Shenkman Appeals Santa Monica District Voting Defeat To State Supreme Court
Written by 991KBU on August 20, 2020
As predicted … Malibu attorney Kevin Shenkman is taking his voting rights defeat in Santa Monica to the state Supreme Court.
And that case will have an impact on the ability of Malibu residents to vote for all city council candidates … as it could force the city to adopt voting by districts.
The Santa Monica Lookout newspaper reports that Shenkman and his Santa Monica Latino plaintiffs are appealing their defeat to the Supreme Court.
The three-judge appeals panel found that forcing Santa Monica into district voting would not cure any supposed discrimination against Latino candidates.
The Court of Appeal noted that carving Santa Monica into voting districts would only create one district with any sizable Latino population … but that would be only 30 percent minority.
Shenkman argues that his Appeal Court loss “conflicts with the plain language and unanimous interpretation of the statute reached by three other appellate courts.”
Shenkman warns that the ruling “leaves lower courts and current or potential litigants in doubt and confusion about how the Califotnia Voting Rights Act may apply.”
It also would cut off Shenkman’s lucrative law specialty … where his law firm gets paid by cities for merely filing complaints.
Shenkman’s legal associate has filed a similar discrimination claim in Malibu … where opponents called it a shakedown.
It appeared that Malibu was heading to voting by district … until Santa Monica won its case in the Court of Appeal.
And that’s the case being appealed by Shenkman to the state Supreme Court.
