
          Reapportionment Roundup
          By StaffStaff
          Vol. 4, No. 6, 1982, pp. 20-24
          
          Reapportionment moved into the courtrooms across the South during
the summer as federal judges were deluged with petitions and prayers
for relief from lawyers of civil_rights groups attempting to halt
primary elections which they charged were to be held under
discriminatory districts. Despite the lawyers' complete lack of
success, November elections bring a bumper crop of new minority
elected_officials in the state legislatures and promise the election
of two additional black members of Congress from the South--doubling
the present number--by the middle of the decade.
          In six Southern_states, federal_courts have jurisdiction over
congressional or state legislative reapportionment which will be
decided finally by the end of 1983. In some instances, such as Alabama
and Texas, the courts may order early elections if the plans which the
Justice_Department and the courts approve differ substantially from
those which were implemented temporarily for the 1982 elections. In
other states such as Virginia and Georgia the dust is settled and the
district lines have now been set in place for the remainder of the
decade.
          While a federal_court has reviewed reapportionment plans in every
Southern state, the impetus for improvements in representation for
blacks and Hispanics has come from the Voting_Rights_Act and its
provision that all voting changes including redistricting be examined
by the Justice_Department to decide if they have a discriminatory
effect or purpose. Incumbent minority legislators have also played a
critical role in creating districts where black or Hispanic voters
have a controlling vote.
          In Georgia, for example, a sixty-five percent black district would
never have been created were it not for the wily politicking of state
senator Jul fan Bond who in acts of political horsetrading was able to
convince his colleagues to adopt a sixty-nine percent black district
in Atlanta. It was the senate's adoption of the Bond plan and the
plan's subsequent rejection by the state house which led to the
confrontation that evidenced the racial intent of 

legislators such as
Joe Mack Wilson, Chairman of the House Reapportionment Committee, who
observed that "the only thing worse than a 'nigger' district is a
Republican district."
          In Florida, the push for single-member districts did not even have
the threat of rejection by the Justice_Department or the courts. Aided
by others, including the Florida Governor, black and Hispanic members
of the legislature worked at building a coalition of support for a
single-member district plan for both the house and the senate. In
South Carol in a the legislative black caucus was instrumental in
securing the addition of two majority black_districts in that state's
plan, and in Alabama most of the changes which prompted the election
of new black members were required by the Justice_Department only
after they had been proposed in special legislative sessions by
members of the black caucus.
          So far the federal_courts have not been very hospitable to the
claims of black plaintiffs, especially when proposed plans have
cleared the administrative review of the Justice_Department. In
Virginia, the federal_court found only that the legislative plans
violated the principle of one-person, one-vote and did not hold that
the plans diluted black voting strength in an unlawful manner. In
South_Carolina the three-judge federal_court has turned away the
claims of black plaintiffs and in Mississippi none of the
congressional districts ordered by the court have a majority of black
voters. To date the federal_court in Alabama has not required a plan
providing for increased black voting strength beyond what the Justice
Department has demanded. The only federal_court that has required the
creation of a voting district for congressional or legislative races
in the South with a majority of black_voters has been the federal
court in Washington which in effect sustained the decisions of the
Justice_Department.
          In the first six monthsofl983,mostofthependingcases on state
reapportionment will be decided by the court. Then, probably, only
appeals to the Supreme_Court will remain. The following summaries set
the state for that final chapter and provide an outline on the effects
of reapportionment of state legislatures and congressional seats in
the South.
          
            Alabama
          
          Under a temporary redistricting plan ordered by a federal_court,
the September primaries in Alabama fueled hopes of gains for blacks in
the state legislature. Among the significant victories were house
seats in Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, Perry, and Dallas counties. A black
woman, Pat Davis was elected to a fifty-three percent black house seat
in Birmingham; James Thomas and Jenkins Bryant, Sr., were the victors
of the Democratic primary for the house seats in the Black_Belt; and
Bryant Melton won a house seat in Tuscaloosa.
          All but two black incumbents in the Alabama House were
reelected. In one race the victory of a black challenger, John Rogers,
is presently under court challenge by incumbent black Rep. Ronald
Jackson who lost by thirty-three votes in an election where absentee
ballots were found two to three days later in a car trunk and in the
office of the Jefferson County sheriff. All three incumbent black
senators were reelected.
          The reapportionment issue in Alabama remains in
controversy. Negotiations continue between the plaintiffs and the
state's lawyers working on the law suit challenging Alabama's plan in
federal_court. By court mandate the legislature will be required to
redistrict by March, 1983, and another election for state legislators
could follow as early as the fall of 1983. The new plan will have to
meet approval with both the Justice_Department and three federal
judges sitting in Montgomery.
          
            Florida
          
          In a Southern state where the courts have not been involved in
state reapportionment, minorities in Florida may make major gains in
the next decade in the state legislature as a result of this year's
redistricting. For the first time in the state's history, the
legislature adopted single-member districts and the results of the
October 5th primary showed several victories for black and Hispanic
candidates.
          For the first time in this century blacks will be represented in
the Florida Senate. Carrie Meeks, a black legislator from Miami has
been elected, without opposition, in a district with more than
sixty-five percent black_population and state Rep. Arnett Girardeau, a
black from Jacksonville, won over a white opponent to become the
Democratic nominee for another senate seat. Girardeau's district is
forty-nine percent black. Blacks also were winners in eleven house
seats in Democratic primaries and in two Republican primaries around
the state in October. Seven of the black Democrats who won had no
opposition on November 2 Jefferson Reaves, James Burke, and Willie
Logan from Miami; James Hargrave of Tampa; Al Lawson of Tallahassee;
Corrine Brown and incumbent John Thomas of Jacksonville. Only five
blacks now sit in the Florida legislature.
          Redistricting has caused some major shifts as well as gains in
Florida's black state legislative delegation. Of the present black
house members, only one, John Thomas of Jacksonville, will be
returning. While Girardeau and Meeks are likely to move to the senate,
the two remaining incumbent black legislators were defeated in primary
battles. Longtime Democratic representative Joe Lang Kershaw and John
Plummer, the first black Republican to serve in the Florida
legislature since Reconstruction, were defeated by political
newcomers--one a black and the other a white Republican woman.
          Other house primary victories by black Democrats include Doug
Jamison, who defeated longtime NAACP activist Morris Melton in
St. Petersburg; Alzo Reddick in Orlando, Bill Clark in Fort
Lauderdale, and David Anderson a black in North Palm Beach area won a
surprise victory in a district that is ninety-five percent white. A
former Martin County school_board member, Anderson faced white
Republican opposition on November 2.

          Gains for Hispanics will be decided after ail the votes are counted
from the November 2 elections; most are from Dade County and are
viewed as conservative Republicans. Seven Hispanics are running for
the house and one has been nominated for the state senate.
          
            Georgia
          
          Working against a court-ordered deadline, the Georgia Legislature
approved a sixty-five percent black congressional district for the
Atlanta metropolitan area in early August. The decision followed a
week of lengthy debate which included a
Saturdaysessionthatmetuntil4:30a.m. Sunday. The result was a plan, for
use in the November election, that gained quick approval from the
Justice_Department and the federal_court.
          The state had appealed the Justice_Department's April
decision. Justice had held that the drawing of a fifty-seven percent
black, Atlanta-based, district was racially motivated in light of the
earlier refusal of the state house of representatives to adopt a
sixty-nine percent black district. Sponsored by Georgia Senator Julian
Bond, the sixty-nine percent plan had passed the state senate.
          After several days of hearings in June, a three-judge federal_court
in Washington issued an order upholding Justice's decision. The court
found "overt racial statements. the conscious minimizing of black
voting strength, historical discrimination and the absence of a
legitimate non-racial reason for adoption of the plan at issue." When
an appeal to the U.S. Supreme_Court was rejected, the August special
session was called and the General_Assembly faced the task of
improving on a proposed district which had a fifty-seven percent black
population but only a forty-five percent black registered voter
population.
          Initial proposals by the legislative black caucus were introduced
by Senator Bond and black Representative Billy McKinney, of
Atlanta. They called for the creation of a 68.3% black district. House
Speaker Tom Murphy countered with a proposed 60.9% plan and Rep. Al
Scott, a black legislator from Savannah, introduced a compromise
proposal of 64.7% black.
          From the start, few capital politicos differed in predicting the
likelihood of a black Fifth Congressional District, although Murphy
publicly vowed his unyielding opposition to a sixty-five percent black
district. One of the problems that faced Murphy and others was how to
create districts that met the Justice_Department's requirements and
assured the election of Democratic incumbents. This desire to protect
Fourth District Congressman Elliott Levitas was especially evident
when Murphy remarked that "we'd like to help Elliott if we can."
          For Levitas, the demographics of Fulton and DeKalb counties
produced a threatening situation. A heavily black Fifth District, as
proposed in the Bond-McKinney plan, would stretch across the southern
portion of the two counties leaving the Fourth District holding the
northern portions where high income whites are creating a Republican
stronghold.
          Throughout the session, Levitas and Fifth District Congressman
Wyche Fowler worked the hallways and backrooms at the state capital
attempting to hang on to as much friendly political geography as
possible. In the end, as a former state legislator, Levitas was
clearly more influential and Fowler's Fifth District lost a sizable
chunk of central Atlanta's biracial Democratic community, much of the
core of his support. To the new Fifth went a large portion of north
Atlanta and north Fulton County; the Justice_Department got a 65.02%
black populated district. In the Fourth District, the outcome was
suitably low in Republican character for Congressman Levitas.
          Ironically, in early discussions in the 1981 special sessions and
with the Justice_Department, the legislative leadership had criticized
Sen. Bond's initial effort to create a black congressional district
because it would split Atlanta. That issue turned moot when the goal
became the prevention of a Republican challenge to Levitas.
          While the plan won the narrow approval of the Justice_Department
and the state intervenors, the state's proposed timetables, which
called for a forty-eight hour filing period and primary elections
within two weeks of the end of the special session, were
unacceptable. The final timetable approved by the courts for election
in the Fifth and Fourth included a primary date of November 2 and a
general election date of November 30.
          With so little campaign time left, two prospective black
candidates, Sen. Julian Bond and Fulton County Commissioner Regionald
Eaves, decided against battling the incumbent Fowler over the new
district. Both noted that the timetable provided little opportunity to
raise sufficient funds and plan a campaign. State Rep. McKinney,
however, entered the race as an independent, McKinney (who is a
Democrat in the state legislature received the endorsement of the
legislative black caucus, Senator Bond and Atlanta Mayor Andrew
Young. Yet, Fowler's reelection was never in doubt.
          In state legislative races, blacks appear to have made several
gains in both the Georgia House and Georgia Senate. In the senate,
Rep. Al Scott and Rep. David Scott of Atlanta appear to have secured
seats. Frank Redding has been elected to a new house seat in suburban
DeKalb County; former city commissioner Mary Young in Albany; George
Brown in Augusta. Estimates show at least twenty-five blacks will
serve in the legislature when the General_Assembly meets in January--a
gain of at least three seats.
          
            Louisiana
          
          The September primary elections in Louisiana confirmed that its six
incumbent congressional members will return to Washington. So ended a
protracted dispute which began late last year when a Democratic state
legislature created a majority-black congressional seat in New_Orleans
only to recant at the urging of Republican Governor David
Treen. Seeing the promise of the [unclear] Louisiana black in Congress in this
century fade away, black leaders and civil_rights lawyers fought
unsuccess-

fully before the Justice_Department and the courts to stop
the plan.
          Louisiana has an open primary which puts all candidates, regardless
of party, on the ballot. Among the incumbents, two Democrats, Billy
Tauzin and Buddy Roemer, had no opposition, and the other four
received a majority of the votes in the primary.
          Since a full hearing on the court challenge by black plaintiffs has
not yet been held, the existing congressional districts could be
changed before the 1984 elections. During the summer the federal_court
in New_Orleans refused to overturn the legislative plan before this
year's elections although it indicated that a final decision on
district lines beyond 1982 would be decided only after full discovery
and hearing. The success of the black plaintiffs' challenge is
uncertain at best since the Justice_Department did approve the plan
under its authorized voting_rights review. Federal courts seldom, if
ever, disapprove of redistricting plans on the same issues which the
Justice_Department has considered and approved under its
administrative review.
          The possibility of a majority-black district in New_Orleans
appeared strong last November when the legislature adopted a plan
creating just such a district. Never a favorite of many black leaders,
Gov. Treen opposed the bill strongly, in pert because the black
district would jeopardize the reelection of an incumbent Republican,
Bob Livingston. After jawboning and threatening a veto, Treen had his
way and the legislature recanted.
          With such a clear record of racial intent, civil_rights lawyers and
members of the state legislative black caucus went to the Justice
Department confident that they had a strong case. At the time, one of
the lawyers, Bill Quigley, remarked: "This case presents the acid test
of whether a Republican governor's influence at the Republican Justice
Department is stronger than the law." After heavy lobbying from
Gov. Treen, Justice approved the plan. It held that the state had
shown the plan to be unmotivated by race and without discriminatory
effort. The results of the acid test were in.
          
            Mississippi
          
          After a three-judge panel in Greenville, Mississippi turned away
the pleas of black plaintiff Owen Brooks and others that the court
create a congressional district with a sixty-five percent black
population in the Delta, civil_rights lawyers raced to the
U.S. Supreme_Court. It refused to disturb the lower court's order to
permit congressional elections in August with the court-ordered
fifty-three percent black district.
          Because the voting-age population and the registration rate of
blacks are considerably below the level of the black_population in
general, the Court's decision appeared to doom hopes of a district in
which black_voters would elect a candidate. Yet, news of the Supreme
Court's decision was followed quickly by the announcement of
Mississippi Delta Congressman David Bowen that he would not seek
reelection, and a field of six candidates, including black state
Representative Robert Clark of Holmes County was sowed.
          Almost every political analyst and writer in the state gave Clark
very little chance of winning the nomination on August 17, although a
few ventured that he might make it into a runoff. State labor leader
Claude Ramsey however, was more optimistic and very supportive,
especially since the state AFL-CIO had supported the fifty-three
percent plan in court. Ramsey contended theta good candidate--black or
white--could be elected in the Delta with such a plan and that the
larger black majority plan would only "help Republicans elsewhere in
the state."
          When the votes were counted in August, Clark had defeated his four
white opponents and received fifty-six percent of the vote--enough to
avoid a runoff. Despite lingering doubts that the white Republicans
had voted for Clark in order to give their own candidates an easy
target in November, Clark appeared to be on the road to Washington.
          While Clark's strong showing was, a victory for the almost forty
percent black_population in Mississippi who had not seen a black
congressman go to Washington in their lifetime, the election results
presented a real problem for Frank Parker, the lawyer who represented
the black plaintiffs in the Greenville court. Whie the court will
consider again the question of the district lines for elections after
1982, the judges will no doubt look with skepticism on Parker's
premise that racial bloc voting in the Delta by whites will keep black
voters' candidates from public office. Whie he may be able to call
upon eighty-one years of Mississippi history to support his case,
Parker will have to figure out how to convince the judges that this
exception in Mississippi ought not set the rule in law.
          
            South_Carolina
          
          In the face of challenges from the NAACP to congressional and state
house reapportionments, South_Carolina lawmakers now appear confident
that their new district lines, used in this year' selections, will be
sustained by the federal_courts. Adopted in early summer, the
congressional plan avoided the creation of a majority black district
near the coast. Nonetheless, it was approved by the three-judge
federal panel, one of whose members characterized the NAACP's
arguments as "frivolous."
          The state house plan adds two new majority-black_districts. It has
also been approved by the courts and the Justice_Department.
          The state senate has not yet reapportioned, and a bitter fight
looms as incumbents in the all-white chamber try to avoid
single-member districts. Elections for the state senate in South
Carolina are not held this year, and
senators have until mid-1984 to develop their strategy.The black leadership,
including the legislative black caucus in Columbia, are deciding how
to present their best case before the legislature, the Justice
Department, and ultimately the courts.

          
            Texas
          
          When the Texas legislature returns to Austin in early 1983, they
face once more the task of reapportioning both chambers of the state
house, and, at the least, the congressional districts in the Dallas
area. In June, federal_courts ordered temporary plans for the
elections but required that the state redo the plans in the 1983
legislative session.
          A flood of paperwork was filed by lawyers for Democrats,
Republicans and Mexican-Americans in June and July as they attempted
to overturn lower court opinions for the primary elections. The first
plan adopted by the Democratic state legislature generally protected
incumbents although it appeared to offer more safety to incumbent
conservatives, Republican or Democrat, than to the liberal
Democrats. The highly partisan elections of November 2 should help all
Texas Democratic congressmen win a more sympathetic ear from the state
lawmakers.
          Because of increased population, the Texas legislature had to
create three new congressional districts this year. In this
rearrangement the Hispanic caucus hopes to create one or two majority
Hispanic congressional seats: in the state's southwest and around
Dallas. If the legislature fails, as seems likely, the effort will
probably be continued in court by the Mexican-American Legal Defense &
Education Fund. The Justice_Department and thc federal_courts will
likely decide if the failure to create such districts has a racially
discriminatory effect or purpose.
          Generating in court "enough paper to patch Houston's freeway," the
temporary congressional districts appear to have helped no one more
than the incumbents. When the final votes arc official in Texas, their
composition will remain much the same.
          In the state legislature. the number of Mexican-American
legislators in the lower house may increase by four or five for a
total of twenty-two as a result of the. November elections although no
gains are expected in the state senate.
          
            Virginia
          
          After a year of special sessions and court litigation costing the
state as much as a million dollars, the Virginia legislature created a
single-member district plan for both houses which added five
majority-black_districts to the existing four. As the election results
are being tallied in that state, some politicians and political
observers are wondering what all the shouting was about.
          Although the concepts of both single-member districts and
majority-black_districts were at the heart of the fears of many
incumbent Virginia Assembly members, the "dreaded effect" that
Democratic majority leader Thomas Moss of Norfolk predicted appears
illusory six months after thc legislature acceded to the objections of
the Justice_Department and the courts. Forecasting earlier that
single-member districts would cause an invasion of Republicans like
Grant's march through Richmond, the lawmakers' predictions have not
been borne out by election returns. Democrats will remain in firm
control. At the same time. the four blacks in the Virginia legislature
may not have their ranks doubled until at least the late 1980's when
voter_registration and turnout are higher.
          "When put in perspective. the fight in the legislature for over a
year to keep out a total of three black lawmakers is absolutely
incredible," remarks Jack Gravely, the head of the NAACP.
          
            This report was prepared by the staff of the Southern
Regional Council.
          
        
