Attorney Notes Pages 1578-1579, 1606-1607, 1609-1610

Annotated Secondary Research
January 1, 1982

Attorney Notes Pages 1578-1579, 1606-1607, 1609-1610 preview

Date is approximate.

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  • Case Files, Thornburg v. Gingles Working Files - Guinier. Attorney Notes Pages 1578-1579, 1606-1607, 1609-1610, 1982. 625a54f0-e092-ee11-be37-6045bdeb8873. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/a75f4fe8-fabf-41f1-b629-9a5df19edb5a/attorney-notes-pages-1578-1579-1606-1607-1609-1610. Accessed July 20, 2025.

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    t-s2y- z**fu^r/"Y.
a The propoeed revisioo of I 2 doel not Purport to mandate

system of proportional repreaenEation; indeed' it appears to

1579

explicitly reject any such notion' We underatand that in

teeEimony before thig eubcoooittee' boEh the eponeore and

supporEer8 of thia legislacion have disavor,ed any intention to

implement auch a syoten' A revierr of current lert and the proposed

changes will ehow, however' that the reeult may neverEheless be

Ehesame.Itiedifficulttoquancifythatriek'butevenifonly

niniual, we believe thaE there ie no reaaon to run thet risk at

alL, particularly eince ic is posaible to elioinate the risk

wiEhout uodermining the ProEection nhich ehould be afforded to the

effective exerciee of the franchiae'

There appears to be a general conaenaua thet the Voting

Rights AcE should not require proportional rePreseotetion' There

ia, however, a good deal of dieagreeent over shether the Present

language of S' 1992 is eufficient to insure that the courta do noE

impleoenE such a requirerent' tJe believe EhaE the present

language ie not as clesr aa it could be' and that the legislaEive

hietoryinthellougedoesnotclearuptheseprobleme.onEhe

oEher hand, we believe thaE an inlenE requireoenE' particularly in

the foro of a requirenent thet a "emoking gun" be ehown' ia not

neces8ary Eo inaure that the Act doeE not require proportional

rePreaentation, and iodeed' sould unneceeearily pertit

juriadictiona to escaPe liability for discrioinatory electorel

echemea. O

DrlBv-iaK 1je6
o some havc crPr'3t'd th' conc'rn that this lcgislati'on night

creatc a rlght to prolprtlonal rcPresentation by race or a racial guota

6yEtem. But the Plain worda of the Protpacd Scction 2 MendmeDt state:

The fact that rrb'r' of ' 
dtrortty grouP have

1607

not been elected in nunbers eqPal'to thc ErouP's

fiopolt:.o"-i! rik.;:;[',:li:l;;:]'.;;:' =::.::i."'itself, con

I am convinccd that this statutory language ls Eufficient to disPel any

inplication that the "retult'n standard could bc interpreted to create

a right to ProPortional r'Pr'3'nt'tion by tt":,.ot t::'.tt. n*t""'-t 
.

Lbq
OSenator Kpxrrov. Onc can, I thinlt, easily get mrred down rn or
scune law review debati ebout past cases. Of course, there is an

l6to

overr*'helming tr-ack reco.rd ""g:1-!!:^White 
v' Regester standard

o'hinh our bill adopts' It is a reassurrng. o''".b,9"?"-=:t.:l:Y:.-'*li3:f ,:;";,Irilfi ::1h:fr "i."'-;;;;;i,_sof:,bf "3:-':l,,il:1i.'*::ITrrS:L"}i ;'";ffi i;; ?*iffi-il,i,-il"t -ii 
seems that the rear

-.-^^+i^- I'ornro ,," ,:';'^;;i'ri.li.i'-tt"ice Congress will make nowrE no quota t'"'"*,."ri^rrli'*1;;i;ti''oi"f congress will make now
question -before us t
dn-d for tbe-.future.o

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