The Attorney General objected to the plan on the ground that the second district could have been created to give effect to minority voting strength in the State's south-central to southeastern region. Washington v. Davis, 426 U. S. 229, 239 (1976). Karcher v. Daggett, 462 U. S. 725, 758 (1983) (STEVENS, J., concurring). 339." the democratic ideal, it should find no footing here." Gomillion, in which a tortured municipal boundary line was drawn to exclude black voters, was such a case. If the company issues these new bonds at an annual coupon rate of 8%, they will sell at par. First, they suggest that a racial gerrymander of the sort alleged here is functionally equivalent to gerrymanders for nonracial purposes, such as political gerrymanders. 91-2038, p. 43a (Complaint in Pope v. Blue, No. Laws that explicitly distinguish between individuals on racial grounds fall within the core of that prohibition. Id., at 472-473. See ante, at 652 (acknowledging that "UJO set forth a standard under which white voters can establish unconstitutional vote dilution"). taker's concurrence appears to be premised on the notion that black citizens were being "fenc[ed] out" of municipal benefits. There is thus no theoretical inconsistency in having two distinct approaches to equal protection analysis, one for. To begin with, the complaint nowhere alleges any type of stigmatic harm. 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause. That duty, however, is not violated when the majority acts to facilitate the election of a member of a group that lacks such power because it remains underrepresented in the state legislature-whether that group is defined by political affiliation, by common economic interests, or by religious, ethnic, or racial characteristics. The Attorney General, acting through the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, interposed a formal objection to the General Assembly's plan. See 364 U. S., at 341, 346. You can explore additional available newsletters here. See, e. g., ante, at 639-641.4 A contrary conclusion could only be described as perverse. A. Croson Co., supra, at 493; see also Fullilove v. Klutznick, 448 U. S. 448, 484 (1980) (opinion of Burger, C. See n. 7, supra. Nor if dilution is proven is there any need for further constitutional scrutiny; there has never been a suggestion that such use of race could be justified under any type of scrutiny, since the dilution of the right to vote can not be said to serve any legitimate governmental purpose. to Juris. District 1 has been compared to a "Rorschach ink-blot test," Shaw v. Barr, 808 F. Supp. Id., at 179 (Stewart, J., concurring in judgment). Blumstein, Defining and Proving Race Discrimination: Perspectives on the Purpose V s. Results Approach from the Voting Rights Act, 69 Va. L. Rev. Rather, appellants' complaint alleged that the deliberate segregation of voters into separate districts on the basis of race violated their constitutional right to participate in a "color-blind". We previously have recognized a significant state interest in eradicating the effects of past racial discrimination. The court ruled in a 5-4 decision that redistricting based on race must be held to a standard of strict scrutiny under the equal protection clause. Constitution prohibits using race as the basis for how to draw districts, 1. Shaw v. Reno is an important decision because it represents a conservative shift on the Court. See Brief for Republican National Committee as Amicus Curiae 14-15. With these considerations in mind, we have limited such claims by insisting upon a showing that "the political processes were not equally open to participation by the group in question-that its members had less opportunity than did other residents in the district to participate in the political processes and to elect legislators of their choice." Yet, under the State's plan, they still constitute a voting majority in 10 (or 83%) of the 12 congressional districts. Following is the Case Brief for Baker v. Carr, United States Supreme Court, (1962) Case Summary of Baker v. Carr: A Tennessee resident brought suit against the Secretary of State claiming that the failure to redraw the legislative districts every ten years, as outlined in the state constitution, resulted in rural votes holding more votes . The Court ruled that claims of racial redistricting must be held to a standard of strict scrutiny, meaning that any law that results in classification by race must have a compelling government interest, be narrowly tailored to meet that goal, and be the least restrictive means for achieving that interest. We emphasize that these criteria are important not because they are constitutionally required-they are not, cf. 808 F. to Brief for Federal Appellees lOa. But "[a] number of states refused to take no for an answer and continued to circumvent the fifteenth amendment's prohibition through the use of both subtle and blunt instruments, perpetuating ugly patterns of pervasive racial discrimination." That argument strikes a powerful historical chord: It is unsettling how closely the North Carolina plan resembles the most egregious racial gerrymanders of the past. As was the case in New York, a number of North Carolina's political subdivisions have interfered with black citizens' meaningful exercise of the franchise and are therefore subject to 4 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act. In 1991, a group of white voters in North Carolina challenged the state's new congressional district map, which had two "majority-minority" districts. Since I do not agree that appellants alleged an equal protection violation and because the Court of Appeals faithfully followed the Court's prior cases, I dissent and would affirm the judgment below. Proc. We express no view as to whether appellants successfully could have challenged such a district under the Fourteenth Amendment. An understanding of the nature of appellants' claim is critical to our resolution of the case. Appellants sought declaratory and injunctive relief against the state appellees. In their complaint, appellants did not claim that the General Assembly's reapportionment plan unconstitutionally "diluted" white voting strength. JUSTICE SOUTER contends that exacting scrutiny of racial gerrymanders under the Fourteenth Amendment is inappropriate because reapportionment "nearly always require[s] some consideration of race for legitimate reasons." They did not even claim to be white. Get free summaries of new US Supreme Court opinions delivered to your inbox! of Ed., 476 U. S. 267, 279-280 (1986) (plurality opinion of Powell, J.) [Appendix containing map of North Carolina Congressional Plan follows this page.]. Appellants stated an equal protection claim by alleging that North Carolina's reapportionment scheme was so irrational on its face that it could be understood only as an effort to segregate voters based on race, and that separation lacks sufficient justification. Unlike other contexts in which we have addressed the State's conscious use of race, see, e.g.,Richmond v. J.A. At what time (or times) during the 24-hour period does the maximum body temperature occur? This is the reason that the placement of given voters in a given district, even on the basis of race, does not, without more, diminish the effectiveness of the individual as a voter. The first involves direct and outright deprivation of the right to vote, for example by means of a poll tax or literacy test. For much of our Nation's history, that right sadly has been denied to many because of race. Appellee Reno . Or can it maintain that change, while attempting to enhance minority voting power in some other manner? Harry A. Blackmun Blackmun. Ruth Shaw and four other white North Carolina voters filed suit against the U.S. attorney general and various North Carolina officials, claiming that race-based redistricting violated, among other provisions, the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The Court offers them no explanation of this paradox. Allen v. State Bd. Constitutional Law for a Changing America Resource Center, 13. plan did not minimize or unfairly cancel out white voting strength." And when race is used to supplant seniority in layoffs, someone is laid off who would not be otherwise. As we have explained, however, reapportionment legislation that cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to classify and separate voters by race injures voters in other ways. Indeed, racial classifications receive close scrutiny even when they may be said to burden or benefit the races equally. Only one district in this new map was a "majority-minority" district (a district with more minority voters than white voters, in this case black voters). Accord, Washington v. Seattle School Dist. As explained below, that position cannot be squared with the one taken by the majority in this case. They also point out that in 1990 a black candidate defeated a white opponent in the Democratic Party runoff for a United States Senate seat before being defeated narrowly by the Republican incumbent in the general election. The Attorney General objected to the plan on the ground that a second district could have been created to give effect to minority voting strength in the State's south-central to southeastern region. (emphasis added). In Gomillion, in short, the group that formed the majority at the state level purportedly set out to manipulate city boundaries in order to remove members of the minority, thereby denying them valuable municipal services. Plainly, this variety is not implicated by appellants' allegations and need not detain us further. More importantly, the majority's submission does not withstand analysis. See Davis v. Bandemer, 478 U. S., at 118-127. Naomi buys $1,000 worth of American Express travelers checks and charges 808 F. Because the General Assembly's reapportionment plan affected the covered counties, the parties agree that 5 applied. of Elections, 393 U. S. 544, 569 (1969) (emphasis added). The state appellees submit that two pieces of evidence gave the General Assembly a strong basis for believing that remedial action was warranted here: the Attorney General's imposition of the 5 preclearance requirement on 40 North Carolina counties, and the Gingles District Court's findings of a long history of official racial discrimination in North Carolina's political system and of pervasive racial bloc voting. Under the General Assembly's plan, two will vote for congressional representatives in District 12 and three will vote in neighboring District 2. 1983). 1 See Cousins v. City Council of Chicago, 466 F.2d 830, 848-852 (CA7) (Stevens, J., dissenting), cert. 3:92CV71-P (WDNC)). In my view there is no justification for the. on the race of those burdened or benefited by a particular classification." v. Bakke, supra, at 305 (opinion of Powell, J.). Putting that to one side, it seems utterly implausible to me to presume, as the Court does, that North Carolina's creation of this strangely shaped majority-minority district "generates" within the white plaintiffs here anything comparable to "a feeling of inferi-. Wygant v. Jackson Bd. This case involves two of the most complex and sensitive issues this Court has faced in recent years: the meaning of the constitutional "right" to vote, and the propriety of racebased state legislation designed to benefit members of historically disadvantaged racial minority groups. Id., at 59. e., an intent to aggravate "the unequal distribution of electoral power." Nor is there any support for the. Id., at 477. Although I disagree with the holding that appellants' claim is cognizable, the Court's discussion of the level of scrutiny it requires warrants a few comments. Indeed, because most of the nonwhite voters lived together in one area, it would have been difficult to construct voting districts without concentrations of nonwhite voters. That duty, however, is not violated when the majority acts to facilitate the election of a member of a group that lacks such power because it remains underrepresented in the state legislature - whether that group is defined by political affiliation, by common economic interests, or by religious, ethnic, or racial characteristics. Croson, supra, at 500 (quoting Wygant, supra, at 277 (plurality opinion)). The Act proved immediately successful in ensuring racial minorities access to the voting booth; by the early 1970's, the spread between black and white registration in several of the targeted Southern States had fallen to well below 10%. Id., at 342-348. Connor v. Finch, 431 U. S. 407, 422 (1977); the "stacking" of "a large minority population concentration with a larger white population," Parker, Racial Gerrymandering and Legislative Reapportionment, in Minority Vote Dilution 85, 92 (C. Davidson ed. 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