Cite as: 585 U. S. ____ (2018) 5 Opinion of the Court e.g., Bethune-Hill v. Virginia State Bd. of Elections, 580 U. S. ___, ___ (2017) (slip op., at 13); Shaw v. Hunt, 517 U. S. 899, 915 (1996), and that a State’s consideration of race in making a districting decision is narrowly tailored and thus satisfies strict scrutiny if the State has “ ‘good reasons’ ” for believing that its decision is necessary in order to comply with the VRA. Cooper, supra, at ___ (slip op., at 3). B Facing this legal obstacle course, the Texas Legislature in 2011 adopted new districting plans, but those plans were immediately tied up in litigation and were never used. Several plaintiff groups quickly filed challenges in the District Court for the Western District of Texas, arguing that some of the districts in the new plans were racial gerrymanders, some were based on intentional vote dilution, and some had the effect of depriving minorities of the equal opportunity to elect the candidates of their choice. This case was assigned to a three-judge court, as required by 28 U. S. C. §2284(a). (We will call this court “the Texas court” or simply “the District Court.”) The situation was further complicated by the requirement that Texas obtain preclearance of its new plans. To do this, Texas filed for a declaratory judgment in the District Court for the District of Columbia. See Texas v. United States, 887 F. Supp. 2d 133 (2012). (We will call this court “the D. C. court.”) By early 2012, the D. C. court had not yet issued a decision, and Texas needed usable plans for its rapidly approaching primaries. Accordingly, the Texas court drew up interim plans for that purpose. Perez v. Perry, 835 F. Supp. 2d 209 (2011). In creating those plans, the majority of the Texas court thought that it was not “required to give any deference to the Legislature’s enacted plan.” Id., at 213. Instead, it based its plans on what it called “neutral principles that advance