Court Opinion

ID: 9691384
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 20:28:34.909778+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:17.992052
License: Public Domain

TANG, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
In 1957, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. awakened the conscience of this country to the heart-felt desire of African Americans and other minorities to participate in the American electoral process on an equal footing:
The denial of this sacred right [to vote] is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of our democratic traditions and it is democracy turned upside down.
So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind — it is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing the laws I have helped to enact — I can only submit to the edict of others.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Give Us the Ballot — We Will Transform the South,” address delivered May 17, 1957, reprinted in A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. 197 (James M. Washington ed., 1986).
*934Congress answered Reverend King’s call with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Through these statutes, Congress provided the framework for an active federal role in the enforcement and vindication of the voting rights of minorities. As part of its plan, Congress vested federal courts with jurisdiction over civil rights actions, and specifically instructed them to adjudicate, by way of a three-judge court, challenges to reapportionment and redistricting plans. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1343, 2284(a); 42 U.S.C. §§ 1971(d), (g). Congress thus envisioned that the federal courts would play an integral role in the protection and promotion of a genuinely universal franchise.
Exercising the jurisdiction Congress assigned them, federal courts over the last thirty years have risen to the task of effectuating the statutory and constitutional civil rights of Americans. Where representative bodies proved hostile to civil rights claimants, the federal courts provided a hospitable forum for resolving grievances. When local courts were populated by judicial officials with a self-interest in preserving the status quo, federal courts provided impartial adjudicators insulated from the pressures of judicial elections and racial politics. Few can deny the critical role that federal courts have played in breathing life into the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.
Today, in an unprecedented decision, this court retreats from the jurisdiction Congress has assigned it in the name of comity towards state courts. Perhaps the majority, in so holding, accurately forecasts the path of the current legal trend to exalt procedural purity and judicial etiquette over substantive rights. But because I believe it is Congress’s place to define our jurisdiction and Congress’s place to determine when the goals of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts have been accomplished such that a federal judicial role is no longer necessary, I respectfully dissent.
The majority holds that Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971), requires this court to dismiss this action, leaving discretionary review in the Supreme Court as the plaintiffs' sole federal forum for adjudication of their constitutional and Voting Rights Act claims. I believe that this represents an unwarranted expansion of the Younger abstention doctrine and is wholly inconsistent with the federal courts’ constitutional obligation to exercise the jurisdiction Congress grants them.
At the outset, I should note that I am wholly in accord with this court’s original decision to withhold judgment pending the California Supreme Court’s final adoption of a redistricting formula. Both ripeness considerations and Scott v. Germano, 381 U.S. 407, 85 S.Ct. 1525, 14 L.Ed.2d 477 (1965), counselled against this court’s premature intervention in the state’s effort to draft a redistricting plan. Where the majority and I part company is over its decision to abstain under Younger and thereby dismiss this case from federal court all together. Scott v. Germano advises federal courts to stay, not fold, their hand. The majority’s decision leaves prospective federal court litigants whipsawed between the ripeness and abstention doctrines. Prior to the state court’s timely adoption of a redistricting plan, the federal case may not be ripe because there is no clear target for the plaintiffs’ objections and no plan for the court to review. But, under the majority’s opinion, the moment the case becomes ripe due to the conclusion of the state court proceedings, Younger slams shut the federal courthouse door. Abstention becomes a jurisprudential euphemism for the wholesale renunciation of Congress’s jurisdictional assignment.
“Abstention from the exercise of federal jurisdiction,” the Supreme Court has instructed, “is the exception, not the rule.” Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. United States, 424 U.S. 800, 813, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 1244, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976). That a state court could adjudicate or even is adjudicating a claim does not automatically relieve a district court of its “virtually unflagging obligation ... to exercise the jurisdiction given [it]” by Congress. Id. at 817, 96 S.Ct. at 1246; see also id. (“ ‘[T]he pendency of an action in the state court is no bar to proceedings concerning the same *935matter in the federal court having jurisdic-tion_”’) (quoting McClellan v. Carland, 217 U.S. 268, 282, 30 S.Ct. 501, 505, 54 L.Ed. 762 (1910)). Consequently, abstention is warranted “only in the exceptional circumstances where the order to the parties to repair to the state court would clearly serve an important countervailing interest.” County of Allegheny v. Frank Mashuda Co., 360 U.S. 185, 188-89, 79 S.Ct. 1060, 1062-63, 3 L.Ed.2d 1163 (1959); see also Moses H. Cone Memorial Hosp. v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U.S. 1, 25-26, 103 S.Ct. 927, 941-42, 74 L.Ed.2d 765 (1983) (“[W]e emphasize that our task in cases such as this is not to find some substantial reason for the exercise of federal jurisdiction by the district court; rather, the task is to ascertain whether there exist ‘exceptional’ circumstances, the ‘clearest of justifications,’ that can suffice ... to justify the surrender of that jurisdiction.”) (original emphasis).
Abstention in voting rights cases, moreover, requires “special consideration” and solicitude for the cardinal federal rights involved. Badham v. United States Dist. Court, 721 F.2d 1170, 1172 (9th Cir.1983) (“[Ajbstention orders in cases involving voting rights require special consideration.”); see also Harman v. Forssenius, 380 U.S. 528, 537, 85 S.Ct. 1177, 1183, 14 L.Ed.2d 50 (1965).
While the majority dutifully acknowledges this judicial presumption against abstention, the opinion fails to articulate what exceptional circumstances or special considerations mandate this court’s abdication of jurisdiction. Instead, the majority is content to ground dismissal on the identification of an “important state interest” and an assurance that the state court will afford the litigants due process. See Middlesex County Ethics Comm. v. Garden State Bar Ass’n, 457 U.S. 423, 432, 102 S.Ct. 2515, 2521, 73 L.Ed.2d 116 (1982). I believe that, at least in voting rights cases, more is needed before Younger mandates abstention.
I agree that the State of California has an important interest in adjudicating constitutional and Voting Rights Act challenges to its redistricting plan. And it cannot be gainsaid that the California Supreme Court afforded the plaintiffs due process. But this abstention analysis paints only half a picture. Wholly absent from the opinion is any consideration of the countervailing interest in maintaining federal jurisdiction in light of the important federal rights involved. The right to vote sits at the very core of representative democracy. It is, moreover, a tool for self-help. Congressional efforts to eliminate discrimination in the provision of public services and the workplace could only slowly chip away at the wall of racism dividing this country. Making the right to vote a reality for African Americans and other minorities, however, shook the very foundations of the wall by permitting the historical victims of discrimination to vote out the Jim Crow power structure. “Give us the ballot,” the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. urged, “and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights.” Testament of Hope at 197; see also Harman, 380 U.S. at 537, 85 S.Ct. at 1183 (“[T]he right to vote freely for the candidate of one’s choice is of the essence of a democratic society, and any restrictions on that right strike at the heart of representative government. The right is fundamental because [it is] preservative of all rights.”) (quotations and citations omitted); Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 561-62, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 1381-82, 12 L.Ed.2d 506 (1964) (“Undoubtedly, the right of suffrage is a fundamental matter in a free and democratic society.... [T]he right to exercise the franchise in a free and unimpaired manner is preservative of other basic civil and political rights.”)
Under our constitutional scheme, it is Congress’s prerogative to identify certain rights, such as the right to vote, as deserving of special protection and to instruct the federal courts to act as a watchdog for those rights. Cf. Hathorn v. Lovorn, 457 U.S. 255, 271, 102 S.Ct. 2421, 2431, 72 L.Ed.2d 824 (1982) (Rehnquist, J., dissenting). Congress’s decision to vest federal courts with jurisdiction of Voting Rights Act claims and challenges to redistricting plans was just such a calculated and delib*936erate assignment of responsibility. Congress considered federal jurisdiction to be a necessary response to the historic obduracy and hostility of state officials — including state judges — towards minorities attempting to exercise their constitutional right to vote. The availability of a federal forum was a necessity, not a mere convenience, for those attempting to eliminate “whites-only” suffrage in the South and other regions of this country. What would have happened if three-judge courts in the 1960s in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Georgia had done what this court now does? Can we seriously contend that such a refusal to exercise jurisdiction would not have flown in the face of Congressional intent? Were the protections of the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution to be so easily sidestepped by a Governor’s race to the local courthouse?
The majority excuses its abstention decision, in part, on Congress’s failure to vest the federal courts with exclusive jurisdiction over voting rights cases. By creating concurrent jurisdiction, however, Congress meant to afford plaintiffs — not judges — the opportunity to select the best forum in which to litigate their particular voting rights case. The mere existence of concurrent jurisdiction does not give federal judges the power subsequently to veto a plaintiff’s decision to proceed in federal court.
Admittedly, the present redistricting case arises in a social, political, and legal context far removed from the early voting rights struggles. The plaintiffs do not contend that the California Supreme Court’s plan is the product of racial bias or animus, nor do they label it a racial gerrymander. The palatability of the instant case, however, does not justify the majority’s surrender of jurisdiction for three reasons.
First, I fear that the majority’s opinion elevates procedural tidiness over the hard reality of racism, bigotry, and political machination that comprises the vast majority of this country’s voting history. Although many take it for granted, a genuinely universal franchise for all citizens, regardless of race, creed, color, or gender, has only recently taken root in this country. It remains a novelty, not a custom. It is thus much too soon for federal courts to let down their guard. Complacency is the thief of social progress.
Younger abstention comes easily in cases like the present. Although Latino, African American, and Asian representatives seriously contend that their rights under the Voting Rights Act are curtailed by the California Supreme Court plan, the redistricting process was free of racial taint. The majority’s opinion, however, admits of no distinctions for cases where illicit discrimination is suspected. What is procedurally comfortable in this case might not ride so well when a court is confronted with evidence of racial gerrymandering or a long history of abusive voting practices.
Second, even if this panel believes that racial barriers to universal suffrage are no longer sufficiently prevalent to demand federal judicial supervision, it is not the place of judges to declare the goals of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts accomplished and suspend statutorily-enacted jurisdictional provisions. The majority’s holding is not predicated on any indication that Congress wishes to decrease the role of the federal courts in-adjudicating voting rights issues. Nor does the majority cite any legislation or congressional statements suggesting that a dismissal in favor of a state court proceeding is any more appropriate today than it would have been in the 1960s. Absent specific direction from Congress, federal courts should not close their doors to plaintiffs seeking a federal forum in which to litigate their Voting Rights Act and constitutional challenges to a redistricting scheme.
Third, the availability of certiorari review in the Supreme Court is no substitute for litigating a voting rights dispute in federal court in the first instance. On certiorari review, the Supreme Court accepts the factual findings made by the state court. General Trading Co. v. State Tax Comm’n, 322 U.S. 335, 337, 64 S.Ct. 1028, 1029, 88 L.Ed. 1309 (1944). Not infrequently, these factual findings will preor*937dain the resolution of the constitutional and Voting Rights Act arguments raised by plaintiffs. Once the facts are found, it is too late, on certiorari review, to unshuffle the deck:
Limiting the litigant to review here [in the Supreme Court] would deny him the benefit of a federal trial court’s role in constructing a record and making fact findings. How the facts are found will often dictate the decision of federal claims. “It is the typical, not the rare, ease in which constitutional claims turn upon the resolution of contested factual issues.”
England v. Louisiana State Bd. of Medical Examiners, 375 U.S. 411, 416-17, 84 S.Ct. 461, 465-66, 11 L.Ed.2d 440 (1964) (quoting Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 312, 83 S.Ct. 745, 756, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963)).
The adequacy of the state court proceeding is further called into doubt when, as here, the state court acted in a quasi-legislative capacity and itself drew the redistricting lines. The California Supreme Court sat as both the drafter and the reviewer of the redistricting plan. Younger abstention and dismissal thus means that, unless the Supreme Court grants certiorari, the plaintiffs’ federal constitutional and Voting Rights Act claims will never be subjected to independent review by adjudicators uninvolved in the redistricting process. The majority cites no cases, nor have I found any, supporting the application of Younger abstention to an unre-viewed, quasi-legislative state court proceeding such as this.
Moreover, the quasi-legislative California Supreme Court proceeding produced no express findings of fact or conclusions of law responding to the plaintiffs’ contentions. Parties, and perhaps the United States Supreme Court on certiorari review, are left to infer factual and legal rulings from the California Supreme Court’s argumentation in support of its own plan. This court’s abstention thus means that precious voting rights claims may be dismissed outright by federal courts even when those claims have been subject to only a truncated and indirect adjudication by the state forum.
For instance, as a consequence of this court’s decision to abstain, these plaintiffs are left with no practicable opportunity to litigate their very serious claims of minority vote dilution and unjustified population deviations. That the district lines at issue were not drawn in bad faith or with obvious racial motivations does not make these claims any less deserving of federal court attention or any less critical to achieving the Constitution’s goal of one person — one vote.
In sum, while the majority’s decision to abstain may appear to be an efficient and diplomatic disposition of this case, the repercussions of its analysis are ominous. Although I do not doubt the ability of many state courts fairly to adjudicate federal voting rights claims, neither can I close my eyes to the continuing reality of racism and racial gerrymandering in voting practices in general, and in the redistricting and reapportionment processes in particular. The time has not yet come for federal courts to surrender their jurisdiction over voting rights challenges to state courts. Moreover, the determination of when the goals of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts have been accomplished and when the safety net of a federal judicial forum is no longer necessary should rest with Congress, not with judges. I would exercise the jurisdiction granted this court by Congress and afford the plaintiffs a federal forum for litigation of their constitutional and Voting Rights Act claims. I therefore dissent.