The city of Pasadena will not fight an appellate court’s decision to uphold a district judge’s voting rights ruling on city council elections. In a high profile case, Chief U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal ruled that a six neighborhood and two at-large city council seat system was discriminatory against Latino voters. The city sought a stay of the district judge’s order, but the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of appeals upheld the district judge’s ruling.
Upcoming May council elections in the city of Pasadena will proceed under a district format, which existed prior to the controversial changes.
Judge Rosenthal’s order also called for the city to obtain preclearance from the U.S. Department of Justice before making further changes to its election systems.
The removal of certain provisions in the federal Voting Rights Act allowed for the initial council district changes to be made, creating a nationally-watched story about the changing demographics of Pasadena and actions of Mayor Johnny Isbell.
Source: Chron.com “Pasadena won’t fight voting rights order; elections will proceed as planned,” February 16, 2017.