Updated, 4:28 p.m. Thursday: with more details from the lawsuit

A federal judge Thursday dismissed a landmark lawsuit that accused Dallas County commissioners of discriminating against white voters.

The lawsuit sought to dismantle the boundaries the county uses to elect commissioners, claiming that the lines dilute the voting strength of white residents.

U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater said it's possible for white voters to successfully claim voting rights discrimination, but he ruled that lawyers for the plaintiffs in Anne Harding vs. Dallas County didn't prove their case.

He wrote that given the political makeup of Dallas residents of voting age, and the geographical distribution of Anglo Republicans, it isn't possible to know if a GOP candidate could be elected in a second district.

"In other words, because plaintiffs have failed to produce any evidence at trial that the Commissioners Court could have created two performing districts for Anglo Republicans, the logical result is that [defendants] did not dilute the [Anglo Republican] vote," Fitzwater wrote.

He continued: "In fact, if anything, the evidence shows that plaintiffs' voting power has been strengthened, rather than diluted, by the concentration of Anglos in [Precinct 2] where they can reliably elect a Republican candidate. Accordingly, the court finds that plaintiffs have not proved their vote dilution claim."

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said Thursday he was pleased with Fitzwater's decision.

"As county judge, I've remained focused on protecting the rights of every voter," Jenkins said in a text message. "That's what we did in drawing these districts, and I'm glad the court agrees."

Dan Morenoff, lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, said that he was disappointed with Fitzwater's decision but was pleased that the judge agreed white voters could sue to have their rights protected. He said he didn't know if the plaintiffs would appeal.

"Judge Fitzwater has in fact ruled that the law is exactly the same regardless of what racial minority is bringing the action," he said. "Obviously, we need to examine this and think it through before we make a call on the next step."

A local conservative group called the Equal Voting Rights Institute brought the lawsuit on behalf of four white residents. The April trial featured dramatic testimony and video clips of Dallas County Commissioners Court meetings, including a hearing during which Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, clashed with a group of white residents protesting the forced resignation of former Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet.

But lawyers for the county argued that the map was not discriminatory and reflected the area's changing demographics.

Shift in power

Republicans dominated Dallas County politics until 2006, when Democrats elected Craig Watkins as Dallas County district attorney and little-known Jim Foster as county judge.

Democrats took firm control of the Commissioners Court in 2010, and the next year pushed through a redistricting plan that led to the party controlling four of the five seats on the court.

In 2015, conservative Republicans sued the county. The claims of the four plaintiffs — Harding, Gregory Jacobs, Holly Morse and Johannes Schroer — were tried under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the federal Voting Rights Act.

"Like something out of the bad old days, a southern electoral body plays naked racial politics, intentionally using its power to minimize a dissenting race's political sway," the lawsuit began. "That's not history — it's today's Dallas County."

The lawsuit argued that the 2011 map purposefully diminished the political clout of white voters. Whites in Dallas County overwhelmingly vote for Republicans, the suit said, while blacks and Hispanics tend to vote for Democrats.

"The plaintiffs' view is that a map was drawn on the basis of race to make sure a group couldn't elect the candidate of their choice," Morenoff said this year. "We're making the same arguments that plaintiffs have made in Texas the past few decades. The law protects racial minorities whoever they are."

But most members of the Commissioners Court are white, even though Hispanics are the county's largest racial group. According to census data, the county is 39 percent Hispanic, 33 percent white and 22 percent black.

Jenkins, Theresa Daniel and Mike Cantrell, the court's lone Republican, are white. The court has one black commissioner, Price, and one Hispanic, Elba Garcia.

Yet the plaintiffs argued that white conservatives aren't able to elect their candidate of choice.

Whites make up 48 percent of Dallas County voters, but essentially elect 25 percent (one commissioner) on the court, the lawsuit stated.

Many white voters were packed into precincts controlled by Daniel, Price and Garcia. And others had their votes wasted after being packed into Cantrell's Precinct 2, the lawsuit says.

Lawyers for the county disagreed with the court filing.

"Plaintiffs' amended complaint fails to allege or demonstrate how the currently elected County Commissioners are not the candidate of choice of Anglo voters," they wrote. "Even if the five commissioners are the candidates of choice of African-American and Latino voters, that fact does not preclude those Commissioners from also being the candidates of choice of Anglo voters."

During the trial, the plaintiffs offered alternative boundaries that their experts contended would have resulted in two conservative Republicans on the Commissioners Court.

But Fitzwater was swayed by testimony from Democratic strategist Matt Angle, who drew the 2011 map. Angle said it wasn't a given that voters in the two "Anglo" districts the plaintiffs sought would elect a Republican to the court.

Fitzwater's opinion states that under the plaintiffs' plan, white voters would be split between the existing Republican district and another one, opening the door for Democrats to control every seat on the Commissioners Court.

"There are not a sufficient number of Anglo Republicans to elect a Republican candidate in more then one commissioner district," Fitzwater wrote.

Return of Honey Boo Boo

One of the plaintiffs' star witnesses, Dallas minister Bill Lovell, used a contentious Commissioners Court meeting from 2011 to cast Price as a racist and the court members as enablers of intolerance.

In the meeting, Price was hounded by supporters of Sherbet, the former elections administrator who resigned after Price and Jenkins attempted to oust him.

When Price noticed that the public speakers against him were white, he cracked: "All of you are white," followed by "Go to hell."

Lovell testified that those comments, along with Price once dubbing Dickey "Honey Boo Boo," after a reality television personality, were evidence of racism and a hostile atmosphere for whites.

Defense lawyers disputed that Price was racially motivated and played video from the same meeting that showed a white resident frequently referring to Price as Dallas County's "chief mullah," a racially charged term. Price has said the "chief mullah" references led to his rant at the meeting.

Despite the histrionics at the trial, Lovell's testimony seemed to have little bearing on the merits of the case.

"To prove discriminatory effect, a plaintiff must establish that the election scheme impermissibly dilutes the voting rights of the racial minority," Fitzwater wrote. "Generally, this requires proof that the racial minority's voting potential has been minimized or canceled out or the political strength of such a group has been adversely affected."

The plaintiffs have 30 days to appeal Fitzwater's decision.