United States Fourth Circuit

Sprawling County's severe voting polarization, hybrid electoral structure, and sheer size denied minority voters an equal opportunity to elect their preferred representatives, violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/29/2004
• Published 04/29/2004

Judges

• Before WILKINSON, NIEMEYER, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:Benjamin E. Griffith, Griffith & Griffith, Cleveland, Mississippi, for Appellants.  Moffatt Laughlin McDonald, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Atlanta, Georgia;  Angela MacDonald Miller, Civil Rights Division, Appellate Section, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Appellees. ON BRIEF:  Joseph Dawson, III, Bernard E. Ferrara, Jr., W. Kurt Taylor, North Charleston, South Carolina;  A. Arthur Rosenblum, Charleston, South Carolina, for Appellants.  R. Alexander Acosta, Assistant Attorney General, Mark L. Gross, Marie K. McElderry, Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Appellee United States.