34
ALLEN v. MILLIGAN
Opinion of the Court
the effects test of §2 as interpreted in Gingles and, under
certain circumstances, have authorized race-based redistricting as a remedy for state districting maps that violate
§2. See, e.g., supra, at 11; cf. Mississippi Republican Executive Committee v. Brooks, 469 U. S. 1002 (1984). In light
of that precedent, including City of Rome, we are not persuaded by Alabama’s arguments that §2 as interpreted in
Gingles exceeds the remedial authority of Congress.
The concern that §2 may impermissibly elevate race in
the allocation of political power within the States is, of
course, not new. See, e.g., Shaw, 509 U. S., at 657 (“Racial
gerrymandering, even for remedial purposes, may balkanize us into competing racial factions; it threatens to carry
us further from the goal of a political system in which race
no longer matters.”). Our opinion today does not diminish
or disregard these concerns. It simply holds that a faithful
application of our precedents and a fair reading of the record before us do not bear them out here.
*
*
*
The judgments of the District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in the Caster case, and of the three-judge
District Court in the Milligan case, are affirmed.
It is so ordered.
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