Ohio A. Philip Randolph Inst. v. Householder

367 F. Supp. 3d 697
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedFebruary 15, 2019
DocketNo. 1:18-cv-357
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 367 F. Supp. 3d 697 (Ohio A. Philip Randolph Inst. v. Householder) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ohio A. Philip Randolph Inst. v. Householder, 367 F. Supp. 3d 697 (S.D. Ohio 2019).

Opinion

The fact that national Republicans were apparently heavily involved in a process with which the Ohio State Legislature and its Task Force are statutorily tasked raises a genuine dispute about partisan intent in the work of the map-drawers. Viewed in the light most favorable to the Plaintiffs, such evidence shows that the task of drawing the maps was farmed out to the national Republican Party and that the bipartisan Task Force was shut out of the process. This evidence, if credited as presented at trial, helps satisfy the partisan intent element.

Moreover, the Plaintiffs plan to offer expert testimony that will, in part, go to proving partisan intent. The Plaintiffs argue that the "manner and extent to which the Republican mapmakers split political subdivisions and communities of interest, with resulting partisan gain, demonstrates their objective to crack and pack Democratic voters to optimize Republican seats in Congress." Dkt. 177-1 (Pls.' Resp. to Proposed Undisputed Facts at 84) (Page ID # 8429). Plaintiffs' expert William Cooper states that the districts as drawn under the 2012 map "are not compact. Far too many counties and political subdivisions are split." Dkt. 177-4 (Cooper Dep. at 15) (Page ID # 8535). Cooper drew a Proposed Remedial Plan that splits significantly fewer counties and municipal civil divisions than the 2012 map. Dkt. 177-3 (Cooper Report at 11-14) (Page ID # 8519-22). Dr. Niven, another expert, will testify that the 2012 map split 322 census tracts, whereas the map in effect before the 2012 map's introduction split only 209 census tracts. Dkt. 179-8 (Niven Report at 5) (Page ID # 9926). Dr. Niven also explores several specific examples of district lines being drawn in a way that could indicate partisan intent. For example, Niven explains how the 2012 map divides Franklin County into three different congressional districts-the 3rd, 12th and 15th. Id. at 19-27 (Page ID # 9940-48). The 3rd district concentrated (packed) Democratic-leaning voters, creating a district nearly certain to elect a Democratic representative. Id. at 26 (Page ID # 9947). The 12th and 15th districts, however, chipped away (cracked) voters and merged them into districts that contained many Republican-leaning voters, thereby creating two districts that could be expected to elect Republican representatives. Id. at 22-25 (Page ID # 9943-46). Dr. Niven's *717report states that the differences between the partisan leanings of the voters in the 3rd district and those in the 12th and 15th districts are statistically significant. Id. at 27 (Page ID # 9948). Further, Dr. Niven highlights several examples of highly irregular district borders drawn into the 2012 map, from which a reasonable fact-finder could infer partisan intent. See, e.g. , id. at 10 (Page ID # 9931). Dr. Niven concludes that "the districts have strategically targeted and divided populations" based on analysis of the extent to which census tracts are split under the present map. Id. at 4 (Page ID # 9925).

Furthermore, Dr. Wendy K. Tam Cho used a computer algorithm to generate over three million simulated congressional maps informed only by traditional districting principles such as contiguity, compactness, and city and county boundary preservation. Dkt. 179-11 (Cho Dep. at 129) (Page ID # 10032); Dkt. 179-10 (Cho Report at 40) (Page ID # 10025). Dr. Cho then compared the 2012 map to the non-partisan maps within her dataset to determine the extent to which they diverged. She found that none of her over three million simulated maps produced the same 12-4 seat share as the 2012 map. Dkt. 179-10 (Cho Report at 40) (Page ID # 10025). Dr. Cho found that "none of the simulated maps ... had the same partisan fairness metric of the challenged map" and that "[t]he responsiveness of the challenged map occurs in a very small number of [her] simulated maps." Id. The Plaintiffs argue that Dr. Cho's simulations provide additional evidence of the partisan intent on the part of the map-drawers.

From this evidence, along with other testimony, emails, and the like, a reasonable fact-finder could infer that a predominantly partisan intent informed the drawing of the congressional districts in the 2012 plan.

2. Partisan Effect and Statewide Associational Harm

The second element of the Fourteenth Amendment claim and non-associational First Amendment claim is partisan effect. The evidence presented for these claims must be district-specific. On this particular effect element, then, the evidence required for satisfying the substantive claim blends with the evidence required to establish standing. Accordingly, we detail the evidence on this particular claim when we address the individual Plaintiffs' standing. See infra Section II.C.1.a. As shown, at this stage, the Plaintiffs have enough evidence to establish an injury in fact for standing purposes, and likewise, to lead a rational finder of fact to conclude that the partisan effect element is satisfied.

The First Amendment associational claim, however, rests on separate, statewide evidence. The Plaintiffs point to record evidence outlined below that could support an associational harm. See also infra Section II.C.1.b.

Prior to the 2011 redistricting, Ohio had eighteen U.S. congressional districts. Due to population changes, the 2012 map had to be reduced to sixteen U.S. congressional districts. Dkt. 178-5 (Whatman Dep. at 159) (Page ID # 9664). The current congressional districting plan was first used in the 2012 election cycle. Dkt. 177-1 (Pls.' Resp. to Proposed Undisputed Facts at 3) (Page ID # 8348). Every election in which it has been used has resulted in the election of twelve Republican representatives and four Democratic representatives, with each district consistently electing a candidate from the same party. The 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 15th, and 16th Districts have consistently elected Republicans while the 3rd, 9th, 11th, and 13th have elected Democrats. Id. at 87-88 (Page ID # 8432-33). In each of *718these elections, 75% of the representatives elected in the State of Ohio were Republicans. But in the 2012 election, Republicans won only 51% of the state-wide vote. In 2014, they won only 59% of the state-wide vote. In 2016, they won only 57% of the state-wide vote. In 2018, they won only 52% of the state-wide vote. Id. at 86-87 (Page ID # 8431-32).

The 2012 map created the 3rd congressional district, a new heavily-Democratic district that some Republican map-drawers referred to as the "Franklin County Sinkhole." Id. at 81 (Page ID # 8426). In the 3rd district, Democratic candidates have won significantly more votes than were required to beat their opponents. In 2012, the Democratic candidate was elected with 68.29% of the vote, in 2014 with 64.05% of the vote, in 2016 with 68.57% of the vote, and in 2018 with 73.6% of the vote. Id. at 88 (Page ID # 8433). Democratic candidates in the 9th, 11th, and 13th districts have won by similarly high margins. Id. at 88-89 (Page ID # 8433-34).

The Plaintiffs plan to offer expert testimony to prove the partisan effect of the 2012 map. Dr. Christopher Warshaw states that since the enactment of the 2012 redistricted map partisan bias measures have increased. Dkt. 179-6 (Warshaw Dep. at 72-73) (Page ID # 9875-76). Dr. Warshaw presents four measures of partisan effect. First, the efficiency gap is one "commonly used metric[ ] to measure partisan bias." Dkt. 177-1 (Pls.' Resp.

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Bluebook (online)
367 F. Supp. 3d 697, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ohio-a-philip-randolph-inst-v-householder-ohsd-2019.