February 22, 2024 —Brewer Storefront filed a motion for leave to file an amicus brief in support of plaintiffs in the Petteway v. Galveston County case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The Storefront is the pro bono community service affiliate of Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors.
The matter at issue concerns whether coalitions of minority voters – in this case Latino and Black voters – can continue to together bring Section 2 Voting Rights Act (VRA) claims. This includes situations where they constitute a group that is geographically compact and politically cohesive that forms a majority in a single member district. The Petteway case concerns Galveston County Commissioner redistricting maps. The Storefront typically brings its voting rights cases under Section 2, which prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate based on race, color, or membership in a language minority group.
The amicus notes that the Fifth Circuit was the first Federal Circuit to expressly allow minority coalition claims and has continued to do so. The brief cites the history of the Fifteenth Amendment and the suppression of minority voter rights that followed it. The brief states, “it is clear that the VRA is intended to broadly protect minority voting rights, including coalition claims, not limit protections of certain minority groups based on the composition of the group facing disenfranchisement.”
The brief adds that barring coalitions would gut the VRA, concluding that, “If Defendants are successful in this appeal, coalitions of minority litigants will have no meaningful opportunity to challenge demonstrably discriminatory practices that abridge their right to vote or dilute the power of their votes across the Fifth Circuit. Such action would frustrate Congress’ clearly stated purpose for enacting the VRA in 1965 and subsequently reauthorizing it 5 times over the next 40 years—effectively gutting the VRA as to a wide array of minorities.”
Since it opened in 1995, the Storefront has brought numerous successful Section 2 VRA cases lawsuits on behalf of Latino, African American and Asian voters across North Texas. The Storefront has brought coalition claims before, including in the current Shafer v. Pearland Independent School District case. Most recently, on August 18, 2023, it was announced that the Storefront successfully resolved a Voting Rights Act case with the Lewisville Independent School District (LISD) – paving the way for a new electoral system in LISD.
The Storefront has successfully challenged many at-large election systems and unfairly drawn single-member districts. Under the Voting Rights Act, those lawsuits alleged that such systems deny voters of color a fair opportunity to meaningfully participate in the electoral process – and to elect school board representatives or city council members of their choosing.
“We ask the Fifth Circuit to uphold the standing of voters of color to combine in coalition classes to challenge voting systems that deny minorities an equal opportunity to vote,” said William A. Brewer III, partner at Brewer Storefront. “Given the increasingly multiracial composition of our democracy, coalition cases should be allowed to continue under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Any effort to bar coalition claims is a transparent effort to suppress minority votes.”