Sanchez

The trial court granted the defense’s motion for judgment on the pleadings after ruling that the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 (CVRA; Elec. Code § 14025 et seq.) was facially invalid under the equal protection clauses of die state and federal Constitutions. It entered judgment against plaintiff Latino voters, who allege that, because of racially polarized voting in the City of Modesto, they are precluded from electing any candidates in the city’s at-large city council elections. No evidence has been presented in support of or in opposition to this claim. Rather, at a preliminary stage of the litigation, the trial court struck down the CVRA, ruling that any possible application would necessarily involve unconstitutional racial discrimination. As we will explain, Modesto’s arguments do not support disposing of the Legislature’s act in this summary manner.

Courts make two kinds of decisions about the constitutionality of laws: decisions about whether a law is invalid on its face and in all of its conceivable applications (called “facial” invalidity), and about whether a particular application of a law is invalid (called “as-applied” invalidity). In this case, the…