Court Opinion

ID: 9426348
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:17:38.034067+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:00.436258
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice White,
dissenting.
With Mr. Justice Marshall, I cannot agree that § 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 reaches only those changes in election procedures that are more burdensome to the complaining minority than pre-existing procedures. As I understand § 5, the validity of any procedural change otherwise within the reach of the section must be determined under the statutory standard — whether the proposed legislation has the purpose or effect of abridging or denying the right to vote based on race or color.
This statutory standard is to be applied here in light of the District Court’s findings, which are supported by the evidence and are not now questioned by the Court. The findings were that the nominating process in New Orleans’ councilmanic elections is subject to majority vote and “anti-single-shot” rules and that there is a history of bloc racial voting in New Orleans, the predictable result being that no Negro candidate will win in any district in which his race is in the minority. In my view, where these facts exist, combined with a segregated residential pattern, § 5 is not satisfied unless, to the extent practicable, the new electoral districts afford the Negro minority the opportunity to achieve legislative representation roughly proportional to the Negro population *144in the community. Here, with a seven-member city council, the black minority constituting approximately 45% of the population of New Orleans, would be entitled under § 5, as I construe it, to the opportunity of electing at least three city councilmen — more than provided by the plan at issue here.
Bloc racial voting is an unfortunate phenomenon, but we are repeatedly faced with the findings of knowledgeable district courts that it is a fact of life. Where it exists, most often the result is that neither white nor black can be elected from a district in which his race is in the minority. As I see it, Congress has the power to minimize the effects of racial voting, particularly where it occurs in the context of other electoral rules operating to muffle the political potential of the minority. I am also satisfied that § 5 was aimed at this end, among others, and should be so construed and applied. See City of Richmond v. United States, 422 U. S. 358, 370-372 (1975).
Minimizing the exclusionary effects of racial voting is possible here because whites and blacks are not scattered evenly throughout the city; to á great extent, each race is concentrated in identifiable areas of New Orleans. But like bloc voting by race, this too is a fact of life, well known to those responsible for drawing electoral district lines. These lawmakers are quite aware that the districts they create will have a white or a black majority; and with each new district comes the unavoidable choice as to the racial composition of the district. It is here that § 5 intervenes to control these choices to the extent necessary to afford the minority the opportunity of achieving fair representation in the legislative body in question.
Applying § 5 in this way would at times require the drawing of district lines based on race; but Congress has this power where deliberate discrimination at the polls *145and the relevant electoral laws and customs have effectively foreclosed Negroes from enjoying a modicum of fair representation in the city council or other legislative body.
Since Plan II at issue in this case falls short of satisfying § 5 and since I agree with Mr. Justice Marshall that the city has failed to present sufficiently substantial justifications for its proposal, I respectfully dissent and would affirm the judgment of the District Court.