Garza v. County of Los Angeles

SCHROEDER, Circuit Judge INTRODUCTION Hispanics in Los Angeles County, joined by the United States of America, filed this voting rights action in 1988 seeking a redrawing of the districts for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. They alleged that the existing boundaries, which had been drawn after the 1980 census, were gerrymandered boundaries that diluted Hispanic voting strength. They sought redistricting in order to create a district with a Hispanic majority for the 1990 Board of Supervisors election in which two board members were to be elected. The Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973, forbids the imposition or application of any practice that would deny or abridge, on grounds of race or color, the right of any citizen to vote. In 1980, a plurality of the Supreme Court held that this provision prohibited only intentional discrimination, and would not allow minorities to challenge practices that, although not instituted with invidious intent, diluted minority votes in practice. City of Mobile v. Bolden, 446 U.S. 55, 100 S. Ct. 1490, 64 L. Ed. 2d 47 (1980). In response to this decision, Congress amended the Voting Rights Act in 1982 to add language indicating that the Act forbids not only intentional discrimination, but also any practice shown to have a disparate impact on minority voting strength. See 42 U.S.C. § 1973(b). Thus, after the 1982 amendment, the Voting Rights Act can be violated by both intentional discrimination in the drawing of district lines and facially neutral apportionment schemes that have the effect of diluting minority votes.