Plaintiffs' Motion for Clarification Concerning Interim Elections and For Order Establishing Deadline for Remedial Plans

    IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE 

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA 

SOUTHERN DIVISION 

WILEY L. BOLDEN, et al., ) 

Plaintiffs, ) 

VS. ) CIVIL ACTION NO. 75-297-P 

CITY OF MOBILE, ALABAMA, ) 
et al., 

Defendants. ) 

PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR CLARIFICATION 
CONCERNING INTERIM ELECTIONS AND FOR 

ORDER ESTABLISHING DEADLINE FOR REMEDIAL PLANS 
  

Plaintiffs, Wiley L. Bolden, et al., through their 

undersigned counsel, would show unto the Court as follows: 

1. The Opinion and Order dated April 15, 1982, 

provided that "the Court will withhold entry of a remedial 

order to provide the State of Alabama the opportunity to 

enact a constitutional election plan reasonably prior to a 

city election in August, 1983." 

2. Said order further provided: 

Upon motion of one or more of the parties, or 
upon the Court's own motion, if it appears that 
no such legislative response will be made in 
time for the 1983 elections, the Court will carry 
out its responsibilities under East Carroll Parish 

School Board v. Marshall, 424 U.S. 636 (1976), 
  

  

to develop and impTement a remedial plan. 

 



  

Op. at 60-61. 

3. Since this Court's April 15, 1982, order, the 

Alabama Legislature has met in Special Session four separate 

times. However, the Mobile County delegation has refused to 

take up and consider remedial redistricting legislation as 

provided by this Court's order. One bill for single-member 

district election of Mobile's city commission was introduced 

by black representative James E. Buskey, on June 21, 1982, 

in the Second Special Session, but said bill was tabled by 

the white majority in the Mobile County Delegation, and it 

was not reported out of the Local Legislation Committee. 

4. Remarks made by this Court at the oral argument 

held on April 26, 1982, have been interpreted by the parties 

and by members of the Legislature to mean that, contrary to 

the language in its April 15 order, under no circumstances 

will the Court order interim city elections in 1983. This 

understanding of the Court's intentions has, as a practical 

matter, eliminated any incentive for a negotiated or 

legislative remedy prior to 1985. 

>. A new Legislature will be elected on November 

2, 1982. By law, the new Legislature's organizational 

- 

session will convene on the second Tuesday in January, 1983, 

-« 

last longer than te consecutive days. The next wD
 

— and will not 

4 requl ar session of the Legislature will not convene until the J J 

 



  

third Tuesday in April, 1983. Ala. Code § 29-1-4 (Supp. 
1982). 

6. The Legislature has recently amended the 

general law to require that regular municipal elections in 

Mobile be held on the second Tuesday of July. Ala. Code § 

11-40-12, 11-46-93 (Supp. 1982). Consequently, $f this 

Court is to order interim elections for the City of Mobile 

during 1983, they should logically and least expensively be 

scheduled for July 1983. By law, notice of the election 

should be given no later than the third Tuesday in May, 1983. 

Ala. Code § 11-46-93 (Supp. 1982). There will be 

insufficient time for remedial legislation to be adopted in 

the 1983 Regular Session of the Legislature if special Mobile 

city elections are to be held in July 1983. Whether such 

legislation could be adopted during the January 1983 

organizational session is doubtful because the sole business 

of that Session is by Taw and custom the election of officers 

and the organization of committees. 

7. Even if this Court orders the interim elections 

to be held in August 1983, there will be insufficient time 

for remedial legislation to be adopted in the 1983 Regular 

Session, which will convene in April and, by law, may last as 

Yate as August 2,:1983. ‘Ata. Code $§ 29-1-3 (Supp. 1982). 

8. As a practical matter, whether this Court 

orders interim elections for 1983 or whether it refuses to 

 



  

order interim elections (or grants a stay of interim 

elections), either Plaintiffs or Defendants are likely to 

appeal the decision. This Court must act immediately to 

adopt its own court-ordered districting plan and to schedule 

interim elections if the Court of Appeals is to be given an 

adequate opportunity to determine whether the interim 

elections should be held. Further delay of these questions 

by this Court seriously prejudices the parties' opportunity 

for appellate review of the interim election decision. 

9. Immediate disposition by this Court of its own 

redistricting plan and the time for interim elections will 

not prevent the Legislature from adopting its own remedial 

plan if special sessions are convened in the meantime. 

Indeed, the adoption of a court-ordered plan and the 

scheduling of interim elections are, as a practical matter, 

necessary incentives for a legislative response to this 

Court's earlier order. 

WHEREFORE Plaintiffs pray that the Court will enter 

an order as follows: 

A. Clarifying this Court's intention to order 

the conduct of interim elections for the Mobile city 

government in July 1983, pursuant to a court-ordered 

redistricting plan, in the event that a timely, lawful and 

 



  

constitutional remedial plan is not adopted by the 

Legislature, and 

B. Establishing a deadline, no later than 

November 15, 1983, for the parties to submit proposed 

hurt-ordered redistricting plans for the City of Mobile. 

Respectfully submitted this 25 day of October, 
ee 

1982. 

BLACKSHER, MENEFEE 
405 Van Antwerp | 
P. 0. Box:-105] 
Mobile, Alabama 36633 

Y /] 

Abst dt ft 
(/ LARRY 1. MENEFEE 

EDWARD STILL 
Reeves & Still 
Suite 400, Commerce Center 
2027 First Avenue, North 
Birmingham, Alabama 35203 

JACK GREENBERG 
LANI GUINIER 
Legal Defense Fund 

Suite 2030 
10 Columbus Circle 
New York, New York 10019 

Attorneys for Plaintiffs 

2) 

 



  

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 
  

I do hereby certify that on October 25, 1982 a copy 

of the foregoing PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR CLARIFICATION 

CONCERNING INTERIM ELECTIONS AND FOR ORDER ESTABLISHING 

DEADLINE FOR REMEDIAL PLANS was served upon counsel of 

record: Charles B. Arendall, Jr., Esquire, William C. 

Tidwell, III, Esquire, Hand, Arendall, Bedsole, Greaves & 

Johnston, P. 0. Box 123, Mobile, Alabama 36601, Barry Hess, 

Esquire, City Attorney, City Hall, Mobile, Alabama 36602, 

C 

Charles S. Rhyne, Esquire, and William Rhyne, Esquire, 

1000 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 

20036, Paul F. Hancock, Esquire and J. Gerald Hebert, 

Esquire, Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice, 10th 

and Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20530; by 

depositing same in the United States mail, postage prepaid or 

by hand. 

4 / Py / pr 

EMU LEK 

IRATE TTT