Cite as: 532 U. S. 234 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
(3) that Dr. Peterson's testimony was " 'unreliable' and not relevant," id., at 420 (citing testimony of Dr. Weber); (4) that a legislative redistricting leader, Senator Roy Cooper, had alluded at the time of redistricting "to a need for 'racial and partisan' balance," ibid.; and (5) that the Senate's redistricting coordinator, Gerry Cohen, had sent Senator Cooper an e-mail reporting that Cooper had "moved Greensboro Black community into the 12th, and now need[ed] to take [about] 60,000 out of the 12th," App. 369; 133 F. Supp. 2d, at 420.
The State and intervenors filed a notice of appeal. 28 U. S. C. § 1253. We noted probable jurisdiction. 530 U. S. 1260 (2000). And we now reverse.
II
The issue in this case is evidentiary. We must determine whether there is adequate support for the District Court's key findings, particularly the ultimate finding that the legislature's motive was predominantly racial, not political. In making this determination, we are aware that, under Shaw I and later cases, the burden of proof on the plaintiffs (who attack the district) is a "demanding one." Miller v. Johnson, 515 U. S. 900, 928 (1995) (O'Connor, J., concurring). The Court has specified that those who claim that a legislature has improperly used race as a criterion, in order, for example, to create a majority-minority district, must show at a minimum that the "legislature subordinated traditional race-neutral districting principles . . . to racial considerations." Id., at 916 (majority opinion). Race must not simply have been "a motivation for the drawing of a majority-minority district," Bush v. Vera, 517 U. S. 952, 959 (1996) (O'Connor, J., principal opinion) (emphasis in original), but "the 'predominant factor' motivating the legislature's districting decision," Cromartie, supra, at 547 (quoting Miller, supra, at 916) (emphasis added). Plaintiffs
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