State pays more than $55,000 to the ACLU of Kentucky
September 15 state officials paid more than $55,000 to the ACLU of Kentucky for legal fees incurred by the civil rights organization in successfully challenging the state’s house and senate legislative districts. The state also paid an additional $114,000 to the attorneys representing another set of plaintiffs in the litigation. Both cases – one brought by the ACLU of Kentucky and the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, and the other by a group of Northern Kentucky voters – successfully challenged Kentucky’s2002 legislative maps on the basis that the maps, which were still in effect in 2013, violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s “one person, one vote” principle due to the dramatic population disparities between the districts.
In August, a three-judge panel agreed with the plaintiffs that the districts’ substantial population imbalances unlawfully diluted the voting strength of those who lived in the overpopulated districts. In doing so, the court found that “the failure of the General Assembly to timely enact a constitutional plan” resulted in “gross deviations” in population equality among the districts that violated the Fourteenth Amendment. The court-ordered payments are the result of the plaintiffs having proven that their rights were violated.
Commenting upon the payment, ACLU of Kentucky Executive Director Michael Aldridge stated, “The General Assembly’s initial failure to adopt lawful maps in 2012, combined with its subsequent failure to adopt any maps in 2013, forced the ACLU of Kentucky to bring this lawsuit to ensure that Kentuckians’ voting rights would be protected.” Aldridge added, “Unfortunately, the General Assembly, at the governor’s urging, disregarded our admonition in 2012 to accomplish redistricting during the 2013 Regular Session. As a result, officials again wasted Kentucky’s tax dollars not only for a special session to deal with an issue that should have been resolved in regular session, but also on litigation costs in defending what were clearly unconstitutional legislative maps.”
Representing the plaintiffs in the ACLU suit are Laughlin McDonald and Dale Ho of the national ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, ACLU of Kentucky Cooperating Attorney Ben Carter, and ACLU of Kentucky Legal Director William Sharp.
September 16, 2014 - 1:09pm
