Rybicki v. STATE BD. OF ELECTIONS OF ILLINOIS ( 1983 )

RYBICKI III

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge.

This is the third and we think final chapter of this court’s review of Illinois’ 1981 state legislative redistrieting. In our Opinion of January 20, 1983, as amended, we reevaluated the Crosby plaintiffs’ complaints about the South Side district lines particularly in light of the 1982 amendments to the Voting Rights Act. Rybicki v. State Board of Elections, 574 F.Supp. 1147, No. 81 C 6030 (N.D.Ill. Jan. 20, 1983) (“Rybicki II”). Based on our reading of the amended Act, we asked the Commission to submit new district lines in several areas.

Since January, the Commission and the Crosby plaintiffs have worked together to reach an agreement on the new lines.¹ We have before us now a Settlement Agreement.²

After reviewing the Settlement Map (which is attached to this Opinion), we find that there has been a significant moving away from coincidence of black-white “boundaries” and the district lines of districts with a very high percentage of blacks. For example, the lines of house district 23 have changed substantially and the percentages of blacks in the district has been reduced from 94% to 84%. Similarly, in house district 24 the percentage of blacks has been reduced from 96% to 89% with some moderate changes in the district lines. The western boundary of house district 36 was left unchanged, as we expected it might be, in order to maintain the black population majority in senate district 18. See Rybicki II at 1157-1158. Finally, the boundaries of house district 31 were changed although the population percentages remained the same. All told a large number of census tracts were affected and we think a substantial step has been taken.

Therefore, since the Crosby and DelValle plaintiffs and the defendants have settled their differences, we hereby incorporate the Settlement Agreement into the redistricting plan ordered by this court on January 12, 1982.³-

DATED: August 18, 1983

AMENDED DISSENT TO CONSENT DECREE DATED AUGUST 18, 1983

1 . During this period, on April 12, 1983, Harold Washington was elected Mayor of Chicago, the first black to hold the office.

2 . We emphatically do not agree with Judge Grady's evaluation of a settlement reached only after the vigorous and persistent efforts of counsel in trying and arguing this complex case and in pursuing settlement in the face of serious obstacles.

3 . Judge Grady, in response to a motion of the Crosby plaintiffs protesting his criticisms, has revised his dissent of August 18, 1983, and substituted a somewhat expanded dissent, dated September 27, 1983. It appears that Judge Grady would still be dissatisfied with anything less than an attempted "color-blind" drawing of district lines. See Dissenting opinion of Grady, J., N.D.IH. Jan. 12, 1982, 574 F.Supp. 1082 at 1140-1142. We continue to believe this approach is misguided and, as they point out in their motion, would be of no help to Crosby plaintiffs in their quest for fair legislative representation. We also think that Judge Grady's comments on attorneys’ fees are premature and irrelevant to the merits of the settlement agreement and that counsel on both sides have generally been diligent and effective in presenting and settling the issues in this complex case.

On October 7, 1983, the attorneys for the Crosby plaintiffs and for the defendant filed a further motion, denominated a “Joint Post-Trial Motion,” in response to Judge Grady’s revised dissent, filed September 27, 1983. The verified Joint Post-Trial Motion, filed by these attorneys, details their account of the events involved in reaching the Settlement Agreement. In an effort to be fair to the various attorneys participating in the lawsuit and the settlement and, in particular, to the attorneys for the Crosby plaintiffs, we have attached this Joint Post-Trial Motion, containing their version of events, as an Appendix to this opinion.

We of the majority do not believe that Judge Grady’s revised dissent raises any issues of fact which require us to hold hearings to determine for ourselves the circumstances surrounding the Settlement Agreement. We are satisfied with the recitations of the Joint Post-Trial Motion, attached as an Appendix to this opinion. We, of course, have approved the Settlement Agreement and have indicated our complete satisfaction with it. We reiterate, with emphasis, our approval and satisfaction.