Full opinion text
MEMORANDUM OPINION Before CUDAHY, Circuit Judge, and GRADY and BUA, District Judges. RYBICKI I CUDAHY, Circuit Judge. In these consolidated reapportionment cases, three groups of plaintiffs challenge the validity, under the federal and Illinois constitutions and related law, of Illinois’ 1981 state legislative redistricting plan (the “Commission Plan”). For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we reject the Rybicki plaintiffs’ allegations, on behalf of Republican and suburban interests, of noncompactness, partisan unfairness and impermissible fracturing of counties (and other political subdivisions) and suburban communities. We accept, in part, the Crosby plaintiffs’ claim, on behalf of black voters, that the Commission Plan unconstitutionally dilutes black voting strength. As a remedy for this unconstitutional dilution of the black vote, we adopt certain modifications to the Commission Plan, identified as Court Exhibits 1A, 2A, 7D and 7E (and related documents). We also approve as fair, adequate and reasonable a Settlement Agreement reached between the DelValle plaintiffs, on behalf of Hispanic voters, and the Commission defendants, and therefore approve certain further modifications to the Commission Plan, as stipulated in the Settlement Agreement. Background Three groups of plaintiffs in these consolidated cases challenge the redistricting plan adopted by the Illinois Legislative Redistricting Commission (the “Commission”) for the election of candidates to the Illinois General Assembly. Plaintiffs in Rybicki v. State Board of Elections, No. 81 C 6030, allege that the Commission Plan fails to accord suburban voters equal protection of the laws by disproportionately concentrating voting power, and therefore legislative representation, in the City of Chicago. They also allege that the plan is politically unfair, contains numerous non-compact districts and indiscriminately fractures political subdivisions. Plaintiffs in Crosby v. State Board of Elections, No. 81 C 6093, allege that the Commission Plan intentionally discriminates against black voters by diluting their voting strength and providing white voters a disproportionate opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. Plaintiffs in DelValle v. State Board of Elections, No. 81 C 6052, allege that the Commission’s redistricting effort similarly dilutes the voting power of Hispanics, thereby depriving them of a reasonable opportunity to elect representatives of their choice. All three complaints charge that the Plan violates the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, 42 U.S.C. § 1973 (1976), 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1976), and Article I, § 2 and Article IV, § 3 of the 1970 Illinois Constitution. Jurisdiction in each case is alleged under 28 U.S.C. § 1343 (1976) and the principles of pendent jurisdiction. Defendants in all three cases are James Edgar, the Secretary of State of Illinois, who is charged under Article IV, § 3 of the 1970 Illinois Constitution, with publication of the legislative redistricting map; the Illinois State Board of Elections and its members who, pursuant to Ill.Rev.Stats. ch. 46, § 1A-8 (1979), are primarily responsible for the administration and supervision of elections in Illinois; and the Illinois Legislative Redistricting Commission (and its Democratic members individually), which is charged pursuant to Article IV, § 3 of the 1970 Illinois Constitution with the task of promulgating a redistricting plan in the event that the legislature fails to adopt such a plan. On November 2, 1981, a three-judge court was convened pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2284(a) (1976) to hear these cases and, on November 23, all three cases were consolidated for expedited consideration. Trial was concluded on December 7, 1981, after the court had heard testimony from 25 witnesses and received into evidence more than 200 exhibits. I. Facts A. Procedural Background of the 1981 Legislature Redistricting in Illinois Article IV, § 3 of the 1970 Illinois Constitution requires a redistricting of the Illinois General Assembly in the year following each federal decennial census. The Illinois Constitution provides the legislature with the first opportunity to adopt a plan that redistricts all legislative seats in the Illinois House and Senate in a manner such that an equal share of the population, under the most recent census, resides in each district. If the legislature does not adopt a plan by June 30 of the first year following the census, an eight-member Legislative Redistricting Commission must be formed. The Speaker and Minority Leader of the Illinois House and the President and Minority Leader of the Illinois Senate each appoint two members to the Commission. The Commission may not include more than four members from one political party nor more than four members who hold seats in the General Assembly. The constitution further requires that the Commission complete a plan by August 10 of the year it is convened. If the Commission fails to agree on a plan, the Illinois Supreme Court provides the Secretary of State with the names of two persons from different political parties, one of whom is chosen by lot to become the ninth member of the Commission. The Commission then has until October 5 to file a redistricting plan approved by a majority of its members. In view of the importance of legislative history to proof of a claim of intentional discrimination, we set forth in some detail the background evidence of the redistrieting efforts of both the legislature and the Commission. During the first few months of 1981, the results of the federal census were delivered to ranking Illinois legislative and executive officials. Figures in hand, the leaders of both parties immediately engaged the services of consultants to aid in both the development and political analysis of the possible redistricting plans. The political data utilized by both parties included voting results and patterns at the census tract level for a variety of legislative and state-wide races run from 1978 through 1980. In the course of their preparations, the Democratic staff, under the direction of House Minority Leader Michael Madigan, solicited the views of all Democratic legislators. A number of black legislators told Madigan that blacks were underrepresented both in the legislature as a whole and in the party caucuses. A House Select Committee on Reapportionment also conducted public hearings to solicit the views of citizens in general. The Committee was advised at these hearings in Chicago of the desire of the black community for greater representation in the legislature. By May, 1981, Republican legislators had created a plan which they introduced in the Illinois House. The Democrats had also succeeded in developing a plan which they submitted to the state Senate. A major impediment to passage of both plans, however, was Madigan’s fear that Governor Thompson, a Republican, would exercise his amendatory veto with respect to any plan presented to him. Consequently, neither plan passed and, in July, the Legislative Redistricting Commission was formed. Before making his appointments, Madigan circulated among House Democrats a form requesting that they submit their recommendations for potential Commission appointees. Madigan stated that he had committed himself to the appointment of one member from a racial or ethnic minority. Although most of the black legislators recommended the appointment of Rep. Emil Jones, currently an Assistant Minority Leader, Madigan followed the advice of other black legislators, two of whom are plaintiffs in this case, and appointed a former State Representative and black community leader, Corneal A. Davis. Apart from Davis, there was no black or Hispanic representation on the Commission or on its staff. The Democratic and Republican Commission members and their staffs worked separately and developed their own proposals. On the Democratic side, Madigan and Martin Murphy (who is the Commissioner of Planning for the City of Chicago), worked on the Chicago and Cook County portions of their redistricting plan. Rep. Michael McClain, a Madigan appointee, drew the map for the so-called “collar counties” (which are those counties adjacent to Cook), while Senator James Donnewald busied himself with the downstate region. Commissioner Davis drew no district lines. The Democratic Map for Chicago and Cook County, which is the prototype for the map of those areas ultimately adopted by the Commission, was drawn according to a systematic procedure. The drafters began with the districts as they appeared in the 1971 redistricting map. They intended to enlarge those districts that had lost population and shrink those that had gained. Throughout the process, Madigan solicited the views of all legislators, including black legislators, concerning various aspects of the map. The map was completed in rough form by the end of June. Although Madigan testified that he made no attempt to hide the Cook County map from various black legislators and community leaders and Hispanics, only Commissioner Davis had the opportunity to study the entire Chicago and Cook County portions of the map at this stage or at any time prior to its adoption as the Commission Plan on October 2, 1981. Notwithstanding the fact that the Democrats had completed drafting the major portions of their map, the Commission held public hearings in Chicago on July 23,1981, to obtain public suggestions for redistricting. A number of witnesses, including representatives of the black and Hispanic communities, presented their views on redistricting at these hearings. Several black witnesses testified that in the past blacks had fared poorly in the redistricting process; that percentage-wise the black population had increased in relation to the white population in Chicago between 1970 and 1980; and that any redistricting should accord blacks greater representation. The Hispanics pointed out that they had no representation in the General Assembly and urgently requested an opportunity to secure such representation. See Plaintiffs’ Ex. 52. Among the other witnesses who testified at the hearings were representatives of the villages of Oak Park and Evanston, as well as the Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park. These communities, which had been fractured by prior redistricting, all requested that each be included in only one district. Although the protestations of black witnesses produced no changes in the draft plan, the drafters did revise the plan to accommodate the desires of these three geographical communities. Unfortunately, the work of the eight-member Commission was doomed to failure from the start since neither side was willing seriously to negotiate with the other over various aspects of their respective plans. Whether this was due to the lack of mutual trust that permeated the legislative attempts at redistricting, the intransigence of both sides with respect to particular redistricting issues, the unwillingness of anyone to assume responsibility for a compromise or the Republicans’ willingness to gamble on winning the draw for the ninth member is difficult to say. In any event, both sides stuck to their guns and, on August 9, the Democratic and Republican members of the Commission presented their respective plans for approval. With each side perceiving adverse political effects from the plan of the other side, the eight Commission members split along party lines on both proposals. Pursuant to the constitutional procedure (of drawing by lot), former Governor Samuel Shapiro, a Democrat, was then selected to become the ninth member of the Commission on September 2, 1981. Governor Shapiro unsuccessfully urged a compromise between the Republican and Democratic Commission members before he ultimately acceded to the Democratic proposal. On October 2 the Commission met to vote on what had then become known as the “Shapiro Plan.” The Republican Commissioners, now comprising an unenviable minority of four, criticized the plan as being unduly partisan and having a discriminatory impact on minorities in Chicago. Plaintiffs’ Ex. 39 at 39-42. The Shapiro Plan was adopted by a vote of five to four, and it was officially filed with the Illinois Secretary of State on October 5, 1981. B. General Considerations We briefly describe the more salient features of the Commission Plan, together with an overview of the demographics of the State of Illinois before turning in detail to the evidence presented by the challengers and defenders of the Plan at trial. With respect to general characteristics, the Plan divides the State into 59 Senate districts, each of which is in turn divided geographically into two House districts. The ideal population for each Senate district is 193,533. The total deviation of the Senate districts in the Commission Plan from this ideal is 1.59%, with an average deviation of .29%. The ideal population for each of the 118 House districts is 96,767. The total deviation from this ideal is 1.97%, with an average deviation of .42%. A better understanding of the details of the Commission Plan and its impact on the plaintiffs in this case is facilitated by reviewing the demography of Illinois and, in particular, of metropolitan Chicago. Evidence presented at trial indicated that Illinois may, for reapportionment purposes, be divided into three or four areas: (1) Chicago, (2) Cook County outside Chicago, (3) the five counties adjacent to Cook (the “collar counties”: DuPage, Kane, Will, McHenry and Lake), and (4) the remaining counties (i.e., the “downstate counties”). Of the 11.418.000 residents of Illinois, the 1980 census reveals that Chicago accounts for 3.005.000 (28%), Cook County (including Chicago) for 5,253,000 (46%), the collar counties for 1,849,000 (16%) and the downstate counties for 4,316,000 (38%). See Defendants’ Ex. 121. Chicago and Cook County constitute, of course, the largest urban and suburban center in Illinois. The collar counties are generally characterized as suburban and the downstate counties as rural. The tripartite (or quadrapartite) division of the state also generally correlates with political affiliation: Chicago is heavily Democratic while suburban Cook and the collar counties are predominantly Republican, as are many of the downstate counties. Of the 5,253,190 residents of Cook County, 1,308,763 are black (21.5%). Approximately 84% of the Cook County black population resides in Chicago, where the blacks comprise nearly 40% of the city’s total population. The black population of Chicago is concentrated in two areas. The largest concentration is found in the South and Southeastern portions of Chicago, extending roughly from the city-center “Loop” area to Chicago’s southernmost boundary. This area is, for the most part, over 85% black and it contains 792,000, or 66.2%, of the city’s blacks. The area in question is commonly referred to as the South Side and is so denominated in this opinion. A smaller concentration of blacks exists in the West Central portion of Chicago, centered in the Austin neighborhood. It too is over 85% black and contains approximately 300,000 blacks or 23% of Chicago’s black population. This area has been frequently denominated the West Side in this litigation and is referred to as such in this opinion. Blacks also constitute a significant percentage of the population in and around the southern suburban municipalities of Harvey, Robbins and Markham. The concentration of blacks in this area of Cook County is not as high as on the South and West Sides, but it ranges from 35% to over 85%. The total black population in this area — 46,-000 — is also relatively small. This southern area where blacks are concentrated has been denominated the South Suburban area. A substantial Hispanic population also resides in Illinois. The majority of Hispanics live in Chicago, where they number 422,061, or approximately 14% of the city’s population. In general, the Hispanic population is not as highly concentrated as the black population. The Hispanic population is more dispersed than the black population, with Hispanics residing in various areas throughout Chicago. Notwithstanding this general dispersal, at least two major Hispanic aggregations are easily identified in Chicago, one on the Northwest Side and the other on the Southwest Side. C. Evidence Adduced at Trial 1. The Rybicki Plaintiffs The Rybicki plaintiffs submitted various testimonial and documentary evidence to support their claims of suburban vote dilution, lack of compactness of certain districts, excessive fracturing of political subdivisions and political unfairness. Suburban Vote Dilution. The Rybicki plaintiffs argued that, based on changes in population between 1970 and 1980, the collar counties are “entitled” to more and Chicago is “entitled” to fewer legislative districts than were accorded to these areas under the Commission Plan. Under the 1971 redistricting plan, Chicago voters constituted part of the population in 20 Senate districts. Defendants’ Ex. 12. Plaintiffs argue that in proportion to the City’s 1980 population, the voters of Chicago should control or constitute a majority in 31 House districts and only 15.5 Senate districts. However, under the Commission Plan, Chicago voters “control” 35 House districts and 17 Senate districts. Plaintiffs similarly observe that the number of districts controlled by collar county voters has not increased between 1970 and 1980, despite the population shifts from Chicago and Cook County to the collar counties evident in the 1980 census. Under the 1971 plan there were six Senate districts (then referred to as “Legislative” districts) entirely within the collar counties and five that overlapped into adjacent counties. Under the Commission plan, there are still six Senate districts wholly within the collar counties, but the number of overlap districts has increased to nine. Compactness. The Rybicki plaintiffs allege that 15 House districts and 2 Senate districts are not compact. The noncompactness of these districts is evident, according to plaintiffs, both under a visual analysis and as demonstrated by mathematical standards. In Schrage v. State Board of Elections, 88 Ill.2d 87, 58 Ill.Dec. 451, 430 N.E.2d 483 (1981), the Illinois Supreme Court invalidated former Commission House District 89, which extended 125 miles at its longest point and six miles at its narrowest, a length to width ratio of roughly 21:1. By comparison, Commission Senate District 19, the most egregious district on plaintiffs’ list, extends 36 miles at its longest point and is two miles wide at its narrowest, a ratio of 18:1. Defendants sought to minimize the significance of plaintiffs’ compactness complaints by introducing examples of oddly shaped districts from the court-approved 1971 redistricting effort. See Defendants’ Exs. 61 and 62. Moreover, the Commission’s expert witness, Mr. Brace, testified that the irregular shapes appearing in the Commission Plan were necessitated in some circumstances to comply with the low (1%) population deviation standard employed as a goal by the Commission. Mr. Brace also stated that the desire to achieve some other redistricting goals, such as respect for the integrity of political subdivisions, communities of interest or natural boundaries contributed to the irregularly shaped districts. Plaintiffs attempted to rebut these arguments by presenting their own “Coalition Plan” which, they alleged, contained more compact districts. But this alternative map also indicates the difficulty of achieving uniform compactness. The Coalition Map was drafted utilizing a less stringent population deviation standard; nonetheless, as Defendants’ Exhibit 62 demonstrates, even the Coalition Plan contains a number of highly irregular, elongated districts. Political Fairness. The Rybicki plaintiffs also assert that the presence of non-compact districts is evidence of the Commission’s intent to preserve a disproportionate number of Democratic incumbents. Moreover, plaintiffs allege that the extensive use of “overlap” districts designed to maintain the power of Chicago (and hence, the Democratic Party) by fracturing suburban areas, demonstrates the political unfairness of the Commission Plan. Defendants vigorously deny that the Commission Plan is politically unfair. Evidence submitted by the defendants indicated that historically, Illinois has been a “swing state” which elects Democrats and Republicans in equal numbers to legislative and executive offices. See Defendants’ Exs. 23 and 24. In this connection, defendants analyzed the political effects of their map by examining past voting patterns for each census tract in every district. On the basis of this analysis, defendants concluded that the Commission Plan would produce in the House 39 “firm” and 5 “soft” Democratic districts; 41 “firm” and 10 “soft” Republican districts; and 23 “swing” districts. In the Senate, it would produce 21 “firm” and no “soft” Democratic districts; 25 “firm” and 3 “soft” Republican districts; and 10 “swing” districts. Defendants observed that this alignment slightly favors the Republicans. Fractured Counties. The Rybicki plaintiffs also introduced evidence demonstrating that the Commission Plan indiscriminately fractures political subdivisions. Representative Lee Daniels of DuPage County testified at length that fracturing can produce undesirable political consequences, particularly when a legislator is charged with representing areas that have divergent political interests. Representative Daniels pointed out that, even though Cook County and the collar counties have seemingly antagonistic interests on issues of transportation, taxation and education, nine Senate districts overlap between these two areas. Witnesses for the Commission agreed that the fracturing of political subdivisions was not desirable; they disagreed, of course, as to how much fracturing was tolerable. The 1971 redistricting plan split 29 counties into two or more districts. Defendants’ Ex. 75. Plaintiffs’ evidence showed that the Commission Plan splits 48 counties into two or more districts, resulting in 122 separate fractures. Cook County outside Chicago is fragmented into nine parts, DuPage County into eight and Will County into seven. By comparison, the Coalition Plan splits 35 counties, resulting in 72 separate fractures. Focusing more closely on the Chicago metropolitan area, we note that in the 1971 plan, eleven Senate districts were entirely within Chicago while nine overlapped into Cook County. Two districts overlapped from Cook County into the collar counties. See Defendants’ Exs. 9, 10. Under the Commission Plan, eight Senate districts are wholly within Chicago, eleven overlap into Cook County and seven overlap from Cook County into the collar region. The alleged political result of overlapping districts in the metropolitan Chicago area is that a disproportionate number of seats are “controlled” by Chicago and Cook County voters. Defendant Commission members admitted at trial and in their depositions that they intended to achieve this result of widening the influence of Chicago voters. Defendants suggest that, in the absence of overlapping districts in the Chicago and Cook County area, a redistricting plan grossly favors the Republican Party. 2. Crosby Plaintiffs The Crosby plaintiffs introduced several types of evidence attempting to establish that the Commission Plan was the product of purposeful discrimination to dilute black voting strength and to unconstitutionally gerrymander districts in black population areas. Their proof may be categorized as evidence of (1) retrogression; (2) “packing” and “fracturing” of the black population; (3) movements of large racial populations in certain areas to preserve the incumbencies of white legislators; (4) “admissions” of certain Commission members; and (5) prior instances of discrimination allegedly practiced by the regular Democratic Party organization in Chicago. Retrogression. The evidence showed that while the black population increased, both absolutely and especially in relation to the white population in Chicago and Cook County between 1970 and 1980, the number of districts where black voters had a “meaningful” opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice did not increase appropriately. At the time of the 1971 redistricting, blacks constituted a majority in five Chicago Senate districts (21, 22, 24, 26 and 29). When the 1980 census figures are applied to the 1971 lines, blacks constitute a majority in six Senate districts (the former five districts plus district 28). Under the Commission Plan, blacks will constitute a majority in only five of the Commission Senate Districts (9, 12, 13, 16 and 17). Thus, although blacks increased in population, both absolutely and especially in relation to whites in Chicago between 1970 and 1980, they hold a majority in the same number of Senate districts as in 1971. Blacks are also a majority in one less Senate district than would have been the case had the current redistricting not occurred. By contrast, white representation in districts where Chicago voters constitute at least part of the population has not diminished significantly. Under the 1971 district lines as applied to the 1980 census figures for districts wholly or partially located within Chicago, whites constitute a majority in 14 of the 19 Senate districts even though they account for only 45.5% of the population in those districts. The Commission Plan, under the 1980 census figures, results in whites being in the majority in 14 of 19 Senate districts wholly or partially located in Chicago. Although the white population of the City of Chicago has declined, the Commission Plan, which employs several more overlap districts than the 1971 plan, actually increased to 51.1% the white population in these Chicago-area districts, thus explaining, in part at least, why 14 of 19 districts are still populated by a majority of whites. Packing and Fracturing. Packing and fracturing are the terms used by plaintiffs in this lawsuit to describe two somewhat different means of reducing the voting strength of a geographically unified minority group. Packing occurs when a minority group is concentrated into one or more districts so that it constitutes an overwhelming majority in those districts (and part of its vote is “wasted”). Fracturing occurs when a geographically unified minority group is unnecessarily split among a number of districts. All five of the majority black Senate districts located in Chicago under the Commission Plan have black concentrations in excess of 80% of the total district population. The black population is also highly concentrated in the 12 Chicago House districts in which blacks constitute a majority although black percentages in these districts are generally not as high as in the majority black Senate districts. Plaintiffs also contend that the packing on the West and, in particular, on the South Side of Chicago was greatly furthered by drawing district lines which correspond to the racially segregated housing patterns evident in these areas. This South Side “wall,” as plaintiffs refer to it, runs, for example, along the westernmost boundary of Commission House Districts 23 (94.33% black), 24 (98.43% black), 31 (98.44% black) and 34 (73.37% black), and separates these districts from predominantly white Commission House Districts 21 (4.03% black), 22 (4.18% black), 28 (9.27% black) and 29 (11.56% black). Both fracturing and packing are allegedly evident in the voting districts on the West Side. Of the 300,000 blacks who reside on the West Side, approximately 160,000 reside in Commission House Districts 17 and 18, both of which are over 80% black. The rest of the black population is distributed among Commission House Districts 11,19 and 20, which have black populations of 48%, 72% and 18%, respectively. Defendants, of course, presented various reasons not related to packing and fracturing for the existence of district lines tracing racial boundaries on the South and West Sides, which will be discussed infra. During the course of this litigation, the Crosby plaintiffs presented several alternative plans that they claim would more fairly and equitably promote the interests of black voters in Chicago. The Coalition Plan, which was offered as a completely packaged alternative to the Commission Plan, contains districts which incorporate more white areas into black-controlled districts, thereby enhancing black voting strength. By creating districts which overlap from black areas into neighboring white areas the Coalition Plan produces five Senate districts on the South Side with black populations ranging from 70% to 85%. (There are four majority black Senate districts on the South Side under the Commission Plan.) The Coalition Plan would also avoid alleged packing and fracturing of the black population on Chicago’s West Side, by creating two black Senate districts (with black populations of 66% and 84%) and four black House districts (with black populations of 65%, 67%, 72% and 96%). (There is one black Senate district and three black House districts in this area under the Commission Plan.) After trial was completed, another plan, denominated the “Crosby Plan,” was presented to the court as an offer of proof. This plan reconfigures most of the Commission Senate and House districts located within Chicago and Cook County by allegedly reducing the coincidence of racial and electoral boundaries and increasing the number of districts in which blacks constitute a majority of the population. Movements of Racial Populations To Preserve White Incumbencies. Plaintiffs presented evidence of racial population shifts in several districts, allegedly motivated by the desire to preserve the incumbencies of various white legislators or potential white candidates on both the South and West Sides. These districts included Commission Senate District 14, where incumbent Senator Jeremiah Joyce resides, Commission Senate District 18, where incumbent Senator Glenn Dawson resides, and various West Side districts, particularly Commission Senate District 8, home of Senator Philip Rock and Commission House District 15, which is part of Senate District 8. A detailed analysis of these population movements, which we regard as very significant, is included in Section III infra. Alleged Admissions of Defendants. The drafters of the Commission Plan acknowledged that, at the time they drew the Map, they were aware of the relationship between legislative districts and racial demographics in the City of Chicago. Throughout the line drawing process, the drafters possessed color coded maps reflecting the location and the degree of concentration of blacks and Hispanics in metropolitan Chicago. Extensive population statistics reflecting the percentages of minority groups as well as statistics showing their population growth between 1970 and 1980 were also available to the Commission. Representative Madigan who, together with Commissioner Murphy, drew the Chicago portion of the plan, stated that he studied the maps and that he was aware of the percentages of blacks placed in each district. Representative Madigan and Commissioner Murphy also testified that racial factors, including the existence of racial feeling antagonistic to blacks in some South and Southwest Side white communities, were taken into account in drawing the district boundaries. See Tr. at 1432 (remarks of Rep. Madigan); 1838-39 (remarks of Comm’r Murphy). Neither Madigan nor Murphy indicated, however, that any district lines were drawn for the purpose of diluting black voting strength. History of Civil Rights Violations in Chicago. To strengthen the inference of intentional discrimination against blacks, the Crosby plaintiffs introduced evidence of past racial discrimination by the City of Chicago and, allegedly, by the City’s regular Democratic organization. In particular, plaintiffs pointed to several lawsuits involving the Chicago Police and Fire Departments, the Chicago Housing Authority, and the Board of Education in which the city defendants were either found to have discriminated against blacks or entered into consent decrees which recognized the existence of racial bias within the agency. Plaintiffs noted that the heads of all three city agencies are appointed by the Mayor (inevitably a Democrat). Plaintiffs also introduced evidence of the new Chicago ward map, which they asserted to be biased, and which furnished a guide in some instances for the challenged legislative redistricting. Interests of Blacks and Hispanics. Defendants introduced evidence indicating that the Democratic Party has strongly espoused the cause of blacks in Illinois. They noted that the Democratic Party has sponsored and passed civil rights legislation, social welfare legislation and legislation providing for bilingual education — all matters of special concern to blacks and Hispanics. Blacks in Illinois are overwhelmingly Democratic. 3. DelValle Plaintiffs. The DelValle plaintiffs alleged that the Commission Plan intentionally dilutes Hispanic voting strength by fracturing the two largest Hispanic concentrations in Chicago among several House and Senate districts. The evidence presented at trial revealed that Representative Madigan and Commissioner Murphy were aware of the dilutive impact of the relevant districts on the Hispanic community. The Commission witnesses justified their choice of district lines by arguing that the Commission Plan accommodated projected migration patterns of Chicago Hispanics and, thus, that the challenged districts will eventually maximize Hispanic voting strength. As a result of directions from the court to the Commission and negotiations between the Hispanic plaintiffs and the Commission defendants, a Settlement was reached between these parties on January 7, 1982. The Hispanic plaintiffs believe that this Settlement Agreement provides Hispanics residing in both the Pilsen — Little Village (Mexican-American) area and the Humboldt Park— West Town (Puerto Rican) area a fair and reasonable (and, in fact, the best achievable) opportunity to elect candidates of their choice to the Illinois General Assembly. II. Complaint of the Rybicki Plaintiffs: Compactness, City-Suburban Overlap, and Political Fairness The Rybicki plaintiffs allege that the Commission Plan unlawfully discriminates against suburban voters in the Chicago area, that the Plan contains noncompact districts, that political subdivisions are unnecessarily fractured and that the Plan is not politically fair. We first consider the claims of noncompactness under Illinois law before considering the claims of discrimination against suburban voters and political fairness under the appropriate federal constitutional standards. We also consider fracturing of political subdivisions under the appropriate law. A. Compactness Art. IV, § 3(a), Ill. Const. (1970), provides that “[ljegislative districts shall be compact, contiguous and substantially equal in population.” The substance of this provision was first incorporated into the Illinois Constitution of 1870, and the drafters of the Illinois Constitution of 1970 reincorporated the provision into the current constitution. See 6 Record of Proceedings, Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention, 1352-53 (1972). Although seldom interpreted by the Illinois courts, see, e.g., People ex rel. Woodyatt v. Thompson, 155 Ill. 451, 40 N.E. 307 (1895); People ex rel. Scott v. Grivetti, 50 Ill.2d 156, 277 N.E.2d 881 (1971) cert. denied, 407 U.S. 921, 92 S.Ct. 2460, 32 L.Ed.2d 806 (1972), this provision was most recently construed by the Illinois Supreme Court in Schrage v. State Board of Elections, 88 Ill.2d 87, 58 Ill.Dec. 451, 430 N.E.2d 483 (1981), a case arising out of the redistricting plan presently under challenge. In Schrage, the Illinois Supreme Court considered a challenge under this provision to one representative district (the 89th) created by the Commission Plan. In the course of invalidating the Commission Plan with respect to this district (and, concomitantly, to the 90th representative district), the court adopted an “eyeball” standard to determine if a given district met the compactness requirement: It is possible to establish a mathematically precise standard of compactness____ However, we find it unnecessary to adopt such a procedure in this case. Rather, we can rely on a visual examination of the questioned district as other courts have done____ A visual examination of Representative District 89 reveals a tortured, extremely elongated form which is not compact in any sense____ Nor were the plaintiffs able to advance any reason which might possibly justify such a radical departure from the constitutional requirement of compactness in this ease. Schrage, 88 Ill.2d at 98, 58 Ill.Dec. 451, 430 N.E.2d 483. Plaintiffs have directed our attention to numerous districts which allegedly lack compactness. Several other witnesses identified districts that, in their opinion, represented such shapes as a “microscope” or a “Buddha” and thus lacked compactness. Finally, plaintiffs have also directed our attention to examples of legislative districts found to be noncompact in eases other than Schrage but interpreting similar requirements of compactness. See, e.g., Preisler v. Doherty, 365 Mo. 460, 284 S.W.2d 427 (1955); State ex rel. Barrett v. Hitchcock, 241 Mo. 433, 146 S.W. 40 (1912); In re Sherill, 188 N.Y. 185, 81 N.E. 124 (1907). We have examined the districts described by plaintiffs as noncompact and conclude that under the principles articulated in Schrage, none of the districts in the Commission Plan reveal “a tortured, extremely elongated [or other] form which is not compact in any sense.” Schrage, 88 Ill.2d at 98, 58 Ill.Dec. 451, 430 N.E.2d 483. In reaching this conclusion, we are, of course, mindful that the compactness standard is recognized by Illinois as a means to “improv[e] legislative representation through seeking to insure that districts are not gerrymandered,” 6 Record of Proceedings, Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention 1353 (1972) (Report of the Legislative Comm.). Consistent with this goal, the Illinois Supreme Court reemphasized in Schrage that the constitutional compactness standard cannot be ignored. Schrage, at 96, 58 Ill.Dec. 451, 430 N.E.2d 483. We clearly recognize the importance of the compactness standard not only because Illinois law and its interpretation by Illinois courts is controlling on this issue but also because we agree with the underlying policies and ideals on which Schrage is based. Nevertheless, we are aware of the various difficulties involved in drawing legislative districts and the constraints imposed by the one-person, one-vote standard, the imperatives of census tract data, the desire to follow natural, ecological and political boundaries, and the competing demands of incumbents, voters and the courts. Bearing in mind these considerations, we note that no other districts in the Commission Plan are as relatively noncompact as Commission House Districts 89 and 90 (before their modification by the Illinois Supreme Court in Schrage). Indeed, although plaintiffs identified many districts in the Commission Plan as noncompact, a quick perusal of the plaintiffs’ alternative Coalition Plan reveals that it contains districts also comparatively lacking in strict compactness. This comparison with the Coalition Plan is significant because it reveals the problems with compactness which pervade many approaches to similar redistricting problems. Thus, we decline to invalidate the Commission Plan, or any of its individual districts, as lacking in compactness in the sense required by the Illinois Constitution. B. Fracturing Political Subdivision Boundaries, Overlap Between Urban and Suburban Districts and Suburban Vote Dilution Plaintiffs contend that the Commission Plan unduly fractures or splits political subdivisions in Illinois, especially counties. By drawing districts which “overlap” a county line, plaintiffs argue that the defendants violated their own criteria of keeping political subdivisions and their concomitant communities of interest intact within the same legislative district. The most vehemently criticized fracturing noted in the Commission Plan involves districts that “overlap” between the City of Chicago and Cook County. There was also strong criticism of the number of districts which “overlap” between Cook County and the “collar” counties. According to the plaintiffs, the net effect of districts which overlap from Chicago into the suburbs is the impermissible minimization of the voting strength of suburban residents (who are predominantly Republican voters in contrast to the predominantly Democratic voters residing in Chicago). This alleged minimization of suburban voting strength assertedly violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection. Although they do not deny that their plan in fact fractures many political subdivisions, several Commission members testified that two of their guiding criteria in designing districts were to minimize the number of fractures and to maintain communities of interest. Defendants argue that the Commission Plan does not unduly violate these redistricting criteria. Defendants also concede that they intentionally created districts that overlap between Chicago and surrounding areas in Cook County and between Cook County and the collar counties. The bulk of the overlap districts between Chicago and its suburbs were created, according to the Commission members, by generally following the district lines from the 1971 districting plan, with adjustments where necessary to add or subtract population to meet the population equality standard. Moreover, defendants concede that a major motivating factor for creating overlap districts was to enhance and maximize the influence of Chicago, its voters and the Democratic party in the General Assembly. We address first the question of alleged indiscriminate fracturing of political subdivision boundaries before considering the claim of suburban vote dilution under the Fourteenth Amendment. Plaintiffs argue that the “overlap” district lines, as well as other district lines which indiscriminately fracture municipal, township and county boundaries, impermissibly split recognized communities of interest by indiscriminately fracturing political subdivision boundaries. As evidence of this, plaintiffs point to various examples of alleged divergence of interest between the residents of Chicago and suburbanites, or between residents of one county (particularly Cook County) or of a group of counties and residents of neighboring counties. Although this argument has some force, plaintiffs have not cited any legal authority which would require (or authorize) us to invalidate the Commission Plan on such a ground. In fact, the 1970 Illinois Constitution did not reenact those provisions of the 1870 Constitution that required districts outside Cook County to “be bounded by county lines unless the population of any county entitled it to more than one representative district.” Art. IV, § 7, Ill. Const, (1970) (repealed). Moreover, districts that overlap between Chicago and suburban Cook County were approved by the Illinois Supreme Court in People ex rel. Scott v. Grivetti, 50 Ill.2d 156, 277 N.E.2d 881, 888 (1971), cert. denied, 407 U.S. 921, 92 S.Ct. 2460, 32 L.Ed.2d 806 (1972), and the Democratic Commission members relied on that decision when they drafted their plan. Cf. In re Illinois Congressional Districts Reapportionment Cases, No. 81 C 3915, slip op. at 24-25 (N.D.Ill. Nov. 23, 1981), aff'd sub nom. McClory v. Otto, 454 U.S. 1130,102 S.Ct. 985, 71 L.Ed.2d 284 (1982) (approving Congressional redistricting that creates districts which overlap between Chicago and suburbs). Thus, we are unwilling to condemn the Commission Plan merely because it fractures a number of political subdivision lines or creates districts that overlap between Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. The Rybicki plaintiffs also allege that the Commission Plan’s overlapping Chicago/suburban districts impermissibly dilute the votes of suburban residents. These overlap districts were carefully designed, plaintiffs contend, so that most of them contain a majority of Chicago residents. The voting strength of the suburban residents of these districts is allegedly diluted because the districts are controlled by the majority Chicago voters and their political organizations. Although this argument has appeal, we reject it for two reasons — one grounded in policy, the other in the Constitution. The Rybicki plaintiffs’ argument can be reduced to the simple proposition that the Commission intentionally failed to increase the number of “suburban” districts even though Chicago lost population and the suburbs gained population during the 1970’s. The Coalition Plan espoused by the Rybicki plaintiffs would cure this alleged infirmity by reducing the number of overlap districts, thereby increasing the number of districts located wholly outside Chicago. This shift would reduce the number of districts “controlled” by Chicago voters. Of course, at the heart of the Rybicki plaintiffs’ claim seems to be the concept that Chicago voters are the highly disciplined “agents” of that city’s political interests (including the interests of its dominant political organizations) — and that these interests are in major part inimical to the interests of suburban voters. We think there may be some reality to this concept although the record is quite uninformative on the subject in general. We also believe that the concept may exaggerate the submissiveness of Chicago voters and the gross antagonism of City and suburban interests. It is not disputed that, on some questions, some residents of Chicago may support positions strongly in conflict with those supported by their suburban counterparts. But to extrapolate from this modest assumption to a rule that Chicago residents must be excluded from any district including suburban residents is unsupported either by logic or by the record before us. The extreme parochialism in legislative districting seemingly espoused by the Rybicki plaintiffs is not required by law and has some tendency to derogate the intelligence and independence of the average modern voter. We think this approach may be somewhat more reflective of traditionally hallowed concepts than of current reality. Our conclusion is not at odds with the Constitution. The Rybicki plaintiffs argue that any dilution of the votes of suburban residents by their inclusion in a Chicago majority district violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Although acknowledging that no clearly apposite Supreme Court (or even lower court) precedent directly supports this assertion, the plaintiffs argue that the Court has recognized that, in addition to racial or ethnic minorities, political groups of any nature may also assert a claim of unconstitutional vote dilution. We decline to give the dicta or separate opinions cited by plaintiffs such an authoritative interpretation, especially in light of refusals by the Supreme Court to accord to political or other identifiable groups the same Fourteenth Amendment protections in the electoral context as are accorded to racial and ethnic minorities. As Justice White, writing for the majority, explained in Whit-comb v. Chavis, 403 U.S. 124, 91 S.Ct. 1858, 29 L.Ed.2d 363 (1971): The District Court’s holding, although on the facts of this case limited to guaranteeing one racial group representation, is not easily contained. It is expressive of the more general proposition that any group with distinctive interests must be represented in legislative halls if it is numerous enough to command at least one seat and represents a majority living in an area sufficiently compact to constitute a single-member district. This approach would make it difficult to reject claims of Democrats, Republicans, or members of any political organization in Marion County who live in what would be safe districts in a single-member district system but who in one year or another, or year after year, are submerged in a one-sided multi-member district vote. There are also union oriented workers, the university community, religious or ethnic groups occupying identifiable areas of our heterogeneous cities and urban areas. 403 U.S. at 156, 91 S.Ct. at 1875-76 (footnotes omitted). Accord, City of Mobile v. Bolden, 446 U.S. 55, 78 n. 26, 100 S.Ct. 1490, 1506 n. 26, 64 L.Ed.2d 47 (1980). See also Cousins v. City Council of Chicago, 466 F.2d 830, 844-45 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 893, 93 S.Ct. 85, 34 L.Ed.2d 181 (1972); Graves v. Barnes, 343 F.Supp. 704, 733-34 (W.D.Tex.1972), aff'd in part and rev’d in part sub nom. White v. Regester, 412 U.S. 755, 93 S.Ct. 2332, 37 L.Ed.2d 314 (1973). C. Political Fairness A great deal of testimony was introduced at trial about the “political fairness” of the Commission Plan (and the Coalition Plan as well). The Rybicki plaintiffs argue that “[ujnder the guise of political fairness, the Democratic Commission members have drawn a map which sacrifices compactness and the integrity of political subdivisions for the preservation of incumbency.” Rybicki Post Trial Brief at 26. We have already concluded that the Commission Plan neither lacks compactness nor impermissibly ignores the integrity of political subdivisions. We now conclude that what the Rybicki plaintiffs call the Commission’s “overt political gerrymandering,” Rybicki Post Trial Brief at 27, similarly does not require us to invalidate the Commission Plan. As a prerequisite to our consideration of this issue, we note that partisan politically-based challenges to redistricting and reapportionment may be nonjusticiable. See WMCA, Inc. v. Lomenzo, 382 U.S. 4, 86 S.Ct. 74, 15 L.Ed.2d 2 (per curiam), aff'g 238 F.Supp. 916 (S.D.N.Y.1965); Cousins v. City Council of Chicago, 466 F.2d 830, 844-45 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 893, 93 S.Ct. 85, 34 L.Ed.2d 181 (1972). Although plaintiffs seem ambivalent in their approach to political end-result as a test of fairness, they do contend that the Democratic-controlled Commission improperly designed districts to maximize the number of Democrats likely to be elected to the Illinois General Assembly. Nevertheless, we consider the political fairness issue here because it is inexorably linked to the questions of compactness and the integrity of political subdivision boundaries, see Wendler v. Stone, 350 F.Supp. 838, 841 (S.D.Fla.1972) (Roettger, J., dissenting), and because the fairness question may re-, quire us to interpret the Court’s decision in Gaffney v. Cummings, 412 U.S. 735, 93 S.Ct. 2321, 37 L.Ed.2d 298 (1973). Plaintiffs’ political fairness argument is premised upon the assertion that the Commission members, although claiming to have created a districting plan that fairly represents the balance between Republican and Democratic political strength in Illinois, purposefully designed districts that maximized Democratic voting strength while minimizing and fracturing Republican voting power. Plaintiffs also assert that the Commission purposefully “gerrymandered” districts “to enhance the ability of Democratic incumbents ... to get reelected.” Rybicki Post Trial Brief at 27. Aside from the questions of detailed techniques, such as the alleged creation of noncompact districts and the dilution of the suburban vote (which we have discussed, supra), plaintiffs apparently assert the broader proposition that the end-result of these efforts — an overall bias toward a Democratic legislature — is constitutionally impermissible. We note, however, that the Rybicki plaintiffs never presented evidence of what result in detail they expected from the Commission Map. The Commission, on the other hand, did adduce such evidence. We believe that plaintiffs’ argument with respect to the fairness of political result misconstrues the Supreme Court’s decision in Gaffney v. Cummings, 412 U.S. 735, 93 S.Ct. 2321, 37 L.Ed.2d 298 (1973). In Gaffney, a state redistricting plan was consciously designed, in “the spirit of ‘political fairness,’ ” to “achieve a rough" approximation of the statewide political strengths of the Democratic and Republican Parties.” 412 U.S. at 752, 93 S.Ct. at 2331. The challengers in Gaffney contended, however, that the plan was “nothing less than a gigantic political gerrymander, invidiously discriminatory under the Fourteenth Amendment.” 412 U.S. at 752, 93 S.Ct. at 2331 (footnote omitted). The Court, in rejecting the challengers’ claim; intimated that a plan, in order to pass muster, did not necessarily have to be wholly “politically fair” in end-result or designed with total even-handedness to reflect the respective strengths of political parties in a state. Even a plan that reflected some partisan leanings on the part of its drafters should not be invalidated solely because the drafters of the plan indulged some partisan political biases. Based in part on Gaffney, we do not think it the function of the courts to attempt to totally depoliticize a process so inherently political as districting. As Justice White, speaking for the majority in Gaffney, explained: We are quite unconvinced that the reapportionment plan offered by the three-member Board violated the Fourteenth Amendment because it attempted to reflect the relative strength of the parties in locating and defining election districts. It would be idle, we think, to contend that any political consideration taken into account in fashioning a reappor- . tionment plan is sufficient to invalidate it. Our cases indicate quite the contrary____ The very essence of districting is to produce a different — a more “politically fair” — result than would be reached with elections at large, in which the winning party would take 100% of the legislative seats. Politics and political considerations are inseparable from districting and apportionment ____ The reality is that districting inevitably has and is intended to have substantial political consequences. 412 U.S. at 752-53, 93 S.Ct. at 2331-32 (emphasis supplied). We believe that the Gaffney decision in no sense mandates the invalidation of the Commission Plan solely on the grounds that Commission members considered partisan political advantage when drafting the Plan. In any event the Commission presented extensive evidence to demonstrate that its Plan, like the plan approved in Gaffney, would achieve a fair representation of the two major parties in Illinois based upon past election results. Indeed, under the Commission Plan, the Republican party may control more relatively secure seats in the General Assembly than the Democratic party. Cf. In re Congressional Districts Reapportionment Cases, No. 81 C 3915, slip op. at 21-22 (N.D.Ill. Nov. 23, 1981), aff'd sub nom. McClory v. Otto, 454 U.S. 1130, 102 S.Ct. 985, 71 L.Ed.2d 284 (1982) (Otto plan preferable because it approximates statewide political strength of two major parties). The Court’s admonition in Gaffney is, we believe, equally applicable here: “[Jjudicial interest should be at its lowest ebb when a State purports fairly to allocate political power to the parties in accordance with their voting strength and, within quite tolerable limits, succeeds in doing so.” 412 U.S. at 754, 93 S.Ct. at 2332. Notwithstanding the asserted and apparent statewide balance between the two major parties achieved by the Plan, plaintiffs still contend that the Commission Plan must fail because it was intentionally designed to produce in end-result a maximum Democratic party representation. This argument, however, does not, as we have suggested, rise to the level of a Constitutional contention. Although the Court in Gaffney refused to abstain entirely from judicial scrutiny of a state redistricting plan motivated in part by political factors, the Court expressly limited the permissible scope of the challenge to such a plan: What is done in so arranging for election, or to achieve political ends or allocate political power, is not wholly exempt from judicial scrutiny under the Fourteenth Amendment. As we have indicated, for example, multimember districts may be vulnerable, if racial or political groups have been fenced out of the political process and their voting strength invidiously minimized. Beyond this, we have not ventured far or attempted the impossible task of extirpating politics from what are the essentially political processes of the sovereign States. 412 U.S. at 754, 93 S.Ct. at 2332 (emphasis supplied) (citations omitted). It would be equally absurd for us to attempt to take the politics out of legislative redistricting. Plaintiffs do not assert, nor can they assert, that the Democratic-controlled Commission attempted to fence out or invidiously minimize Republican voting strength in Illinois. Similarly, we do not, in general, find fault with the efforts of Democratic Commission members to protect incumbent Democratic legislators. Indeed, the Supreme Court has expressly indicated that a redistricting plan is not per se invalid merely because the drafters considered the effect of district lines on incumbents of either party. See White v. Weiser, 412 U.S. 783, 791, 93 S.Ct. 2348, 2352, 37 L.Ed.2d 335 (1973); Burns v. Richardson, 384 U.S. 73, 89 n. 16, 86 S.Ct. 1286, 1295 n. 16, 16 L.Ed.2d 376 (1966). Plaintiffs have not persuaded us that attempts by the Democratic-controlled Commission to protect some of its members or other Democratic incumbents would invidiously minimize Republican voting strength. In sum, we do not believe that the role of courts in addressing alleged unfairness to political parties is equivalent to their role in evaluating unfairness to racial and ethnic minorities. The major political parties (absent “fencing out” or invidious minimization) are presumed to have the capacity to protect their own interests in the political process. The federal courts are not in business to compensate for political errors, misfortunes or strokes of fate, which may leave political parties at some temporary disadvantage. The case for judicial action on behalf of blacks and Hispanics is significantly different. We conclude that the Commission Plan is not invalid because the Commission members considered (within limits) partisan advantage when drawing district lines. III. Complaint of the Crosby Plaintiffs: Dilution of Black Voting Strength The Crosby plaintiffs have alleged that the Commission unconstitutionally discriminated against black voters in this redistricting by intentionally diluting their voting strength and thereby denying them a fair electoral opportunity. These plaintiffs contend that the Commission Plan is a product of racial gerrymandering designed to limit the participation of blacks and Hispanics in the Illinois electoral process and to protect various white incumbents whose districts have become, in the 1970-1980 period, heavily populated by blacks and Hispanics. According to the Crosby plaintiffs, the white leaders of the Chicago Democratic organization purposefully set out to undermine the vote of the black electorate and were successful in their efforts under the Commission Plan. A. Fifteenth Amendment and the Voting Rights Act First, we address the question whether, if proven, plaintiffs’ claims of vote dilution are properly cognizable under the Fifteenth as well as the Fourteenth Amendment. Although an answer to this question may not emerge with blinding clarity from the Supreme Court’s recent decision in City of Mobile v. Bolden, 446 U.S. 55, 100 S.Ct. 1490, 64 L.Ed.2d 47 (1980), we think that decision furnishes the most authoritative guide to the matter. In Bolden, the four plurality justices (Justices Stewart,