Public Integrity Alliance, Inc. v. City of Tucson

There are certain times when a federal court may tell a municipality how to run its local elections. This is not one of them. Tucson’s hybrid election system does not invidiously discriminate against voters based on their race, ethnicity, gender, or wealth. Rather, plaintiffs argue — and the majority agrees — that Tucson unconstitutionally denies its citizens the right to vote by setting different geographical units for its couneilmanic primary and general elections. Because I conclude that the Constitution does not require Tucson to draw its district borders in a particular way for different…