting either of the annexations at issue in this case.
A
When the Glasgow Addition was annexed in 1969, it contained only one family of 12 white voters. Now, more than 15 years later, this 40-acre tract still contains only one family that currently numbers 20 white voters. Of course, one can say that the addition of a handful of white voters to a community of some 7,000 white residents “enlarge[d] the number of eligible voters.” Port Arthur v. United States, supra, at 161. The same could be said if an annexation added only one white voter. But a finding that either annexation was motivated by its anticipated effect on voting rights is out of touch with reality. The “dilution” of any resident’s voting rights from an annexation such as the Glasgow Addition — 20 votes in a city of 7,000 residents — could not constitute a retrogression in voting rights under the Act. No showing has been made — and indeed none could be made — that a change of this number of white voters over a 15-year period has had any effect on voting rights. Nor has the annexation in any way “change[d]. . . the composition of the electorate.” Perkins v. Matthews, supra, at 389. The city was composed solely of white voters before and after the annexation of the Glasgow Addition. The annexation therefore could not have had any effect whatsoever on minority voting rights, and the city could not have acted with a purpose to dilute the voting rights of black municipal voters.
The Court attempts to avoid this conclusion by finding that a retrogression in voting rights, for the purpose of ascertaining discriminatory motivation, can be gauged by the effect of the annexation on some hypothetical future black munici*476pal voters. According to this speculative reasoning, if one assumes that some hypothetical black voters will move into Pleasant Grove in the future, and if one further assumes that the racial composition of the Glasgow Addition will remain unchanged, the hypothetical black voters will find their voting strength diluted from what it would have been absent the annexation.1 But such speculation in finding a discriminatory purpose on the part of a state actor is illogical and unprecedented. Although we have stated that § 5 reaches changes with the “potential for racial discrimination in voting,” Perkins v. Matthews, 400 U. S., at 389, the “potential” refers to present and concrete effects, not effects based only on speculation as to what might happen at some time in the future. Under § 5, the Court consistently has looked to the effect of a voting change on the present minority residents of the relevant political subdivision. See City of Richmond v. United States, supra, at 378 (The relevant comparison in assessing whether “the post-annexation electoral system fairly recognizes the minority’s political potential” is between “the relative political strength of the minority race in the enlarged city as compared with what it was before the annexation”).2 Where an annexation’s effect on voting rights is *477purely hypothetical, an inference that the city acted with a motivation related to voting rights is unsupportable.
B
The Western Addition, annexed in 1979, is a parcel of vacant land. Its annexation did not and could not in any way “change . . . the composition of the electorate.” Perkins v. Matthews, supra, at 389. It did not even “enlarge the number of eligible voters.” Port Arthur v. United States, 459 U. S., at 161. Thus, it is difficult to see how the Court .justifies applying §5 preclearance procedures at all. But even if one assumes that the § 5 procedures apply, this annexation could not have been motivated by a discriminatory purpose proscribed by the Voting Rights Act. There is no basis for imputing an intent to deny or abridge the voting rights of blacks when a community of white citizens annexes completely vacant land. The annexation did not exclude or include a single voter in Pleasant Grove. Nor could the annexation have been intended to have a retrogressive effect on black voting rights when there were no black voters in the city and no voters, white or black, in the Western Addition.
The Court again relies on future hypothetical black voters to find that the city acted with a “purpose of denying the vote on the grounds of race or color.” City of Richmond v. United States, 422 U. S., at 378. Under the same reasoning employed to invalidate the annexation of the Glasgow Addition, the Court relies on its speculation that if the Western Addition became populated with whites and if black voters moved into the city at some time in the future, their vote would be less effective than it would have been had the annexation not occurred. But the Court’s theory is even more speculative when applied to the annexation of the vacant Western Addition. There is no way for the city to ensure that black individuals do not move into the Western Addition. The Fourteenth Amendment and various civil rights laws prohibit racially discriminatory state action, and fair *478housing laws prevent private action that would discourage black individuals from moving into the area. The District Court’s conclusion that the Western Addition “is likely to be developed for use by white persons only,” 568 F. Supp. 1455, 1457, n. 8 (DC 1983), is sheer speculation. Whites as well as blacks lawfully can move into this area, and not even the prescience of federal courts can predict the extent to which this will occur or whether there ever will be any denial or dilution of the voting rights of blacks.3
C
The Court seeks support for its finding that the city acted with discriminatory motivation in the fact that it has declined in the past to annex three predominantly black communities.4 In his dissent from the decision of the District Court, Judge MacKinnon persuasively pointed out that the city’s economic justification for its annexation policy is plausible. 623 F. Supp. 782, 793-795 (DC 1985). Even if one agreed with the District Court’s view that the economic justification was flawed, this would not support the conclusion that the city acted in this case with a discriminatory motivation 'prohibited by the Voting Rights Act. The Government concedes that a failure to annex is not a voting-procedure “change” covered by §5. See Brief for United States 21, n. 12. Nothing in the legislative history of § 5 or in any decision *479of this Court is to the contrary. The only possible relevance of the failure to annex is to the city’s intent respecting the annexations that did occur. The desire of the city to annex a vacant parcel of land and a parcel inhabited by one white family, combined with the failure to annex black communities, is relevant — if at all — only if the motivation inferred fairly can be said to relate to voting. Even if the city desired to exclude persons from the city because of their race, the annexations at issue could not possibly deny, abridge, or in any way effect a retrogression in any black individual’s municipal voting rights. The Court’s holding that the city nevertheless intended to impair black voting rights is without justification.
I — I ! — ) HH
As Judge MacKinnon noted in his dissent from the District Court’s opinion: “There may, in fact, be actionable constitutional violations occurring in the City.” 568 F. Supp., at 1462. But the possible existence of discriminatory intent and conduct unrelated to voting does not justify finding the city liable under the Voting Rights Act. We normally presume that state actors respect the guarantees of the Constitution, and we require an individual who alleges otherwise to prove the existence of purposeful discrimination. See Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp., 429 U. S. 252, 265 (1977); Washington v. Davis, 426 U. S. 229, 240 (1976). The Voting Rights Act shifts the burden of proof to the state actor to prove the absence of discriminatory purpose. This Court upheld this unusual intrusion by the Act on state sovereignty specifically because its procedures were rationally related to the Fifteenth Amendment’s guarantee respecting the right to vote. South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U. S. 301, 325, 337 (1966). This shift in the burden of proof is justified only when the challenged conduct relates to voting. Here, the Court finds the city’s conduct in fact related to voting when such a relationship cannot rationally exist.
*480In sum, the Court’s reading of the Voting Rights Act divorces the Act from its constitutional justification — protecting voting rights — and represents an extension of the Act beyond even its “broadest possible scope,” Allen v. State Board of Elections, 393 U. S., at 567. Accordingly, I dissent.

 It is difficult even to hypothesize a situation in which the foreseeable effect on black voting rights from an addition of a 20-member white family would be anything more than de minimis. Where the hypothetical effect of an annexation cannot be to dilute black voting strength within the meaning of the Voting Rights Act, to impute such a purpose to the city is irrational.

 At issue in City of Richmond was the proposed annexation by the city of 23 square miles of adjacent land. The preannexation population of the city was 202,359, of which 104,207 or 52% were black citizens. The annexation would have added 47,262 people to the city’s population, of whom 1,557 were black. The postannexation population of the city would have been 249,621, of which 105,764 or 42% would have been black. 422 U. S., at 363. The proposed annexation thus would have significantly changed the composition of the municipal electorate and substantially reduced black voting strength within the city.

 If we are to engage in speculation, an equally logical, if not more compelling, assumption is that the annexation of the Western Addition will increase the black voting strength in the city. The Western Addition is zoned to contain 700 residences. With the sale of each home, the possibility exists that a potential black voter will become a city resident. The same possibility exists with each sale of an existing home in Pleasant Grove. Logically, the increase that the annexation causes in the number of homes for sale should increase the probability that a black individual will buy one and become a municipal voter.

 In 1971, the city denied the annexation request of an area including the historically all-black Woodward School. In 1979, the city denied the annexation requests of the all-black Pleasant Grove Highlands and the predominantly black Dolomite area.