2 COOPER v. HARRIS Opinion of the Court omitted). When a voter sues state officials for drawing such race-based lines, our decisions call for a two-step analysis. First, the plaintiff must prove that “race was the predominant factor motivating the legislature’s decision to place a significant number of voters within or without a particular district.” Miller v. Johnson, 515 U. S. 900, 916 (1995). That entails demonstrating that the legislature “subordinated” other factors—compactness, respect for political subdivisions, partisan advantage, what have you—to “racial considerations.” Ibid. The plaintiff may make the required showing through “direct evidence” of legislative intent, “circumstantial evidence of a district’s shape and demographics,” or a mix of both. Ibid.1 Second, if racial considerations predominated over others, the design of the district must withstand strict scrutiny. See Bethune-Hill, 580 U. S., at ____ (slip op., at 13). The burden thus shifts to the State to prove that its race-based sorting of voters serves a “compelling interest” and is “narrowly tailored” to that end. Ibid. This Court has long assumed that one compelling interest is complying with operative provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA or Act), 79 Stat. 437, as amended, 52 U. S. C. §10301 et seq. See, e.g., Shaw v. Hunt, 517 U. S. 899, 915 (1996) (Shaw II). Two provisions of the VRA—§2 and §5—are involved in this case. §§10301, 10304. Section 2 prohibits any “standard, practice, or procedure” that “results in a denial —————— 1 A plaintiff succeeds at this stage even if the evidence reveals that a legislature elevated race to the predominant criterion in order to advance other goals, including political ones. See Bush v. Vera, 517 U. S. 952, 968–970 (1996) (plurality opinion) (holding that race predominated when a legislature deliberately “spread[ ] the Black population” among several districts in an effort to “protect[ ] Democratic incumbents”); Miller v. Johnson, 515 U. S. 900, 914 (1995) (stating that the “use of race as a proxy” for “political interest[s]” is “prohibit[ed]”).