William Dove, Sr. v. Charles E. Moore’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate ·

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(1) “that the black residents of Pine Bluff have full, open, and equal access to the city’s political processes;” (2) “that they play an active and significant political role in city politics;” (3) that although “the at-large system is not designed to maximize the number of minority candidates elected, it serves other values and is not an unconstitutional means of implementing the democratic process;” and (4) “that blacks and whites alike have rejected race as the overriding criterion in voting for candidates in the Pine Bluff city elections.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Jeffers v. Clinton · 499 F. Supp. 579 - Leadership Roundtable v. City of Little Rock

2. “(1) It gives a voter a chance to compare only two candidates, head to head in making a choice. (2) It prevents one political party with a heavy plurality in one or two potential districts from dominating other potential districts that might narrowly go for the candidate of the opposite party. (3) It prevents a city wide political organization from ostracizing or disciplining a legislator, who dares stray from the machine’s line. (4) It permits a citizen to identify a legislator as his senator and makes direct communication easier. (5) It makes each senator responsible for his actions and makes it difficult for a senator to fade into the ranks of “the team” to avoid being identified with specific actions taken. (6) It reduces campaign costs and “personalizes” a campaign. (7) It creates greater interest in the possibility of a citizen seeking a legislative seat without the political machine blessing. (8) It would diminish the animosity created in the legislature against multi-senate districts because of the tendency of senators elected by one political party from a city to vote as a bloc. (9) It would tend to guarantee an individual point of view if all senators are not elected as a team. (10) It would equalize the power of people in single senate districts with the people in the broken down multi-senate districts to influence the election of only one senator. [ 372 F.Supp. at 391 (footnote omitted) (emphasis in original).]””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. 423 F. Supp. 384 - Bolden v. City of Mobile, Alabama

3. “Mayor [Austin] Franks' resignation in April of 1975 necessitated a special election. Four white candidates and one black candidate sought to succeed Mr. Franks as mayor. All of the white candidates campaigned actively in black areas. One of the white candidates received substantial black support, including active participation of local black leaders in his campaign. In a group of precincts identified as being from 90 percent to 100 percent black, the white candidates received 25 percent of the vote, and in one such precinct their support was as high as 44 percent. Yet, despite this "diversion" of black votes, the black candidate, Rev. Robert Handley, received the second highest number of votes cast and thus was in a runoff election, which he lost.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Jeffers v. Clinton