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petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to grant ... - Election Law Blog

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23aAppendix DDefendants’ experts assert that Plaintiff’s illustrativedistricts result in vote dilution by relying on <strong>to</strong>talpopulation for district size, ra<strong>the</strong>r than consideringcitizen-voting-age-population (“CVAP”). (Def.’s Ex. 4, at12-13; Id. at Ex. 51, at 7-9.) They contend that Mr. Ely’sillustrative districts contain an extremely high number ofnon-citizens, and this will result in <strong>the</strong> majority Hispanicdistrict exercising voting power that is substantiallymagnified relative <strong>to</strong> Irving’s o<strong>the</strong>r districts. (See id.; TrialTr. vol. 1, 108, Feb. 19.) Dr. Alford testified at trial that“<strong>the</strong> fact that <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r districts will contain much largereligible populations means that <strong>the</strong>ir individual votes willcount less. So this will devalue <strong>the</strong> votes in those districts...” (Trial Tr. vol. 1, 110, Feb. 19.) However, as Dr. Alfordacknowledges, <strong>to</strong>tal population (not CVAP) is generallyaccepted as a proper measure for equalizing <strong>the</strong> size ofdistricts. (Id. at 112.) The Fifth Circuit addressed thiscomplex issue in great detail in Chen v. City of Hous<strong>to</strong>nand concluded that <strong>the</strong> decision whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>to</strong> rely on <strong>to</strong>talpopulation or <strong>the</strong> eligible-<strong>to</strong>-vote population in creatingdistricts is a decision best left <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> political process. Chenv. City of Hous<strong>to</strong>n, 206 F.3d 502, 522-28 (5th Cir.2000).Therefore, <strong>the</strong> <strong>Court</strong> concludes that applying <strong>the</strong> <strong>to</strong>talpopulation standard on <strong>the</strong> illustrative districts is entirelyappropriate.b. Estimate Derived from Census and ACS DataIn drawing <strong>the</strong> illustrative districts, Mr. Ely utilizeddata from <strong>the</strong> 2000 Census and from <strong>the</strong> 2006 ACS. (TrialTr. vol. 1, 60-61, Feb. 17.) The 2000 Census was conductedby <strong>the</strong> Census Bureau and was composed of two parts: <strong>the</strong>

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