The ACLU has threatened to sue Yakima Washington under the Voting Rights Act.  They want Yakima to move to single member districts and create a majority Hispanic district.

One little problem, you can’t draw a district in Yakima with 50 percent plus one Hispanic CITIZEN population in Yakima.  If the ACLU follows through on this threat, it will have the effect of forcing the creation of a noncitizen Hispanic majority district.  The Voting Rights Act was not designed to award political representation to non-citizens.  It was designed to remedy wrongs to racial minorities.  Yakima is in no mood to back down:

“‘Go ahead and sue,’ [the mayor] said Wednesday, the day before county election officials say they must have ballot language in hand from the city to add anything to the Feb. 8 strong-mayor special election.”

The mayor is right, and the ACLU would be on the hook for Yakima’s attorney’s fees if they sued and lost.  If you can’t satisfy Gingles One with adequate Hispanic citizen population, then you can’t win your case.  This seems like a poor place for the ACLU to burn scarce resources.