Al-Hakim v. Florida

892 F. Supp. 1464, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9941, 1995 WL 416265
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedJuly 5, 1995
DocketCiv. A. No. 88-1416-T-23C
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 892 F. Supp. 1464 (Al-Hakim v. Florida) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Al-Hakim v. Florida, 892 F. Supp. 1464, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9941, 1995 WL 416265 (M.D. Fla. 1995).

Opinion

ORDER

NEWCOMER, District Judge.

AND NOW, this 29th day of June, 1995, upon consideration of the Report and Recommendation of Magistrate Judge Elizabeth A. Jenkins, and the objections of plaintiff thereto, it is hereby ORDERED that the Report and Recommendation is APPROVED and ADOPTED.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, consistent with the Report and Recommendation, that:

1. Defendants’ motion to strike is DENIED;

2. Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is GRANTED;

3. Plaintiffs motion for summary judgment is DENIED;

4. Plaintiffs motion for judgment on the pleadings is DENIED; and

5. Judgment is ENTERED in favor of defendants and against plaintiff.

This case was brought by plaintiff to challenge the existing at-large system of electing county and circuit judges in Hillsborough County, Florida. The essence of plaintiffs claim is that the at-large system is discriminatory in that it deprives blacks and other minorities of the right to fully participate in the electoral process by diluting their voting strength. He contends that white voters can vote as a unit to control elections, and also that the at-large system was designed with discriminatory intent.

The case was presented to the Court on motions for summary judgment, and the motions were referred to Magistrate Judge Jenkins for preparation of a Report and Recommendation. Magistrate Judge Jenkins recommends entry of judgment for the defendants. Plaintiff has filed objections to this recommendation. Those objections will be addressed here.

The plaintiff does not pose objections to the legal standards set forth by Judge Jenkins. Judge Jenkins analyzed this case under the three prong test of Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30, 106 S.Ct. 2752, 92 L.Ed.2d 25 (1986). The three Gingles prongs are as follows: 1) the minority group must demonstrate that it is sufficiently sizea-ble and geographically compact to constitute a majority in a single-member district, 2) the minority group must demonstrate that it is politically cohesive, and 3) the minority group must demonstrate that the white majority votes sufficiently as a bloc to defeat the minority’s preferred candidate. Id. at 50-51, 106 S.Ct. at 2766-67. This test is the appropriate one for application to this case, and Judge Jenkins thoroughly analyzed the facts of the instant case under the test. It is unnecessary for this Court to repeat the analysis here, as it finds Judge Jenkins’ construction of the law and facts to be correct, and as plaintiff has not raised any challenge to Judge Jenkins’ methodology as a whole.

Plaintiffs objections, while at times difficult to decipher, appear to be addressed mainly to the reliance of the Report and Recommendation on certain pieces of evidence. The first objection is to Judge Jenkins’ consideration of the briefs and orders filed in two other Florida voting rights eases, Nipper v. Chiles, 795 F.Supp. 1525 (M.D.Fla.1992), and Davis v. Chiles, 90—10098 MMP (N.D.Fla.). The plaintiff argues that the rulings of the courts in Nipper and Davis are not dispositive on the issue of Florida’s allegedly discriminatory policy in Hillsborough County elections. The legal proposition set forth in this objection is correct; Nipper and Davis do not control the outcome of this case by issue or claim preclusion. The objection is nonetheless without merit, because Judge Jenkins did not give dispositive effect to either of these cases. The Report and Recommendation does not rely on Davis at all, and cites to Nipper only as persuasive authority on certain legal issues.

[1468]*1468Plaintiffs next objection is that the Tenth Amendment, which reserves to the states all powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution, does not immunize Florida’s judicial election system from federal constitutional review. Again, plaintiffs legal premise is correct, but his argument misplaced; the Report and Recommendation does not even address the Tenth Amendment. The third objection is that the proper test to be applied in the instant ease is that set forth in Gingles. As Judge Jenkins did apply Gingles, this objection is without foundation.

Plaintiff also objects to Judge Jenkins’ consideration of the 1990 election of Marva Crenshaw to the position of county judge.1 Judge Crenshaw, a black, defeated a white candidate, winning 58.4% of the vote even though only 11% of the voters in that election were black. Plaintiff claims that this election “only showed further orchestration and manipulation by the white organizations and institutions, daily newspapers and media.” He further argues that Crenshaw was not the choice of black voters, but rather was the choice of the “white power structure.” This objection has no factual or legal basis; it is solely based on plaintiffs personal beliefs. Plaintiff appears to be arguing that any black candidate who is not elected by a majority of black voters is in some way illegitimate, as is the system leading to his or her election. No court has ever held in such a manner. Judge Jenkins did properly consider the election of Judge Crenshaw as relevant to the second and third Gingles factors, which regard racially polarized voting to be an indication of potentially discriminatory election systems.

The sixth objection to the Report and Recommendation argues that Florida’s statewide merit retention election of all state trial judges indicates a refusal by the state “to share political power with the Black electorate.” Plaintiff offers no reason why the retention election is relevant to Hillsborough County’s election system. This Court does not find this election, even if accurately portrayed by plaintiff (who adduces no evidence in support of his claim) to be relevant to the instant suit. Therefore, this objection is without merit.

Plaintiffs final objection is to Judge Jenkins’ interpretation of the “Harris Plan,” a census tract plan of west-central Hillsbor-ough County. This area of the county is 45.35% black, and plaintiff argues that it should be legislated as an electoral subdis-trict. Judge Jenkins accurately pointed out the two essential flaws in the “Harris Plan”. First, the census tract plan does not distinguish between black voters and black residents; the percentage of black voters in this area might well be substantially less than 45.35% Second, the number of blacks in this area comprise a plurality of the population, not a majority. These two flaws cause the “Harris Plan” to fail to meet the Gingles criteria that the minority group prove that it is of sufficient size to constitute a majority in a single-member district. 478 U.S. at 50, 106 S.Ct. at 2766.

For the reasons set forth above, plaintiffs objections to the Report and Recommendation are overruled, and the Report and Recommendation is approved and adopted.

AND IT IS SO ORDERED.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

JENKINS, United States Magistrate.

THIS CAUSE comes on for consideration upon the memoranda submitted by the parties in support of their respective positions which the Court has considered as cross-motions for summary judgment.1

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Mallory v. State of Ohio
38 F. Supp. 2d 525 (S.D. Ohio, 1997)
Al-Hakim v. State of Florida
99 F.3d 1154 (Eleventh Circuit, 1996)
Reed v. Town of Babylon
914 F. Supp. 843 (E.D. New York, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
892 F. Supp. 1464, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9941, 1995 WL 416265, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/al-hakim-v-florida-flmd-1995.