The alignment of the parties deserves mention. The original set of plaintiffs comprised eight African–Americans, residing and voting in Marion County, Indiana, one of whom (Dickinson) was a candidate for the House of Representatives from District 49. Originally, the defendants consisted of three groups. The first comprised five Democratic candidates running for the Indiana House of Representatives—William Crawford, Joseph Summers and John Day for District 51; Mary Moore and Craig Doyle for District 49. This group moved for, and received, permission to realign as plaintiffs. The second group—Paul Mannweiler, John Keeler and John Ruckelshaus III—consisted of Republican candidates for the Indiana House of Representatives in District 49 named as defendants pursuant to
Fed.R.Civ.P. 19(a)(2) (
Rule 19 Defendants). The third group—the Indiana State Election Board, responsible for administering elections in the state; Evan Bayh, governor of Indiana, in that capacity and as an
ex officio member of the Election Board; and Alan Mills, Donald Cox and Robert Wright, as members of the Board—represented the state (State Defendants). In a real sense, only the
Rule 19 Defendants are adverse to the plaintiffs in this action. They raised the defenses of equity and laches before the district court, whereas the State Defendants did not join the defense and have even supported the plaintiffs' cause. Order on Affirmative Defense (May 30, 1990) (Appellees' App. at 18).