2
ALLEN v. MILLIGAN
J., concurringpart
KAVANAUGH
KAVANAUGH
, J., ,concurring
Court has ordinarily left the updating or correction of
erroneous statutory precedents to the legislative process.”
Ramos v. Louisiana, 590 U. S. ___, ___ (2020) (KAVANAUGH,
J., concurring in part) (slip op., at 4); see also, e.g., Kimble
v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC, 576 U. S. 446, 456 (2015);
Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, 491 U. S. 164, 172–173
(1989); Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U. S. 258, 283–284 (1972);
Burnet v. Coronado Oil & Gas Co., 285 U. S. 393, 406 (1932)
(Brandeis, J., dissenting). 1
Second, Alabama contends that Gingles inevitably
requires a proportional number of majority-minority
districts, which in turn contravenes the proportionality
disclaimer in §2(b) of the Voting Rights Act. 52 U. S. C.
§10301(b). But Alabama’s premise is wrong. As the Court’s
precedents make clear, Gingles does not mandate a
proportional number of majority-minority districts.
Gingles requires the creation of a majority-minority district
only when, among other things, (i) a State’s redistricting
map cracks or packs a large and “geographically compact”
minority population and (ii) a plaintiff ’s proposed
alternative map and proposed majority-minority district
are “reasonably configured”—namely, by respecting
compactness principles and other traditional districting
criteria such as county, city, and town lines. See, e.g.,
Cooper v. Harris, 581 U. S. 285, 301–302 (2017); Voinovich
v. Quilter, 507 U. S. 146, 153–154 (1993); ante, at 10–12,
18–22.
——————
1 Unlike ordinary statutory precedents, the “Court’s precedents
applying common-law statutes and pronouncing the Court’s own
interpretive methods and principles typically do not fall within that
category of stringent statutory stare decisis.” Ramos, 590 U. S., at ___,
n. 2 (opinion of KAVANAUGH, J.) (slip op., at 5, n. 2); see also, e.g., Kisor
v. Wilkie, 588 U. S. ___, ___–___ (2019) (GORSUCH, J., concurring in
judgment) (slip op., at 34–36); id., at ___–___ (KAVANAUGH, J., concurring
in judgment) (slip op., at 1–2); Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v.
PSKS, Inc., 551 U. S. 877, 899–907 (2007); Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 546
U. S. 500, 510–516 (2006).
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