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Don Higginson v. Xavier Becerra, Attorney General of California, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 19-55275 · judgment December 4, 2019

Certiorari denied · May 26, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 15% cert probability (95% interval 11%–20%)

Before the decision, about 3.6× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a Ninth Circuit decision below, and a circuit split argued in the petition, and down for a state or local-government respondent.

Question presented

In Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30 (1986), this Court held that a municipality’s at-large voting system does not violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act merely because there is racially polarized voting. Dissatisfied with this interpretation of Section 2, California adopted the California Voting Rights Act (“CVRA”), which creates “a broader basis for relief from vote dilution than available under the federal Voting Rights Act.” Jauregui v. City of Palmdale, 172 Cal. Rptr. 3d 333, 350 (Cal. Ct. App. 2014). To that end, the CVRA requires municipalities to dismantle at-large voting systems whenever there is racially polarized voting in the community—i.e., when the race of voters tends to correlate with the selection of certain candidates. The CVRA, in other words, makes race not just the dominant factor but the only factor for determining whether municipalities may use atlarge systems. The question presented is: Whether the California Voting Rights Act violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
William Spencer Consovoy
Consovoy McCarthy PLLC

For respondent
Alan Brian Fenstermacher
Rutan & Tucker. LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
4 cert-stage

Linked docket
19A920

Proceedings

  1. May 26 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  2. May 20 2020
    Letter of May 20, 2020 from the City of Mission Viejo respecting the brief amici curiae of The Cities of Mission Viejo, et al. received.
  3. May 06 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Current and Former California Local Elected Officials filed. (Distributed)
  4. May 06 2020
    Brief amici curiae of The Cities of Mission Viejo, Oroville, Solana Beach, South Pasadena, and Barstow, and the Town of Yucca Valley, California filed. (Distributed)
  5. May 05 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/21/2020.
  6. May 05 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Pacific Legal Foundation, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  7. May 01 2020
    Waiver of right of respondents Defendant-Intervenors California League of United Latin American Citizens, et al. to respond filed.
  8. Apr 30 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent City of Poway to respond filed.
  9. Apr 23 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent Xavier Becerra to respond filed.
  10. Apr 02 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due May 6, 2020)
  11. Feb 19 2020
    Application (19A920) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from March 3, 2020 to April 2, 2020, submitted to Justice Kagan.
    Main DocumentProof of Service
  12. Feb 19 2020
    Application (19A920) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until April 2, 2020.