Charles F. Zimmer v. John J. McKeithen

Summary

The en banc Fifth Circuit held that an at-large electoral scheme for East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, could constitutionally dilute Black voting strength even though Black residents constituted a majority of the parish's total population. Applying the factors identified in Whitcomb v. Chavis and White v. Regester, the court emphasized the parish's history of racial discrimination, majority-vote requirement, registration disparities, and the departure from its prior ward-based electoral system. The court reversed the panel decision and vacated and remanded the district court's judgment.

Holdings

1. Total population is not dispositive of minority vote dilution. A court must examine access to the political process and other circumstances bearing on whether an apportionment scheme minimizes or cancels out racial voting strength.
2. The at-large election plan diluted Black voting strength and was constitutionally infirm under the Fourteenth Amendment.
3. The preference for single-member districts is not absolute; a district court may use multi-member districts when significant interests justify them without compromising constitutional requirements or when they provide minorities a greater opportunity to participate in political processes.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the district court applied an improper per se rule by concluding that an at-large election plan could not dilute Black voting strength because Black residents constituted a majority of the parish's total population.
2. Whether the East Carroll Parish at-large election plan operated, under the totality of the circumstances, to minimize or cancel out the voting strength of Black voters.
3. Whether the district court's approval of an at-large plan was unconstitutional and required vacatur and remand.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded