United States v. Louisiana (952 F. Supp. 1151, 1997)

STEWART, Circuit Judge:

We are convened pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1973c and 28 U.S.C. § 2284 to perform a narrowly defined task — determine whether the City of Shreveport, Louisiana (City) and the State of Louisiana (State) have properly complied with the preclearanee requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The United States asks us to issue a preliminary injunction that would prevent two elected incumbent candidates for Divisions A and B of the City Court of Shreveport from receiving their commissions to serve another six-year term. Specifically, the United States claims that the geographical jurisdiction of the City Court had been enlarged pursuant to annexations which had not been precleared in accordance with § 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

The City has also filed three motions with this Court. First, the City has moved to dismiss this case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Second, the City claims that the United States has failed to state a claim for which relief could be granted. Specifically, the City claims that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is unconstitutional. Third, the City seeks an order compelling the United States to respond to various discovery requests for information concerning the Attorney General’s decision to deny preclearance for the City Court annexations.

Because we found that the United States had met the requirements for issuing a preliminary injunction, we issued an injunction on December 20, 1996 compelling the State and the City to seek a declaratory judgment in the District Court for the District of Columbia. In the meantime, the elected judges shall holdover in their offices, without new six-year commissions, until the City and State obtain judicial preclearance for the City Court annexations. We denied the City’s three motions because we did not have jurisdiction to hear the claims asserted in the motions.

We write today to amplify our reasons for granting the injunction and denying the City’s motions.

FACTS

Our stray begins in 1976, when the City submitted for review to the Attorney General annexations affecting the City. In its submission, the City did not specifically state that it was seeking preclearance for any particular political office within the City. United States’ Pos1>-Hearing Brief, Exh. A In 1978, the City sought preclearanee for more annexations and the City Charter of the City. In the 1978 letter, the City made reference to the City Council and the Mayor in its discussion of the City Charter. Id. The City did not mention the effect of the annexations on the Shreveport City Court. In response to the City’s request, the Justice Department understood the City’s submission as follows:

This is in reference to 14 annexations adopted between November 1, 1964 and January 1, 1966; 16 annexations adopted between January 27, 1976 and February 14, 1978; Resolution No. 546 of 1976 (August 24, 1976), creating the City Government Committee; the adoption of a strong mayor form of government, with a seven-member city council with members elected from single-member districts, and the boundaries of those districts; and a special election to be held May 13, 1978; submitted by the City of Shreveport to the Attorney General pursuant to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Letter from Assistant Attorney General Drew S. Days III to John Gallagher, Legal Department, City of Shreveport, May 12, 1978. Based on this understanding, the Attorney General precleared the requested annexations and the City Charter, although the Attorney General reserved his right to pursue “subsequent judicial action to enjoin the enforcement of such changes.” Id. Both parties agree that this letter indicated that the Attorney General precleared (1) the annexations as they affected the City Council elections and (2) the City Charter.

From what we gather from the record before us, it was not until 1989 that the Justice Department discovered that the elections to the Shreveport City Court included the annexed territories the Justice Department had earlier precleared for the Shreveport City Council. On January 3, 1989, the State, on behalf of the City, submitted for review Act No. 15 (1970), which created a third judicial position for the Shreveport City Court (Division C). On July 17, 1989, the State submitted for § 5 review Louisiana Act No. 6 (1968), which provided for the expansion of the boundaries of the Shreveport City Court to include annexations to the corporate limits of Shreveport. At that point, the Attorney General was unable to make a determination regarding the submitted voting changes because numerous annexations to the City Court’s jurisdiction had not been submitted. The Justice Department requested and was provided additional information about the proposed change. In a September 1989 letter, the Justice Department stated:

We understand that there have been several annexations to the Shreveport City Court, pursuant to Act No. 6 (1968). Our records fail to show that these changes have been submitted to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for judicial review or to the Attorney General for administrative review as required by Section 5. If our information is correct, it is necessary that these changes either be brought before the District Court for the District of Columbia or submitted to the Attorney General for a determination that the changes do not have the purpose and will not have the effect of discriminating on account of race or color.

On July 21, 1992, the State, on behalf of the City, submitted for § 5 review Louisiana Act No. 501 (1992), which created a fourth City Court judicial position (Division D). Act No. 501 also provided for a change in the City Court method of election from at-large to one multimember and one single-member district. The Attorney General was again unable to make a determination regarding the submitted voting changes because numerous annexations to the City Court’s jurisdiction had not been submitted. On September 18, 1992, the Attorney General informed the City that no determination was possible and requested once more that the unpreeleared annexations be submitted for § 5 review.

On April 5, 1993, the City submitted for § 5 review 321 annexations to the boundaries and jurisdiction of the City Court that had been implemented between 1967 and 1992. On June 4, 1993, the Attorney General requested that the City send additional information so that a determination could be made. On June 21,1994, the City submitted six more annexations that expanded the City Court’s boundaries and jurisdiction. At the same time, Louisiana Acts No. 6 (1968), No. 15 (1970), and No. 501 (1992) were resubmitted for review. On’July 6, 1994, the City submitted the additional information necessary to complete the submission of all of these voting changes.

In 1994, the parties came to loggerheads. On September 6, 1994, the Attorney General interposed a timely objection under § 5 to the submitted annexations to the City Court boundaries and to the voting changes caused by Acts No. 6, No. 15, and No. 501. The objection letter stated that the proposed changes effectuated an eleven percentage-point decrease in black voting strength. United States’ Orig. Complaint, Exh. A. The letter asked that the State inform officials of the United States Justice Department of its plans for the City Court elections. Id.

The State then did an about-face. In a September 16, 1994 letter from the Assistant Attorney General of Louisiana, the State, for the first time, argued that § 5 preclearance of the annexations to the City Court was unnecessary because the Attorney General had previously precleared annexations for the City Council elections. State of Louisiana’s OrigJBrief, Exh. 1. Therefore, argued the State, elections for Divisions A and B of the City Court could be held using boundaries that included the annexations. On December 11, 1995, the State also requested that the Attorney General reconsider the objections to the judicial positions created in 1970 and 1992 and to the new election system of one single-member district and one multimember district.

On February 9,1996, the Attorney General denied the State’s request for reconsideration and refused to withdraw the September 6, 1994 objections, including the objection to annexations expanding the City Court boundaries for Divisions A and B. The Attorney General also informed the State and the City that preclearanee of annexations to the boundaries used for the Shreveport City Council elections did not serve as preclearance for the City Court elections. The letter explained that until the § 5 objection is withdrawn or a declaratory judgment from the District Court for the District of Columbia is obtained, “the objection by the Attorney General remains in effect and the proposed changes continue to be legally unenforceable.” United States Orig.Complaint, Exh. B. The letter again asked the State to inform officials of the Justice Department of its plans for the City Court elections. Id.

On May 22,1996, an attorney in the Voting Section of the Justice Department wrote to the State’s attorney general requesting information about the 1996 elections for the Shreveport City Court. The letter restated that the Attorney General’s objections to the annexations affecting the City Court remained in effect until the objections were withdrawn or a declaratory judgment was obtained. The State was informed by the Justice Department that under § 5, “elections for the Division A and Division B judges may only proceed in the pre-annexation territory which was included within the City Court boundaries as of November 1, 1964.” United States Orig.Complaint, Exh. C.

On June 26, 1996, the State’s Assistant Attorney General confirmed to the Louisiana Secretary of State in a letter that “our position has been and remains that no such preclearance ... is required.” United States’ Orig.Complaint, Exh. D. The letter further asserted that “elections for divisions A and B, which have been precleared, unlike Divisions C and D, can be conducted this fall using the precleared city annexations for the voting boundaries.” Id.

Despite the City’s and State’s failure to obtain administrative or judicial preclearance for the annexations affecting the Shreveport City Court elections, the City proceeded with candidate qualifying. Believing that an election would take place in violation of the Voting Rights Act, the United States filed a complaint seeking to enjoin the City Court elections until proper § 5 preclearance had been obtained. As it turned out, however, the two judges seeking office in Districts A and B were unopposed and deemed elected under Louisiana election law. La.R.S. 18:511(B) (West 1996). The United States thereafter amended its complaint, recognizing that the issues raised by their original request for injunctive relief had become moot (i.e., there was no election to enjoin).

In the amended motion for a preliminary injunction — the subject of this opinion — the United States seeks to prevent the “elected” judges from Districts A and B of the City Court from receiving their commissions to take office for another six-year term. The United States can prevail only if it demonstrates that (1) the 300-plus annexations affecting the Shreveport City Court elections are considered “changes” subject to § 5’s preclearanee requirement, (2) the annexations were not precleared by the Attorney General, and (3) an injunction is the proper remedy for the § 5 violation. Lopez v. Monterey County, — U.S. —, —, 117 S.Ct. 340, 349, 136 L.Ed.2d 273 (1996). We conclude that the United States has made a sufficient showing that an injunction should issue.

DISCUSSION

I. A Brief Primer on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Faced with election practices in various States that ostensibly denied racial minorities the right to vote, Congress in 1965 enacted the Voting Rights Act in the hopes of putting an end to what Congress perceived as “an insidious and pervasive evil ... perpetuated in certain parts of the country through unremitting and ingenious defiance of the Constitution.” South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 388 U.S. 301, 309, 86 S.Ct. 803, 808, 15 L.Ed.2d 769 (1966). Prior to the enactment of the 1965 Act, Congress had enacted a series of statutes that aimed to eliminate, on a case-by-case basis, the problem of race discrimination in voting. Id. at 313, 86 S.Ct. at 810-11. These efforts failed, however. Litigation was slow, favorable court decrees were circumvented with new practices that discriminated against racial minorities, and local officials outright defied court orders. Id. at 314, 86 S.Ct. at 811.

Congress’s frustrations with recalcitrant state and local officials found its most potent expression in § 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Viewed as perhaps the most important section of the Act, § 5 “prescribes remedies for voting discrimination which go into effect without any need for prior adjudication.” Katzenbach, 383 U.S. at 327-28, 86 S.Ct. at 818. Failure to satisfy § 5’s requirements results in federal nullification of the election results. Clark v. Roemer, 500 U.S. 646, 652, 111 S.Ct. 2096, 2100-01, 114 L.Ed.2d 691 (1991); Hathorn v. Lovorn, 457 U.S. 255, 269, 102 S.Ct. 2421, 2430, 72 L.Ed.2d 824 (1982). The justification for this expedited method of ferreting out racially discriminatory voting practices and the draconian penalty for noncompliance is well-known: “Congress had found that case-by-case litigation was inadequate to combat widespread and persistent discrimination in voting, because of the inordinate amount of time and energy required to overcome the obstructionist tactics invariably encountered in these lawsuits.” Id. at 328, 86 S.Ct. at 818. As such, the advantages of “time and inertia” were given to the victims and the burden of eliminating discriminatory practices fell onto the “perpetrators of the evil.” Id. That burden weighs heaviest in § 5’s so-called preclearance requirement.

The procedures for seeking § 5 preclearance are well-established, and we review them here to provide a framework for our analysis. A political subdivision covered by § 5, which “enact[s] or seek[s] to administer any voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice or procedure with respect to voting different from that in force or effect on November 1, 1964,” 42 U.S.C. § 1973c, has to satisfy § 5’s procedural and substantive preclearance requirements.

Procedurally, a submitting jurisdiction has two choices. On the one hand, the jurisdiction may seek administrative preclearance from the Attorney General. 42 U.S.C. § 1973c; 28 C.F.R. § 51.10(b) (1996). Under this option, the submitting jurisdiction may obtain preclearance in a relatively short period of time because the Attorney General has 60 days within which to interpose an objection to the changes in election practices. See, e.g., 28 C.F.R. § 51.41(a) (1996). Alternatively, the jurisdiction may obtain judicial preelearance, namely, a declaratory judgment from the District Court for the District of Columbia. 42 U.S.C. § 1973c; 28 C.F.R. § 51.10(a) (1996).

Substantively, administrative and judicial preclearance require the submitting jurisdiction to demonstrate that the proposed changes in voting do not have the purpose or effect “of denying or abridging the right to vote on account or race or color____” 42 U.S.C. § 1973c; 28 C.F.R. § 51.10(a); McCain v. Lybrand, 465 U.S. 236, 256, 104 S.Ct. 1037, 1049, 79 L.Ed.2d 271 (1984). Put simply, the submitting jurisdiction must prove that the voting change does not have a retrogressive effect. See Holder v. Hall, 512 U.S. 874, 883, 114 S.Ct. 2581, 2587, 129 L.Ed.2d 687 (1994) (plurality opinion).

Administrative and judicial preclearance are independent of one another. If a jurisdiction seeks, but is denied, administrative preclearance from the Attorney General, the submitting jurisdiction may seek a declaratory judgment in the District Court for the District of Columbia. In the same way, if judicial preelearance is denied, the submitting jurisdiction is free to seek administrative preelearance from the Attorney General. If the submitting jurisdiction obtains administrative or judicial preelearance, private parties remain free to challenge the constitutionality of the voting change in traditional suits, but not under the rubric of § 5. See Morris v. Gressette, 432 U.S. 491, 502-03, 97 S.Ct. 2411, 2419-20, 53 L.Ed.2d 506 (1977); 42 U.S.C. § 1973c.

With these basic principles in mind, we proceed to the contentions of the parties to determine whether the United States is entitled to injunctive relief.

II. The Scope of our Jurisdiction

We must first address the scope of our jurisdiction because the City and State have made arguments that would expand the jurisdiction of this three-judge court beyond that which other similarly situated panels have recognized. First, the City argues that we may review the merits of the Attorney General’s decision denying preclearance for the City Court annexations. Specifically, the City has presented us with a wealth of evidence which allegedly proves that the minority vote within the City has not been diluted by the City’s 300-plus annexations. Second, the City and State argue (and the United States has apparently agreed) that the United States must satisfy the traditional requirements for obtaining a preliminary injunction. We address each of these contentions in turn.

A The Attorney General’s Retrogression Determination

In 1994, the Attorney General interposed timely objections to the effect the City’s annexations had on the City Court elections. The Attorney General informed the City that the City Court annexations had the effect of diluting the minority vote within Districts A and B. The City now argues that the United States’ request for a preliminary injunction should be denied because the Attorney General erred when it concluded that the annexations had a discriminatory effect. To prove this claim, the City has moved to compel discovery of documents from the Attorney General regarding the Attorney General’s retrogression determination.

We reject the City’s contention because we do not have jurisdiction to hear the claim. This three-judge panel was convened pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1973c and 28 U.S.C. § 2284, and we clearly have subject matter jurisdiction to hear this case. It is well-settled that the jurisdiction of this court is limited to three discrete avenues of inquiry: “(i) whether a change was covered by § 5, (ii) if the change was covered, whether § 5’s approval requirements were satisfied, and (iii) if the requirements were not satisfied, what remedy [is] appropriate.” City of Lockhart v. United States, 460 U.S. 125, 129 n. 3, 103 S.Ct. 998, 1001 n. 3, 74 L.Ed.2d 863 (1983). In Perkins v. Matthews, 400 U.S. 379, 91 S.Ct. 431, 27 L.Ed.2d 476 (1971), for example, the Supreme Court held that it was reversible error for a three-judge court like this one to decide whether the challenged state actions had “ ‘a discriminatory purpose or effect.’ ” Id. at 385, 91 S.Ct. at 435 (quoting the three-judge panel opinion). The Perkins Court reasoned as follows:

What is foreclosed to such [a three-judge] district court is what Congress expressly reserved for consideration by the District Court for the District of Columbia or the Attorney General — the determination whether a covered change does or does not have the purpose or effect “of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color.”

Id. (quoting 42 U.S.C. § 1973c).

It is plain that the City has asked us to decide an issue over which we have no jurisdiction. Indeed, if we were to address the City’s claim that the Attorney General’s retrogression determination was incorrect, we would plainly be committing reversible error. Perkins, 400 U.S. at 385, 91 S.Ct. at 435. This we decline to do.

For these same reasons, we denied the City’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted because we do not have jurisdiction to hear the City’s claim that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is unconstitutional. Our narrow jurisdictional mandate plainly precludes us from determining the constitutionality of the Act that breathes jurisdictional life into this three-judge court.

B. The Traditional Requirements for Issuing a Preliminary Injunction

We next turn to the question of whether the United States must meet the traditional four requirements for issuing a preliminary injunction. In its briefs and during the hearing on this matter, the City and State argued strenuously that the United States has failed to demonstrate a substantial likelihood of success on the merits and failed to show that it would suffer irreparable harm if an injunction does not issue. The United States asserts that it has made such a showing. To further clarify the parties’ positions on these two issues, we ordered the parties to file post-hearing briefs that discussed (1) whether the United States would suffer irreparable harm if an injunction did not issue, and (2) whether the United States had a substantial likelihood of success on the merits. Both sides timely filed briefs addressing these two issues.

On fresh consideration of the subject, we hold that our limited jurisdictional scope precludes us from applying the traditional four-part test when determining whether a preliminary injunction should issue in the first instance. The ease law and three independent justifications compel this conclusion.

We have reviewed the numerous cases in which a three-judge panel was convened pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1973c and 28 U.S.C. § 2284, and we have found no persuasive authority for-the proposition that the traditional preliminary injunction test applies to claims for injunctive relief in the face of a § 5 preclearance violation. Rather, three-judge courts like this one have engaged in the three-part inquiry we have outlined above, namely, whether a voting change is covered by § 5, whether that change has been preeleared by the Attorney General or the District Court for the District of Columbia, and if not, what remedy is appropriate. Three-judge courts convened as we are have gone no further. Cf. Puerto Rican Leg. Defense & Educ. Fund v. City of N.Y., 769 F.Supp. 74, 78 (E.D.N.Y.1991) (“A fair reading of the cases in which § 5 of the Voting Rights Act was the basis for injunctive relief justifies the conclusion that the traditional requirements for [obtaining a preliminary injunction] are not applicable.”).

This practice among similarly situated three-judge panels makes eminent sense for at least three reasons. First, and most obviously, an injunction is the only remedy available for a § 5 violation. Outside of the § 5 context, plaintiffs ordinarily seek an injunction because they want to preserve the status quo pending a trial on the merits. However, in the context of a § 5 violation that must be remedied by a three-judge panel like this one, a trial on the merits is not an option. The Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear that our sole job is to ensure timely compliance with § 5: “The goal of a three-judge district court facing a § 5 challenge must be to ensure that the covered jurisdiction submits its election plan to the appropriate federal authorities for preelearance as expeditiously as possible.” Lopez v. Monterey County, — U.S. at -, 117 S.Ct. at 349 (emphasis added); see also Morris v. Gressette, 432 U.S. at 495-96, 502, 97 S.Ct. at 2415-16, 2419 (holding in dictum that when the Attorney General interposes a § 5 objection, that objection “standing alone,” is a sufficient basis for enjoining implementation of the voting change). Because the factors that courts consider in the context of issuing a preliminary injunction — substantial likelihood of success on the merits and irreparable harm, for example — are aimed at preserving the status quo pending trial, and because that contingency is simply absent in the context of a § 5 challenge such as this, the traditional preliminary injunction factors have no place in our inquiry of whether an injunction should issue.

Second, the traditional test for issuing a preliminary injunction would produce results inconsistent with the scope of our jurisdiction and Supreme Court precedent. This is so because applying the first prong of the traditional injunction test — demonstrating a “substantial likelihood of success on the merits”— would be tantamount to squeezing the proverbial round peg into a square hole. If we were to conclude that the “merits” of this action included whether the annexations to the City Court had a retrogressive effect, we would be precluded from engaging in such an analysis because, as we have said, it is beyond our jurisdiction.

If, on the other hand, we defined the “merits” as encompassing whether the annexations to the City Court are covered changes requiring preclearance, the traditional analysis would potentially produce results flatly at odds with Supreme Court precedent. , Assume that the United States in this case demonstrated to our satisfaction that the City Court annexations were covered by § 5 and that those covered changes had not been precleared. We would conclude, correctly, that the United States has a substantial likelihood of success on the .merits. But suppose the facts of this ease compelled us to conclude that the United States has not shown irreparable injury, the balance of interests favored the City and State, or that the public interest would be disserved by issuing an injunction. In this scenario, an injunction would not issue even though the United States demonstrated that covered changes had not been precleared. Such a result is foreclosed by Supreme Court precedent.

The Supreme Court, on at least three occasions, has set forth the requirements that must be met before an injunction issues in a § 5 preclearance case like this one. In Allen v. State Bd. of Elections, 393 U.S. 544, 89 S.Ct. 817, Clark v. Roemer, 500 U.S. 646, 111 S.Ct. 2096, and most recently in Lopez v. Monterey County, — U.S. —, 117 S.Ct. 340, the Supreme Court has said that “[i]f a voting change subject to § 5 has not been precleared, § 5 plaintiffs are entitled to an injunction prohibiting implementation of the change.” Lopez, — U.S. at —, 117 S.Ct. at 347 (emphasis added); see also Clark, 500 U.S. at 652-53, 111 S.Ct. at 2100-02; Allen, 393 U.S. at 572, 89 S.Ct. at 835; White v. Alabama, 74 F.3d 1058, 1060 n. 4 (11th Cir.1996); Henderson v. Harris, 804 F.Supp. at 293. Thus, as we have suggested, under the traditional analysis, we could conceivably conclude that a voting rights plaintiff has demonstrated that a covered voting change has not been precleared, yet decline to issue an injunction. Lopez, Clark, and Allen clearly counsel otherwise.

Third, the traditional four-part test for issuing a preliminary injunction is inconsistent with the general purpose behind § 5 of the Voting Rights Act as well as the purpose behind administrative preelearance. As we have said, § 5 was Congress’s response to the ineffectiveness of case-by-case adjudication of voting rights violations. In South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U.S. 301, 86 S.Ct. 803, the Supreme Court made it clear that the remedies provided by § 5 did not require “prior adjudication.” Id. at 328, 86 S.Ct. at 818-19. Rather, § 5 imposed upon state and local governments the responsibility, through the process of preclearance, of ensuring that its election practices did not have the purpose or effect of discriminating on the basis of race. If that responsibility was not met, the elections and results taken pursuant to such violative schemes were declared null and void by operation of federal law. See Morse v. Republican Party of Va., — U.S. —, — - —, 116 S.Ct. 1186, 1202-03, 134 L.Ed.2d 347 (1996) (plurality opinion).

In the face of Congress’s purpose in enacting § 5, it is simply inconceivable that we would have the authority to deny an injunction for the purpose of proceeding to a “trial on the merits.” See Heggins v. City of Dallas, 469 F.Supp. 739, 743 (N.D.Tex.1979) (three-judge court) (“The threat and the pressure of an injunction provides a strong incentive for compliance with the Act.”). There is nothing to try in this case after we determine whether the United States is entitled to injunctive relief. The convening of this three-judge court pursuant to § 5 was done precisely to avoid the delay inherent in trials, such that we either issue an injunction because the United States has shown that a covered voting change has not been preeleared, or we do not. End of story.

We find South Carolina v. United States, 585 F.Supp. 418 (D.D.C.) (three-judge court), appeal dismissed, 469 U.S. 875, 105 S.Ct. 285, 83 L.Ed.2d 164 (1984), illustrative. There, the state of South Carolina argued that because it had a strong probability of success on the merits (the state claimed it had precleared a reapportionment plan), an injunction should not issue. The three-judge court dismissed the State’s claim out of hand, concluding that “[t]he Court will not consider here South Carolina’s contention that it is likely to prevail on the merits, because Section 5 is meant to prevent implementation “without any need for prior adjudication’ of actual discrimination” Id. at 422 n. 8 (quoting Katzenbach, 383 U.S. at 327-28, 86 S.Ct. at 818-19).

Here, the City and State have made an argument virtually indistinguishable from that made and rejected in South Carolina v. United States. Like that three-judge court, we too reject the City’s and State’s claim that if the United States fails to demonstrate a substantial likelihood of success on the merits or fails to meet the other three parts of the traditional preliminary injunction test, we should not issue an injunction.

Moreover, the traditional preliminary injunction test undermines the purpose of § 5 because it is inconsistent with the expedited administrative preclearance process prescribed by Congress. The Supreme Court has said that the process of administrative preclearance is designed to benefit the,submitting jurisdiction because it imposed upon the Attorney General a relatively stringent 60-day period within which to interpose an objection to properly submitted voting changes. See Morris v. Gressette, 432 U.S. at 504, 97 S.Ct. at 2420; 28 C.F.R. § 51.41(a). The Morris Court recognized that “[i]n light of the potential severity of the § 5 remedy, the statutory language, and the legislative history, we think it clear that Congress intended to provide covered jurisdictions with an expeditious alternative to declaratory judgment actions.” Morris, 432 U.S. at 504, 97 S.Ct. at 2420. As such, the Court declined in Morris to slow that process down by holding that courts cannot judicially review the Attorney General’s failure to interpose an objection within the prescribed 60-day period. Id. at 504-07; see also Leroy v. City of Houston, 831 F.2d 576, 580 (5th Cir.1987) (recognizing that administrative preclearance provides “speedy, definitive oversight of local election procedures”), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1008, 108 S.Ct. 1735, 100 L.Ed.2d 199 (1988).

Morris illustrates the particularly ironic conclusion the City and State would have us endorse through application of the traditional preliminary injunction test. Although the process of administrative preclearanee is designed to benefit the City and State through an expeditious preclearance process, the City and State want us to deny them that benefit by proceeding to an illusory “trial on the merits.” Such a conclusion would subvert the purpose of § 5’s administrative preelearance procedure. Congress clearly intended that the process of administrative preclearance ends when the Attorney General either objects to the proposed voting change within 60 days (and later declines to withdraw her objection), or she does not. Morris, 432 U.S. at 502, 504, 97 S.Ct. at 2419, 2420. However, once the Attorney General interposes an objection, the only option available to a submitting jurisdiction is to obtain judicial preelearance through a declaratory judgment, and not wait around for a claim for injunctive relief (as the City and State have apparently done in this ease) and then seek a trial on the merits. See, e.g., United States v. Louisville Mun. Separate Sch. Dist. Bd. of Trustees, 557 F.Supp. at 1171. If the Attorney General objects and the submitting jurisdiction does not obtain a declaratory judgment from the District Court for the District of Columbia, a three-judge panel like this one can enjoin the implementation of that unpreeleared change. Morris, 432 U.S. at 495-96, 502, 97 S.Ct. at 2415-16, 2419. Clearly, there is no place in the process for a trial on the merits in this court.

We conclude that we have no jurisdiction to consider whether the Attorney General erred when it concluded the annexations to the City Court had a retrogressive effect. We also hold that the traditional four-pronged analysis for issuing an injunction simply does not comport with the clear jurisdictional mandate of this three-judge court, Supreme Court precedent, or the underlying purpose of § 5. We therefore turn to the well-established three-part inquiry that guides our decision today.

III. The Three-Part Section 5 Inquiry

In this case, neither the City nor the State has sought a declaratory judgment in the District Court for the District of Columbia declaring that the annexations affecting the Shreveport City Court elections meet § 5’s nonretrogression requirement. Rather, the City and State have sought, and have been denied, administrative preclearance from the Attorney General. Specifically, the Attorney General interposed timely objections to the 300-plus annexations on the ground that (1) preclearance for the City Council elections did not imply preclearance for the City Court elections because the two bodies are separate political jurisdictions requiring separate preclearance, and (2) the annexations had the effect of diluting minority voting strength in the City Court elections. Accordingly, we now turn to the question of whether the United States has made a sufficient showing that the City Court annexations are covered changes within the meaning of § 5, whether those changes have been precleared, and if these first two requirements are met, what remedy is appropriate under the circumstances.

A The Annexations Affecting the City Court Elections are Covered “Changes” Within the Meaning of§5

The City and State concede, as they must, that the City and State are “covered” jurisdictions for purposes of § 5 of the Voting Rights Act, 28 C.F.R. § 51 app. (1996); see also 28 C.F.R. § 51.6 (including cities within the definition of “political subunit[s]” subject to § 5’s preclearance requirements), and that the 300-plus annexations to the City are “changes” that come within the scope of § 5, see, e.g., Perkins v. Matthews, 400 U.S. at 388-89, 91 S.Ct. at 436-37 (holding that annexations are “changes” subject to § 5 preclearance); 28 C.F.R. § 51.13(e) (1996) (listing “annexations” as a covered voting change). The City and State claim, however, that because the Justice Department precleared the annexations for the City in general (and the City Council elections in particular) and because the City Court’s jurisdiction is coterminous with that of the City, the annexations affecting the City Court elections are not separate covered “changes” requiring separate Justice Department preclearance. The City and State are mistaken.

1. Analytical Framework and Guiding Principles

In some sense, this case presents a unique circumstance because the City Court has not played a role in effectuating a “voting change” as that term has been defined by the Supreme Court or within the applicable regulations. The United States has certainly not suggested that the City Court was responsible for the 300-plus annexations because the power to annex territory lies squarely with the City. Thus, because the City and State have conceded that the City is covered by § 5, the City may be said to have effectuated a covered voting change if it changed a “voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure” for one of its political subunits. 42 U.S.C. § 1973c; 28 C.F.R. § 51.6. Our task, therefore, is to determine whether the City Court is a political subunit of the City because if it is, the City Court annexations are subject to § 5 preclearance. We conclude that the Shreveport City Court is a political subunit of the City.

Three well-established principles guide our analysis. First, “[t]o determine whether there have been changes with respect to voting, we must compare the challenged practices with those in existence before they were adopted.” Presley v. Etowah County Comm’n, 502 U.S. 491, 495, 112 S.Ct. 820, 825, 117 L.Ed.2d 51 (1992). Only a change in such practices triggers § 5 scrutiny. Second, we must accord the Voting Rights Act “the broadest possible scope” and interpret the Act to reach any enactment that affects voting “in even a minor way.” Allen v. State Bd. of Elections, 393 U.S. at 566, 567, 89 S.Ct. at 832-33 (emphasis added). And third, we must conclude that the annexations affecting the City Court are a covered change if those annexations merely have a “potential for discrimination.” NAACP, 470 U.S. at 181, 105 S.Ct. at 1137 (original emphasis); see also Dougherty County, 439 U.S. at 42, 99 S.Ct. at 374; Georgia v. United States, 411 U.S. at 534, 93 S.Ct. at 1707-08; Brooks, 775 F.Supp. at 1478.

2. The Attorney General’s Position

We have the benefit in this case of the Attorney General’s interpretation of whether the City Court is a political subunit of the City. That view, expressed in 28 C.F.R. § 51.13(e) (which we discuss below), developed over the course of the correspondence with the City and State and has developed further in the Justice Department’s pleadings in this matter. Accordingly, we first turn to the Attorney General’s position on whether the annexations as they affected the City Court elections are covered changes, mindful that the Attorney General’s interpretation of § 5 is entitled to considerable deference.

In its correspondence with the City regarding the preclearance status of the Shreveport City Court, the Attorney General characterized the effect of the annexations on the City Court as follows:

We now address the claim made in earlier correspondence that since the city’s municipal annexations have been precleared by the Department of Justice, they can be implemented for the city court as well. We find this claim unpersuasive. [1] At all times since the date of Louisiana’s coverage under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act the Shreveport City Court has had boundaries different than that of the city, and separate elected officers. [2] At least since 1978, the method of electing city court judges has differed from that of the city council, as has been the ability of minority voters to elect candidates of their choice. As you may know, the City of Shreveport did not have a method of election that fairly reflected minority voting strength until the city’s attempt to annex areas which would dilute minority voting strength resulted in a denial of preelearance under the City of Richmond standard and a 1978 change in election method.

Based on these differences it is clear that the Shreveport City Court is a separate entity from the city and that the effect of annexations to the city, including application of the City of Richmond standard, would be quite different than the resulting effect of annexations altering the city court boundaries.

United States’ Orig. Complaint, Exh. C, at 3-4. At oral argument, the United States elaborated somewhat on the Attorney General’s method of determining covered “changes” to voting for purposes of § 5, arguing that the annexations affecting the City Court, as compared to the City Council, were covered changes because

[the Attorney General] didn’t also look at the body, the number of people who are different; in other words, the governing body is important, whether or not you are dealing with one individual that is being elected or whether you’re dealing with multiple people who are being elected. In this case, there had been no analysis by the Department of Justice as to the electorate, as to the body, which is this two-person court, and the effect that that would have on whether or not there was a discriminatory purpose or a discriminatory effect.

Transcript of Proceedings, at 111.

In 1994, the Attorney General also informed the City and the State that the annexations had a discriminatory effect. The Attorney General argued that “local judicial elections are characterized by racial bloc voting and that, in this context, the annexations effect a significant reduction in the opportunity of black voters to elect candidates of their choice in city court elections.” Id., Exh. A, at 2; see City of Port Arthur v. United States, 459 U.S. 159, 167, 103 S.Ct. 530, 535, 74 L.Ed.2d 334 (1982) (reasoning that racial bloc voting is a relevant determination of whether a voting change has a discriminatory effect). In 1996, the Attorney General claimed that, based on 1990 Census data, the black vote within the two City Court districts had been diluted: “[T]he black percentage of the city court’s electoral jurisdiction [declined] from 56 to 45 percent.” Id., Exh. B, at 2.

The Supreme Court has said that “[a]s in other contexts in which we defer to an administrative interpretation of a statute, we do so only if Congress has not expressed its intent with respect to the question, and then only if the administrative interpretation is reasonable.” Presley v. Etowah County Comm’n, 502 U.S. at 508, 112 S.Ct. at 831 (citing Chevron, U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842-44, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 2781-83, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984)). When “reasonable minds may differ as to whether some particular changes in the law of a covered jurisdiction should be classified as changes in rules governing voting ... § 5 leaves a gap for interpretation to fill.” Id. at 509, 112 S.Ct. at 831-32. Where congressional intent is ambiguous as to the reach of § 5, we may defer to the judgment of the Attorney General if she “makes a reasonable argument that a contested change should be classified as a change in a rule governing voting____” Id.

Accordingly, if Congress has already made its intent clear regarding the applicability of § 5 to judicial districts like the Shreveport City Court, we would not be bound by the Attorney General’s interpretation. On its face, § 5 applies to “political subdivisions,” yet the statute does not explicitly state that judicial districts (like Divisions A and B of the Shreveport City Court) are “political subdivisions” under § 5. Although not conclusive of congressional intent, Senator Hatch’s statement in the legislative history accompanying the 1982 amendments to the Act explicitly suggests that judicial districts are covered under § 5. He stated that the term “ ‘political subdivision’ encompasses all governmental units, including city and county councils, school boards, judicial districts, utility districts, as well as state legislatures.” S.Rep. No. 417, 97th Cong., 2d Sess. 151, reprinted in 1982 U.S.C.CA.N. 177, 323 (emphasis added).

On balance, however, we find that Congress has not expressed a clear intent with respect to the meaning and scope of the term “political subdivision/’ such that we can comfortably conclude that Congress clearly intended to include judicial districts, like the Shreveport City Court, within the definition of “political subdivision.” We therefore must determine whether the Attorney General’s interpretation of § 5 — that the Shreveport City Court is a separate political subdivision requiring administrative or judicial preclearance — is reasonable.

We conclude that it is. First, the Shreveport City Court was established in 1898 (Act No. 103) under legislation different from that creating the City Council. Second, the electorate for the Shreveport City Court is different from the electorate for the City. For example, the Shreveport City Court covers Ward 4 of Caddo Parish, which, according to the City’s own Charter (§ 16.01 (1990 ed.)), is not included within the boundaries or jurisdiction of the City. Third, the method of electing members to the Shreveport City Council (for which the 300-plus annexations have been precleared) is different from the method of electing City Court judges. The Shreveport City Court elections are held at-large, whereas the City in the 1970s changed the method of electing the City Council from at-large to single-member districts.

As we noted above, the Attorney General has promulgated a regulation that defines a covered change as “[a]ny change in the constituency of an official or the boundaries of a voting unit.” 28 C.F.R. § 51.13(e). This regulation mirrors the Supreme Court’s holding in Presley that a covered change for § 5 purposes includes “changes in the composition of the electorate that may vote for candidates for a given office. [Citations.].” 502 U.S. at 503, 112 S.Ct. at 828. In this case, when the Attorney General first learned that the City was conducting elections for the City Court which included the annexations that had been previously precleared only for the City Council, he cited, among other things, § 51.13 and advised the State that it needed to preclear those annexations for purposes of holding City Court elections. United States’ Orig. Complaint, Exh. B.

In light of the broad scope of § 5 and the substantial deference we must pay to the Attorney General’s interpretation of § 5, we are convinced that the Attorney General’s position that the City Court is political subunit of the City and that the annexations affecting the City Court have the potential for discrimination, is eminently reasonable. The three factors we have outlined above plainly indicate that the City Court operates under a different election scheme than the City Council and other political offices within the City. Moreover, the Attorney General’s definition of a “voting change” (expressed, as we have said, in 28 C.F.R. § 51.13(e)) is virtually identical to the Supreme Court’s interpretation of a “voting change” in Presley. Finally, the Attorney General has consistently asserted since 1989 that the City Court annexations required § 5 approval and that the annexations have a retrogressive effect.

This case certainly does not present the situation faced by the Supreme Court in Presley. There, the Attorney General concluded that the decisionmaking authority among elected officials is a covered change requiring § 5 preelearance. The Court refused to defer to this interpretation of § 5 because the allocation of power within local elective office was not a “voting change” within the meaning of § 5. 502 U.S. at 509-10, 112 S.Ct. at 831-32. “Covered changes,” reasoned the Court, “must bear a direct relation to voting itself____ The changes in Etowah and Russell Counties affected only the allocation of power among governmental officials.” Id. at 510, 112 S.Ct. at 832.

This case is more akin to NAACP v. Hampton County Election Comm’n, 470 U.S. 166, 105 S.Ct. 1128. There, the Court deferred to the Attorney General’s determination that the change in the date of an election was covered by § 5. The Court justified its deference on the ground that the Attorney General had consistently interpreted § 5 to cover such actions by political bodies. Id. at 179, 105 S.Ct. at 1135-36; see also City of Pleasant Grove v. United States, 479 U.S. at 468, 107 S.Ct. at 798 (deferring to the Attorney General’s interpretation of § 5 because the Attorney General adhered to a consistent interpretation of § 5). The same holds true in this case: From the start, the Attorney General has remained firm that the City Court annexations were covered changes requiring § 5 preclearance. Since 1989, the first time the Attorney General learned that the Shreveport City Court elections included the 300-plus annexations, the Attorney General has insisted that the City and State obtain preclearance for those annexations. And since 1994, when the Attorney General interposed a timely objection to the City Court annexations, the Attorney General has repeatedly reminded the City and State that it would not withdraw the objection.

8. Independent Justifications

Two justifications, independent of the Attorney General’s position support our conclusion that the City Court is a political subunit of the City. First, if we were to conclude that the City Court is not a political subunit of the City, we would be construing § 5 as narrowly as possible, a result inconsistent with the purpose behind § 5. As we have pointed out, it is well-settled that § 5 is designed to cover even “minor” voting changes, and that courts ought to read the scope of § 5 as broadly as possible. Given the differences in the method of election, size of office, and geographic reach between the City Court and other elective offices within the City, we would be contracting the scope of § 5 by concluding that the City Court annexations did not require federal approval.

Second, and closely related to the first point, if we were to accept the City’s and State’s position that the annexations effectuated by the City produced a single, in global voting change, we would immunize from § 5 scrutiny a wide array of voting changes by effectively eliminating the specificity requirement from the administrative preclearance process. This is so for obvious reasons. One of the underlying purposes of the specificity requirement is to ensure that covered jurisdictions do not subvert the § 5 approval process by burying discriminatory changes in voting within a voluminous submission. If we were to conclude that the objected-to annexations in this case produced one change, we would eliminate the City Court elections from the scope of § 5 even though the annexations have had a different effect on the City Court elections than, for example, the City Council elections. Administrative preelearance means nothing if courts so narrowly construe the reach of § 5 that the specificity requirement is eliminated. This cannot be the law.

A The City’s and State’s Objections to Finding a Covered Change

The City and State claim that if we were to hold that the annexations as they affect the Shreveport City Court are’ separate changes requiring separate preclearance, we would nullify Section 1952 of Act No. 32 (1960), which provides as follows:

The following city courts, heretofore created and established by special legislative act are hereby recognized and continued in existence, and except as otherwise provided in this section, their territorial jurisdiction shall extend through the city and ward or wards wherein the city in which they are domiciled is located, as extended from time to time.

(Emphasis added.) Nullification occurs, the City and State argue, because by requiring preclearance for the City Court, we would be declaring that the jurisdiction and boundaries are not, as § 1952 states, coterminous with those of the City. We disagree.

We do not interpret the United States’ request for injunctive relief as a backdoor attempt to obtain preclearance for a preVoting Rights Act statute. Plainly, the 1960 law operates as enabling legislation which provides authority for the extension of the City Court’s boundaries when those of the City expand. However, each annexation to the City Court implemented pursuant to that law after November 1, 1964, comes within § 5’s preelearance requirement. See, e.g., 28 C.F.R. § 51.15(a), (b)(1) (1996). If this were not so, many annexations would not have to be precleared because they are effectuated pursuant to pre-Voting Rights Act enabling statutes like § 1952, a result inconsistent with the purpose of § 5. See, e.g., Terrazas v. Slagle, 821 F.Supp. at 1161.

To sum up, after careful consideration of the parties’ contentions and the case law in this area, we conclude that the annexations as they affect the Shreveport City Court elections are covered changes within the meaning of § 5 of the Voting Rights Act. As such, the City Court annexations require § 5 preclearance.

B. The Annexations Affecting the Shreveport City Court Elections Were Not Precleared

We now turn to the United States’ contention that the annexations have not been precleared by the Attorney General. The City and State claim that they do not need to preclear, for a “second time,” annexations affecting the Shreveport City Court elections because the same annexations have been preeleared for the City in general and the Shreveport City Council in particular. The City and State assert a theory of preclearance by implication, and we reject it.

The Supreme Court, lower federal courts, and the applicable regulations uniformly require submitting jurisdictions to identify with specificity the changes sought to be precleared. “Even an informed submission of a change in voting procedures does not satisfy the [preclearance] requirements of § 5____” NAACP v. Hampton County Election Comm’n, 470 U.S. at 182, 105 S.Ct. at 1137. The change affecting voting must be presented to the Attorney General “in some unambiguous and recordable manner.” Allen, 393 U.S. at 571, 89 S.Ct. at 834.

In the seminal decision of McCain v. Lybrand, 465 U.S. 236, 104 S.Ct. 1037, the Supreme Court flatly rejected an implied preclearance theory similar to the one urged here. In McCain, South Carolina enacted a statute in 1966 that changed election practices in a county. The statute was not submitted for § 5 approval. Then, in 1971, the statute was amended, modifying the 1966 election practices, and state officials submitted the amendment to the Attorney General for approval. The Attorney General requested more information, including the 1966 statute, and the proposed amendment was thereafter approved. Under these circumstances, the Court held that the 1966 enactment was not preeleared. . Recognizing the limited resources of the Justice Department together with the need to enforce § 5, the Supreme Court held that

[i]n light of the structure, purpose, history, and operation of § 5, we have rejected the suggestions that the Act contemplates that a submission occurs when the Attorney General merely becomes aware of legislation, no matter in what manner, and instead have held that [a] fair interpretation of the Act requires that the State in some unambiguous and recordable manner submit any legislation or regulation in question directly to the Attorney General with a request for his consideration pursuant to the Act.

Id. at 249, 104 S.Ct. at 1045-46 (internal quotations and citations omitted). The Court reasoned that “the preclearanee procedures mandated by § 5 of the Voting Rights Act focus entirely on changes in election practices.” Id. at 251, 104 S.Ct. at 1046 (original emphasis). The McCain Court concluded as follows:

The fact that a covered jurisdiction adopted a new election practice after the effective date of the Voting Rights Act raises, in effect, a statutory inference that the practice may have been adopted for a discriminatory purpose or may have a discriminatory effect and places the burden on the jurisdiction to establish that the practice is not discriminatory. A request for preclearance of certain identified changes in election practices which fails to identify other practices as new ones thus cannot be considered an adequate submission of the latter practices.

Id. at 256-57, 104 S.Ct. at 1049 (emphasis added). McCain therefore suggests that changes to election practices (such as those affecting the Shreveport City Court) specifically must be brought to the attention of and receive approval from the Attorney General before those changes are deemed precleared.

The Supreme Court twice reaffirmed the specificity principle at work in McCain. In Clark v. Roemer, 500 U.S. 646, 111 S.Ct. 2096, the Court rejected a claim similar to the one rejected in McCain. In Clark, the Court reversed the decision of a three-judge panel, which had held submission and approval of a later electoral change amounted to submission and approval of an earlier electoral change. The Court criticized the three-judge court for “r'eplieat[ing] the precise factual and legal errors [the Court] identified in McCain.” Id. at 657, 111 S.Ct. at 2104. McCain, according to the Clark Court, “establishes a presumptim, ” that the Attorney General is required to review only those changes identified with specificity. Id. at 657-58, 111 S.Ct. at 2103-04 (emphasis added).

More recently, in Lopez v. Monterey County, — U.S. —, 117 S.Ct. 340, the Court reaffirmed the specificity requirement for § 5. There, the State claimed that administrative preclearance of a state law implied preclearance for a County consolidation ordinance that had never been submitted or approved by the Attorney General. Relying on McCain and Clark, the Court, in a unanimous decision, rejected the claim on the ground that the State had not brought the ordinance to the Attorney General’s attention when the State submitted the state law for approval. Id. at -, 117 S.Ct. at 345.

We have reviewed every correspondence submitted by the parties between the Justice Department and the City regarding preelearanee for the annexations to the City. The City Court is never mentioned. Accordingly, McCain, Clark, and Lopez compel the conclusion that the annexations to the City Court have not been precleared.

In addition, it was not until 1989, when the State submitted its proposal to add two judges to the City Court, that the Justice Department first learned that elections for the City Court included the annexations that were precleared for the City Council. In other words, in the State’s original submission for § 5 preclearanee for the City Council, the State did not even mention, much less allude to, the City Court. Thus, under these facts, it would be anomalous for us to hold that the annexations affecting the City Court were impliedly precleared even though the Attorney General knew nothing about the unsubmitted changes to the City Court’s voting practices, when the Supreme Court in McCain and Clark rejected the notion of implied preclearance where the Attorney General was aware of an unsubmitted, unprecleared voting change.

In light of the facts, the clear dictates in the case law, and the arguments made to this court by the United States, the State continues to insist that it is not asserting a theory of. preclearance by implication. According to the State, it “has never made any allegations that the 300 annexations are implicitly preeleared. The state’s argument is that the 300 annexations have, in fact, been precleared.” State’s Post-Hearing Brief, at 7. This argument is belied by the fact that the only position that can possibly justify the State’s contention in this case is preclearanee by implication. The State’s justification for its claim that the annexations to the City Court have “in fact” been precleared is that the City Court is not a political subunit of the City requiring separate preclearance for any annexations effectuated by the City that affect voting. But as we have said, the City Court is a political subunit of the City, so that for us to hold in favor of the State in the face of this fact necessarily requires us to embrace a preclearanee-by-implication theory. This we decline to do.

We also cannot accept the City’s contention that the specificity requirement is satisfied because the City Charter was among the materials submitted to and approved by the Attorney General, and that within the Charter, the City Court is mentioned. First, the City Charter does not detail the election practices as they relate to the City Court. In fact, the