Correspondence from Smith to Lynn and Hebert

Document text

The following text has been generated automatically during the document scanning process. It may contain errors, omissions, or incorrect formatting. Please refer to the PDF document if this text is not usable.

Download

By downloading, publishing, or reusing the Materials outside of the Website, you hereby confirm and attest that you have read and agree to the LDF Archival Collection Terms of Use linked below. We draw your attention to the following:

For those Materials owned by LDF, your use of the Material outside the Site is solely for one or more of the following (the “Permitted Purposes”):

Non-commercial research and private study;
Teaching, scholarship and instruction (including distance learning);
Non-commercial print and non-commercial online use;
Criticism, comment or news reporting; or
For people with visual disabilities (See Section 121 of the Copyright Act).
For those Materials not owned by LDF you understand that:
- It is your responsibility to determine whether the way you plan to use the materials falls within the copyright exception of Fair Use.
- For any use outside of Fair Use, it is your responsibility to seek and obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders.

LDF hereby grants you the right to use LDF owned Materials for the Permitted Purposes without seeking further permission from LDF.

If you publish or redistribute any Materials (including excerpts and quotes), you must include a credit line and/or proper citation to the source of the Material. However, you may not use the name of LDF in any manner which creates any false association between you and LDF or that incorrectly implies any sponsorship or endorsement of you by LDF.

NOTICE: Uses that do not comply with these Terms or that do not fall under Fair Use (or another exception) may make you liable for copyright infringement.

Read the full LDF Archival Collection Terms of Use Here.

I agree to the terms and conditions for use of this content.

If you would like to use this content in other ways, contact us at

LDF Attorneys
Cooperating Attorney
- Leslie J. Winner
Organization
- NAACP Legal and Educational Defense Fund, Inc.
Matter
- Gingles
Case
- Thornburg v. Gingles
U.S. state
- North Carolina
Collection
- Case Files
Taxonomy
Identifier
- 6d2fc363-d892-ee11-be37-6045bddb811f

Cite this item

Case Files, Thornburg v. Gingles Hardbacks, Briefs, and Trial Transcript. Correspondence from Smith to Lynn and Hebert, 1981. 6d2fc363-d892-ee11-be37-6045bddb811f. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/a999b878-b7b6-420d-a19b-9b67e52fb2ad/correspondence-from-smith-to-lynn-and-hebert. Accessed April 06, 2025.

Copied!

    This letter constitutes the comment of the North
JuriaBorbery-Brown,Durham CaroLina CiviL Liberties Union Legal Foundation, Inc.,
oaurBredenberg,Raroish on Sections 3(3) and 5(3) of .A,rticle rr of the North
]'erry Cole, Boone
sni,,". c",n* rn*^,n* "^.", CSrolina ConstilrJtion, which were apprgved by vote of
A.s.Garb'aith,Durham the people of this state in NOvember, L958; and were
Rus$errHerman, Rareigh submitted nnder 55 of the voting Rights Act to your
Edwatd Hay, Asheville
charres F. Lamberh, Jr., rhomasvire of fice by the North CaroLina Board. of Elections on

Norlh Corollno
Clvil Liberties Union
Legol Foundollon

814 Southeast€m Bullding
P.O. Box 30911

Greensboro. North Carolha
27402

(919) 273-1641

Presidant Slater E. Na{rman
Vice Presidonl lnzer Byers
Secretarlr A.J.H. Clsmant, lll
Treasurer: Hermon Fox

Arfiliate Dalegate National Board:
V/.W. Finlator
Gensral Counsel: Norman B. Smith

M€mbers ol the Board:
lvlar,:Jarel DuB. Avery, GreEnsboro
Donald H. Beskind, ourham

lrrelinda Lawrence, Raleigh
Louis Lesesne, Charlone
Ti'o'nas Loflin, Durham
Carolyn McAllaster, Durham
Sarah Nelson, Greensboro
Joe Parker, Ahoskie
Danicl H. PolliB Cilapel Hill
irarilyn Prio€, Cttapel Hill
I'largol Roten, Ralsigh
Chrbtopher Scotl, Raleigh
Miriam Slifkin; Chap€l Hill
Blll Solenbsrger, Ashevill€
.ianics i. 't'faii, #iimirrgron
Carroll Webber, Greenville
Frances WesL Raleigh

Exacutiv€ Directon
George H. Gardner

Ad ministrative Assistant
Flo SshneiCer

October 14, l-98L

Ms. Teresa Lynn
Mr. GerrT Hebert
voting Slction Civil Rights Division
Departnent of ilustice
Washington, D. C, 20530

Re: Sections 3 (3) and 5 (3) of Article II, North CaroLina
Constitution

Dear Ms. Lynn and l"!r. Eebert:

September 22 28, 1981

These constitutional amend.ments prohibited the
d,ivision of counties in forming state senate electorial
districts and state house of representatives electorial
districts, respectively. The position of our organization
is that these prohibitions have the effect of making it
very difficuLt to attain near nurnerical equality in size
of electorial districts anA tend to diLute or cancel out
tninoritf voting strengthr so that these constitutional
provisions are at odds with the Voting Rights Act and with
the Fourteenth and I'ifteenth Arnend,ments to the United States
Constitution.

Tbe most recent effort by the North Carolina General
AssembLy to redraw the state house and senate district
lines folLowing the'L980 census was recently completed.
The draftspersons of the redistricting legislation repre-



3
C

Ms. Teresa LYnn
!{lr. GerrY Eebert
Page Turo
oetober L4, 1981

sented it as their best efforts to achieve ntuterical
equivalence. Yet, there are deviations of 23* population
difference from the largest to the smallest populated
district. Variances of this magnitude are clearly unacceptable;
there is presently pending a lawsuit in United States

: District tourt for tfre Eaitern District of North Carolina
. challengi^ng the redistricting; and indeed the Attorney

General of North Carolina has admitted that the plan is
gnconstitutional by reason of the trrcpulation variances
crearlyl-ii-;;""ti-es couLd be divi&ed i.rr redrdwing the
plan, Lhere would, be no obstacl"e to acbieving numerical
equalitY among ttre districts.

The prohibitiOns on division of counties also have
resulted in an excessive nurnber of multi-county,'mu3-ti-
member districts. For example, House of Representatives
District, No. 3 in the plan currently enforced comprises
the counties Parnlico, Craven, Jones, and Lenoir, and
elects thr:ee representatives. Except for Craven County,
these are relatively sparsely populated counties. In
such districts, not only are blacks and other minorities
disfavored, but qnfair advantage is given to wealthy
nersons able to finance campaigns encompassing large geo-

aivision of some of our urban counties into single member
d.istrictsi because of the residential ctustering of ethnic
groups in these counties, greater mi.:eority representation
would be virtually assured if counties were divided into
singile member districts.

For the reasons set forth above, it is respectfuLl-y
requested that your office deny cLearance under the Voting
nights Act to the North Carolina constitutional amendments
in question.

Yours sincerelYt

y ;ri"'"..-: ...'- . .":- ,.z,(-

Norman B. Snith

NBS:db

J. LeVonnb Chambers
Steve Suitts
Napoleon E. Wittiams

Ivlr.
Ir1r.
Mr-

cc:

Copyright notice

This collection and the tools to navigate it (the “Collection”) are available to the public for general educational and research purposes, as well as to preserve and contextualize the history of the content and materials it contains (the “Materials”). Like other archival collections, such as those found in libraries, LDF owns the physical source Materials that have been digitized for the Collection; however, LDF does not own the underlying copyright or other rights in all items and there are limits on how you can use the Materials. By accessing and using the Material, you acknowledge your agreement to the Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Materials.

Additional info

To the extent that LDF includes information about the Materials’ origins or ownership or provides summaries or transcripts of original source Materials, LDF does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of such information, transcripts or summaries, and shall not be responsible for any inaccuracies.

Correspondence from Smith to Lynn and Hebert

LDF Attorneys

Cooperating Attorney

Organization

Matter

Case

U.S. state

Collection

Taxonomy

Identifier

Cite this item

Copyright notice

Additional info

You may also be interested in