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

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40aAppendix DAs Dr. Rives pointed out in his expert report, <strong>the</strong>reis no unique measure <strong>to</strong> assess whe<strong>the</strong>r a plan definitelyis or is not compact. (Defs.’ Ex. 5, at 8.) He presenteda number of different statistical measurements basedon perimeter distances and various ratios derived fromcircumference, diameter, minimum spanning circle, etc.(Defs.’ Ex. 31.) The different methods provide differentrankings of <strong>the</strong> levels of compactness of <strong>the</strong> geographicboundaries of <strong>the</strong> plans, allegedly indicating a relativelylow level of compactness. (Trial Tr. vol. 1, 63, Feb. 18.) Themajority of <strong>the</strong> statistical measurements suggest that <strong>the</strong>initial July 2008 plan is <strong>the</strong> most compact and IllustrativeDistrict C is <strong>the</strong> least compact. (Id.)However, LULAC requires addressing <strong>the</strong> illustrativedistricts in terms of <strong>the</strong> compactness of <strong>the</strong> minoritypopulation ra<strong>the</strong>r than dispersion of a district’s terri<strong>to</strong>ryor <strong>the</strong> regularity or length of a district’s perimeters.LULAC, 548 U.S. at 433, 126 S.Ct. 2594. As discussed in<strong>the</strong> <strong>Court</strong>’s January 29, 2009 Order denying Defendants’Motion for Summary Judgment, <strong>the</strong> illustrative districtsinclude concentrations of HCVAP just adjacent <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> areaof primary HCVAP concentration. (Summ. J. Order 12.)While <strong>the</strong> illustrative districts undoubtedly “reach out<strong>to</strong> grab” pockets of Hispanic population, <strong>the</strong>se pocketscannot be characterized as “small and apparently isolatedminority communities.” See Bush v. Vera, 517 U.S. 952,977-79, 116 S.Ct. 1941, 135 L.Ed.2d 248 (noting that, inanalyzing compactness in an Equal Protection claim, a“bizarrely shaped” district that “reaches out <strong>to</strong> grab smalland apparently isolated minority communities” is notreasonably compact). Here <strong>the</strong> heavily Hispanic Census

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