Cite as: 599 U. S. ____ (2023)
3
J., concurringpart
KAVANAUGH
KAVANAUGH
, J., ,concurring
If Gingles demanded a proportional number of majorityminority districts, States would be forced to group together
geographically dispersed minority voters into unusually
shaped districts, without concern for traditional districting
criteria such as county, city, and town lines. But Gingles
and this Court’s later decisions have flatly rejected that
approach. See, e.g., Abbott v. Perez, 585 U. S. ___, ___–___
(2018) (slip op., at 33–34); Bush v. Vera, 517 U. S. 952, 979
(1996) (plurality opinion); Gingles, 478 U. S., at 50; see also
Miller v. Johnson, 515 U. S. 900, 917–920 (1995); Shaw v.
Reno, 509 U. S. 630, 644–649 (1993); ante, at 18–22. 2
Third, Alabama argues that courts should rely on raceblind computer simulations of redistricting maps to assess
whether a State’s plan abridges the right to vote on account
of race. It is true that computer simulations might help
detect the presence or absence of intentional
discrimination. For example, if all of the computer
simulations generated only one majority-minority district,
it might be difficult to say that a State had intentionally
discriminated on the basis of race by failing to draw a
second majority-minority district.
But as this Court has long recognized—and as all
Members of this Court today agree—the text of §2
establishes an effects test, not an intent test. See ante, at
17; post, at 7 (THOMAS, J., dissenting); post, at 16 (ALITO,
J., dissenting). And the effects test, as applied by Gingles
to redistricting, requires in certain circumstances that
courts account for the race of voters so as to prevent the
cracking or packing—whether intentional or not—of large
——————
2 To ensure that Gingles does not improperly morph into a
proportionality mandate, courts must rigorously apply the
“geographically compact” and “reasonably configured” requirements.
See ante, at 22 (§2 requirements under Gingles are “exacting”). In this
case, for example, it is important that at least some of the plaintiffs’
proposed alternative maps respect county lines at least as well as
Alabama’s redistricting plan. See ante, at 12.
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