Cite as: 588 U. S. ____ (2019)
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Syllabus
(b) Any standard for resolving partisan gerrymandering claims
must be grounded in a “limited and precise rationale” and be “clear,
manageable, and politically neutral.” Vieth, 541 U. S., at 306–308
(Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment). The question is one of degree:
How to “provid[e] a standard for deciding how much partisan dominance is too much.” LULAC, 548 U. S., at 420 (opinion of Kennedy,
J.). Partisan gerrymandering claims rest on an instinct that groups
with a certain level of political support should enjoy a commensurate
level of political power and influence. Such claims invariably sound
in a desire for proportional representation, but the Constitution does
not require proportional representation, and federal courts are neither equipped nor authorized to apportion political power as a matter
of fairness. It is not even clear what fairness looks like in this context. It may mean achieving a greater number of competitive districts by undoing packing and cracking so that supporters of the disadvantaged party have a better shot at electing their preferred
candidates. But it could mean engaging in cracking and packing to
ensure each party its “appropriate” share of “safe” seats. Or perhaps
it should be measured by adherence to “traditional” districting criteria. Deciding among those different visions of fairness poses basic
questions that are political, not legal. There are no legal standards
discernible in the Constitution for making such judgments. And it is
only after determining how to define fairness that one can even begin
to answer the determinative question: “How much is too much?”
The fact that the Court can adjudicate one-person, one-vote claims
does not mean that partisan gerrymandering claims are justiciable.
This Court’s one-person, one-vote cases recognize that each person is
entitled to an equal say in the election of representatives. It hardly
follows from that principle that a person is entitled to have his political party achieve representation commensurate to its share of
statewide support. Vote dilution in the one-person, one-vote cases refers to the idea that each vote must carry equal weight. That requirement does not extend to political parties; it does not mean that
each party must be influential in proportion to the number of its supporters. The racial gerrymandering cases are also inapposite: They
call for the elimination of a racial classification, but a partisan gerrymandering claim cannot ask for the elimination of partisanship.
Pp. 15–21.
(c) None of the proposed “tests” for evaluating partisan gerrymandering claims meets the need for a limited and precise standard that
is judicially discernible and manageable. Pp. 22–30.
(1) The Common Cause District Court concluded that all but one
of the districts in North Carolina’s 2016 Plan violated the Equal Protection Clause by intentionally diluting the voting strength of Demo-