Case Summary
On January 15, 2015, four non-Hispanic white ("Anglo") voters in Dallas County, Texas filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas challenging Dallas County’s 2011 redistricting plan for electing county commissioners. Plaintiffs alleged that the plan violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by providing for only one Anglo-majority district when an additional one was possible, thereby diluting the votes of Anglo-voters. After two-years of pre-trial litigation, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas held a four-day bench trial, and, on August 23, 2018, entered judgment in favor of Dallas County. The court held that the plaintiffs had failed to sufficiently plead a racial gerrymandering claim, and had failed to demonstrate their vote dilution claim because they had “failed to prove that, were a second Anglo majority district drawn, Anglos would possess the potential to elect an Anglo Republican.”
On September 21, 2018, the plaintiffs appealed the district court's rulings as to their Section 2 and racial gerrymandering claims. On January 17, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an opinion affirming the district court’s refusal to entertain a claim of racial gerrymandering and its denial of the vote dilution claim.
Case Library
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas - 3:15-cv-00131
- Original Complaint - 1/15/15
- Defendants' Motion to Dismiss - 3/13/15
- Memorandum in Support of Defendants' Motion to Dismiss - 3/13/15
- Memorandum in Support of Defendants' First Amended Motion to Dismiss - 4/16/15
- Plaintiffs' Response to Defendants' First Amended Motion to Dismiss - 5/7/15
- Defendants' Reply Brief in Support of their First Amended Motion to Dismiss - 5/21/15
- Memorandum Opinion and Order - 5/28/15
- Defendants' Original Answer - 6/11/15
- Second Amended Complaint - 7/10/15
- Defendants' Answer to Plaintiffs Second Amended Complaint - 7/23/15
- Brief in Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion to Compel Oral Hearing - 6/10/16
- Supplemental Brief in Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion to Compel - 7/26/16
- Memorandum Opinion and Order 2 - 12/23/16
- Memorandum Opinion and Order 3 - 3/5/18
- Plaintiffs' Post-Trial Closing Brief - 5/11/18
- Defendants' Post-Trial Brief - 5/11/18
- Defendants' Response to Plaintiffs' Post-Trial Brief - 5/25/18
- Plaintiffs' Response to Defendants' Post-Trial Brief - 5/25/18
- Judgment - 8/23/18
- Notice of Appeal - 9/21/18
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit - 18-11256