Civil Rights
Aug. 14, 2002
Latino Group Appeals Dismissal of Lawsuit
LOS ANGELES - Latino advocates filed an appeal Monday in federal court requesting that the U.S. Supreme Court reconsider the dismissal of their voting rights lawsuit that challenged the way boundaries were redrawn in four Southern California congressional districts.
The group, represented by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, has 60 days in which to submit its brief. Cano v. Davis, CV-01-08477 (C.D. Cal., filed 2001).
After a three-judge Central District panel dismissed the suit in June, the group hesitated on whether to file an appeal because if it lost it could run the risk of setting a controlling precedent.
Fund attorney Thomas Saenz said the organization decided to go ahead because the Supreme Court had ruled favorably in reverse discrimination cases in the past when it held that all discrimination, even benign discrimination, was unlawful.
"We think the [Central District] court's decision was wrong under Supreme Court precedent," Saenz said in filing the appeal.
The suit accuses Gov. Gray Davis and other key administrators and state legislators of redrawing district lines in parts of Los Angeles and San Diego counties that diluted the ability of Latinos to be elected by creating districts that no longer had a Latino majority.
In dismissing the suit, the Central District panel said that discrimination against Latinos in Southern California elections had shrunk to the point that they no longer required the more aggressive forms of protection under the federal Voting Rights Act.
Susan Mc Rae
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