Singleton v. Allen

690 F.Supp.3d 1226

Bobby SINGLETON, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Wes ALLEN, in his official capacity as Alabama Secretary of State, et al., Defendants.

Evan Milligan, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Wes Allen, in his official capacity as Alabama Secretary of State, et al., Defendants.

Case No.: 2:21-cv-1291-AMM

Case No.: 2:21-cv-1530-AMM

United States District Court, N.D. Alabama, Southern Division

Signed September 5, 2023

Diandra "Fu" S. Debrosse Zimmermann, Eli Joseph Hare, DiCello Levitt Gutzler LLC, Birmingham, AL, James Uriah Blacksher, James U. Blacksher, Attorney, Birmingham, AL, Joe R. Whatley, Jr., W. Tucker Brown, Whatley Kallas LLP, Birmingham, AL, U. W. Clemon, U. W. Clemon, LLC, Birmingham, AL, W. Edward Still, Edward Still Law Firm LLC, Birmingham, AL, Henry C. Quillen, Whatley Kallas LLP, Portsmouth, NH, Myron C. Penn, Penn & Seaborn LLC, Union Springs, AL, for Plaintiffs in No. 2:21-cv-1291.

Alison Nicole Mollman, Kaitlin Welborn, ACLU of Alabama, Montgomery, AL, LaTisha Gotell Faulks, Montgomery, AL, Amanda N. Allen, Jessica L. Ellsworth, Pro Hac Vice, Shelita M. Stewart, Pro Hac Vice, Hogan Lovells U.S. LLP, Washington, DC, Deuel Ross, Tanner Lockhead, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Washington, DC, Anna Kathryn Barnes, Pro Hac Vice, Anthony Ashton, NAACP, Baltimore, MD, Blayne R. Thompson, Pro Hac Vice, Hogan Lovells U.S. LLP, Houston, TX, Brittany Carter, Pro Hac Vice, Leah C. Aden, Stuart Naifeh, Kathryn Carden Sadasivan, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., New York, NY, David Dunn, Pro Hac Vice, Hogan Lovells U.S. LLP, New York, NY, Davin Rosborough, Julie A. Ebenstein, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York, NY, Harmony R. Gbe, Pro Hac Vice, Michael Lovejoy Turrill, Pro Hac Vice, Hogan Lovells U.S. LLP, Los Angeles, CA, Nicki Leili Lawsen, Sidney Monroe Jackson, Wiggins, Childs, Pantazis, Fisher & Goldfarb, LLC, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiff Evan Milligan in No. 2:21-cv-1530.

Alison Nicole Mollman, Kaitlin Welborn, ACLU of Alabama, Montgomery, AL, LaTisha Gotell Faulks, Montgomery, AL, Anna Kathryn Barnes, Pro Hac Vice, Anthony Ashton, NAACP, Baltimore, MD, Blayne R. Thompson, Pro Hac Vice, Hogan Lovells U.S. LLP, Houston, TX, Brittany Carter, Pro Hac Vice, Leah C. Aden, Stuart Naifeh, Kathryn Carden Sadasivan, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., New York, NY, David Dunn, Pro Hac Vice, Hogan Lovells U.S. LLP, New York, NY, Davin Rosborough, Julie A. Ebenstein, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York, NY, Deuel Ross, Tanner Lockhead, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Washington, DC, Jessica L. Ellsworth, Pro Hac Vice, Shelita M. Stewart, Pro Hac Vice, Hogan Lovells U.S. LLP, Washington, DC, Harmony R. Gbe, Pro Hac Vice, Michael Lovejoy Turrill, Pro Hac Vice, Hogan Lovells U.S. LLP, Los Angeles, CA, Nicki Leili Lawsen, Sidney Monroe Jackson, Wiggins, Childs, Pantazis, Fisher & Goldfarb, LLC, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiffs Shalela Dowdy, Letetia Jackson, Khadidah Stone, Greater Birmingham Ministries in No. 2:21-cv-1530.

Ashley Burrell, Brittany Carter, Pro Hac Vice, Leah C. Aden, Stuart Naifeh, Kathryn Carden Sadasivan, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., New York, NY, David Dunn, Pro Hac Vice, Hogan Lovells U.S. LLP, New York, NY, Davin Rosborough, Dayton Campbell-Harris, Julie A. Ebenstein, Sophia Lin Lakin, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York, NY, Alison Nicole Mollman, Kaitlin Welborn, ACLU of Alabama, Montgomery, AL, LaTisha Gotell Faulks, Montgomery, AL, Anna Kathryn Barnes, Pro Hac Vice, Anthony Ashton, NAACP, Baltimore, MD, Blayne R. Thompson, Pro

Hac Vice, Hogan Lovells U.S. LLP, Houston, TX, Deuel Ross, Tanner Lockhead, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Washington, DC, Jessica L. Ellsworth, Pro Hac Vice, Shelita M. Stewart, Pro Hac Vice, Hogan Lovells U.S. LLP, Washington, DC, Harmony R. Gbe, Pro Hac Vice, Michael Lovejoy Turrill, Pro Hac Vice, Hogan Lovells U.S. LLP, Los Angeles, CA, Nicki Leili Lawsen, Sidney Monroe Jackson, Wiggins, Childs, Pantazis, Fisher & Goldfarb, LLC, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiff Alabama State Conference of the NAACP in No. 2:21-cv-1530.

Christina Rossi Pantazis, Balch and Bingham Labor & Employment, Birmingham, AL, Edmund Gerard LaCour, Jr., Office of the Attorney General, Montgomery, AL, Jordan Dorman Walker, Balch & Bingham LLP, Montgomery, AL, for Defendants Chris Pringle, Steve Livingston in No. 2:21-cv-1291, 2:21-cv-1530.

Brenton Merrill Smith, Edmund Gerard LaCour, Jr., Andrew Reid Harris, James W. Davis, Misty Shawn Fairbanks Messick, Alexander Barrett Bowdre, Benjamin Matthew Seiss, Charles A. McKay, Thomas Alexander Wilson, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Alabama, Montgomery, AL, Jordan Dorman Walker, Balch & Bingham LLP, Montgomery, AL, for Defendant Wes Allen in No. 2:21-cv-1291, 2:21-cv-1530.

John Mark White, White Arnold & Dowd, PC, Birmingham, AL, for Amicus Terri Sewell in No. 2:21-cv-1530.

Anna Bobrow, Covington & Burling LLP, Was, DC, Benjamin Klein, Covington & Burling LLP, New York, NY, Paulina Slagter, Covington & Burling LLP, Washtington, DC, Robert D. Fram, Covington & Burling LLP, San Francisco, CA, John Mark White, White Arnold & Dowd, PC, Birmingham, AL, for Amicus Members of the Congressional Black Caucus of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives in No. 2:21-cv-1530.

Christopher E. Mills, Spero Law LLC, Charleston, SC, Mateo Forero-Norena, Holtzman Vogel PLLC, Washington, DC, for Amicus National Republican Redistricting Trust in No. 2:21-cv-1530.

Denzel Efemena Okinedo, Burr and Forman, Birmingham, AL, for Amici Randall Woodfin, Steven L. Reed, Merika Coleman, Linda Coleman-Madison, Napoleon Bracy, Jr., Patrick Sellers, Sheila D. Tyson, Jason Q. Ward in No. 2:21-cv-1530.

Before MARCUS, Circuit Judge, MANASCO and MOORER, District Judges.

INJUNCTION, OPINION, AND ORDER

PER CURIAM:

These congressional redistricting cases have returned to this Court after the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed in all respects a preliminary injunction this Court entered on January 24, 2022. See Allen v. Milligan, 599 U.S. 1, 143 S. Ct. 1487, 1498, 1502, 216 L.Ed.2d 60 (2023).

These cases allege that Alabama's congressional electoral map is racially gerrymandered in violation of the United States Constitution and/or dilutes the votes of Black Alabamians in violation of Section Two of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 52 U.S.C. § 10301 ("Section Two"). See Singleton v. Allen, No. 2:21-cv-1291-AMM (asserting only constitutional challenges); Milligan v. Allen, No. 2:21-cv-1530-AMM (asserting both constitutional and statutory challenges); Caster v. Allen, No. 2:21-cv-1536-AMM (asserting only statutory challenges).

Milligan is now before this three-judge Court, and Caster is before Judge Manasco alone, for remedial proceedings.¹ The map this Court enjoined ("the 2021 Plan") included one majority-Black district: District 7. District 7 became a majority-Black district in 1992 when a federal court drew it that way in a ruling that was summarily affirmed by the Supreme Court. Wesch v. Hunt, 785 F. Supp. 1491, 1497-1500 (S.D. Ala. 1992) (three-judge court), aff'd sub nom. Camp v. Wesch, 504 U.S. 902, 112 S.Ct. 1926, 118 L.Ed.2d 535 (1992), and aff'd sub nom. Figures v. Hunt, 507 U.S. 901, 113 S.Ct. 1233, 122 L.Ed.2d 640 (1993).

After an extensive seven-day hearing, this Court concluded that the 2021 Plan likely violated Section Two and thus enjoined the State from using that plan in the 2022 election. See Milligan Doc. 107; Allen, 143 S. Ct. at 1502.²

Based on controlling precedent, we held that "the appropriate remedy is a congressional redistricting plan that includes either an additional majority-Black congressional district, or an additional district in which Black voters otherwise have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice." Milligan Doc. 107 at 5.³ We observed that "[a]s the Legislature consider[ed remedial] plans, it should be mindful of the practical reality, based on the ample evidence of intensely racially polarized voting adduced during the preliminary injunction proceedings, that any remedial plan will need to include two districts in which Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it." Id. at 6.

Because federal law dictates that the Alabama Legislature should have the first opportunity to draw a remedial plan, we gave the Legislature that opportunity. See id. The Secretary of State and legislative defendants ("the Legislators" and collectively, "the State") appealed. Allen, 143 S. Ct. at 1502.

On June 8, 2023, the Supreme Court affirmed the preliminary injunction. See id. The Supreme Court "s[aw] no reason to disturb th[is] Court's careful factual findings, which are subject to clear error review and have gone unchallenged by Alabama in any event." Id. at 1506. Likewise, the Supreme Court concluded there was no "basis to upset th[is] Court's legal conclusions" because we "faithfully applied [Supreme Court] precedents and correctly determined that, under existing law, [the 2021 Plan] violated" Section Two. Id.

The State then requested that this Court allow the Legislature approximately five weeks — until July 21, 2023 — to enact a new plan. Milligan Doc. 166. All parties understood the urgency of remedial proceedings: the State previously advised this Court that because of pressing state-law deadlines, Secretary Allen needs a final congressional districting map by "early October" for the 2024 election. Milligan Doc. 147 at 3.⁴ In the light of that urgency, and to balance the deference given to the Legislature to reapportion the state with the limitations set by Purcell v. Gonzalez, 549 U.S. 1, 4-8, 127 S.Ct. 5, 166 L.Ed.2d 1 (2006), we delayed remedial proceedings to accommodate the Legislature's efforts, entered a scheduling order, and alerted the parties that any remedial hearing would commence on the date they proposed: August 14, 2023. Milligan Doc. 168.

On July...