Kueber v. City of San Antonio

197 F. Supp. 3d 917, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91049, 2016 WL 3866628
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Texas
DecidedJuly 13, 2016
DocketNo. 5:15-CV-382-DAE
StatusPublished

This text of 197 F. Supp. 3d 917 (Kueber v. City of San Antonio) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kueber v. City of San Antonio, 197 F. Supp. 3d 917, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91049, 2016 WL 3866628 (W.D. Tex. 2016).

Opinion

[919]*919ORDER (1) GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT; AND (2) DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT

DAVID ALAN EZRA, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Before the Court are two motions: (1) the City of San Antonio, Texas’s (“the City” or “Defendant”) Motion for Summary Judgment (Dkt. # 19); and (2) Michael Kueber’s (“Plaintiff’) Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Dkt. #22). The Court held a hearing on the competing motions on July 7, 2016. At the hearing, David E. Kirkendall, Esq., represented Plaintiff, and Shawn K. Fitzpatrick, Esq. and Deborah Lynn Klein, Esq., represented Defendant. After careful consideration of the supporting and opposing memoranda and the arguments presented at the hearing, the Court, for the reasons that follow, (1) GRANTS Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Dkt. # 19); and (2) DENIES Plaintiffs Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Dkt. #22).

BACKGROUND

The facts in this case are undisputed. The City has a Charter that outlines its form of government and its powers. (See San Antonio, Tex., Charter art. I (1951); Dkt. # 19, Ex. A.) Under the Charter, a city council consisting of 11 members governs the city. (San Antonio, Tex., Charter art. II, § 4 (1951); Dkt. # 22-1, Ex. A.) The Charter requires election of its council-members from ten single-member districts 1 and that the single-member district boundaries be redrawn following each federal decennial census. (San Antonio, Tex., Charter art. II, § 4 (1951).) Additionally, and at the center of the issue before the Court, a 1997 amendment to the City Charter states that single-member districts “shall be as nearly equal in population as practicable.” (San Antonio, Tex., Charter art. II, § 4 (1997); “1997 Amendment,” Dkt. # 19, Ex. B.)

After the 2010 Census, it became apparent that there was a substantial population imbalance among the various council-member districts as reflected by the new census data. (“Letter to DOJ,” Dkt. # 19-7, Ex. G at 5.) At that time, the ideal district population was 132,672, but the 2011 council-member districts consisted of the following populations, with a total deviation of 39.93 percent:

[920]*920[[Image here]]

(Id.) Due to this imbalance, the City decided to redraw the council-member districts and retained legal counsel to do so. (Dkt. # 19, Ex. D.) On September 15, 2011, the city council passed a resolution providing the criteria and standards by which the redistricting plan would be evaluated and approved. (“2011 Resolution,” Dkt. # 19, Ex. E, § 1 ¶ E.) Such criteria were:

A. Where practicable, easily identifiable geographic boundaries should be followed.
B. Communities of interest should be maintained in a single council-member district, where practicable, and attempts should be made to avoid splitting neighborhoods.
C. To the extent practicable, districts should be composed of whole voting precincts. Where this is not possible or practicable, districts should be drawn in a way that permits the creation of practical voting precincts and that ensures that adequate facilities for polling places exist in each voting precinct; and splitting census blocks should be avoided.
D. Although it is recognized that existing districts will have to be altered to reflect new population distribution, any districting plan should, to the [921]*921extent practicable, be based on existing councilmember districts.
E. Districts shall be configured so that they are relatively equal in total population according to the 2010 Census. In no event should the total deviation in population between the largest and the smallest district exceed ten percent. 1
F. Districts should be compact and composed of contiguous territory. Compactness may contain functional, as well as a geographical dimension.
G. Consideration may be given to the preservation of incumbent-constituency relations by recognition of the residence of incumbents and them history representing certain areas.
H. The plan should be narrowly tailored to avoid retrogression in the position of racial and language minorities as defined in the Voting Rights Act with respect to their effective exercise of the electoral franchise.
I. The plan should not fragment a geographically compact minority community or pack minority voters in the presence of polarized voting so as to create liability under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973.

(Id.) A redistricting plan was drawn and presented for comment at six separate public hearings where 200 people spoke. (Letter to DOJ.) After public comment, a Revised Illustrative Plan was drawn that reduced the total population variance from 9.95 percent to 9.8 percent and made other “minimal changes” to avoid splitting certain neighborhoods. (Id.) Ultimately, the Revised Illustrative Plan “utilize[d] readily identifiable boundaries,” “to the extent possible, maintain[ed] communities of interest and neighborhoods,” “use[d] whole voting precincts to the extent practical,” “was based on existing districts,” resulted in “districts [that were] compact and contiguous,” and “minimizefd] retrogression majority-minority districts.” (Dkt. # 19, Ex. F.)

On September 20, 2012, the City Council adopted an ordinance approving the Revised Illustrative Plan. (Dkt. # 19, Ex. F.) Under the 2010 census data, the City had a population of 1,326,721; thus the ideal population for each single-member council district was 132,672. (Letter to DOJ.) The populations of the modified districts ranged from 126,228 to 139,227, with a maximum deviation of 9.8 percent between the smallest and largest districts:

[922]*922[[Image here]]

[Editor’s Note: The preceding image contains the reference footnote2]

(Letter to DOJ.) On November 27, 2012, the Attorney General of the United States affirmatively indicated no objection to the redistricting plan pursuant to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 52 U.S.C. § 10304. (Id.)

On April 20, 2015, Plaintiff filed an Original Petition in the 57th District Court of Bexar County, Texas, challenging the redrawn districts. (“Pet.,” Dkt. # 1-1.) Plain[923]*923tiff seeks a declaration under Section 37.001 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code that the district boundaries, as modified, violate the City Charter and the U.S. Constitution. (Id. ¶ VIII.) Plaintiff also seeks a preliminary injunction prohibiting the City from conducting the next City Council election until the district boundaries are redrawn. (Id. ¶ XII.)

On May 11, 2015, the City removed the action to this Court, invoking its federal question jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331. (Dkt. # 1.) On August 17, 2015, the Court issued an order denying Plaintiffs motion to remand. (Dkt.

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Bluebook (online)
197 F. Supp. 3d 917, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91049, 2016 WL 3866628, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kueber-v-city-of-san-antonio-txwd-2016.