242
Opinion of the Court
must show that a facially neutral law " 'is "unexplainable on grounds other than race." ' " Cromartie, supra, at 546 (quoting Shaw I, 509 U. S., at 644, in turn quoting Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp., 429 U. S. 252, 266 (1977)).
The Court also has made clear that the underlying districting decision is one that ordinarily falls within a legislature's sphere of competence. Miller, 515 U. S., at 915. Hence, the legislature "must have discretion to exercise the political judgment necessary to balance competing interests," ibid., and courts must "exercise extraordinary caution in adjudicating claims that a State has drawn district lines on the basis of race," id., at 916 (emphasis added). Caution is especially appropriate in this case, where the State has articulated a legitimate political explanation for its districting decision, and the voting population is one in which race and political affiliation are highly correlated. See Cromartie, supra, at 551-552 (noting that "[e]vidence that blacks constitute even a supermajority in one congressional district while amounting to less than a plurality in a neighboring district will not, by itself, suffice to prove that a jurisdiction was motivated by race in drawing its district lines when the evidence also shows a high correlation between race and party preference").
We also are aware that we review the District Court's findings only for "clear error." In applying this standard, we, like any reviewing court, will not reverse a lower court's finding of fact simply because we "would have decided the case differently." Anderson v. Bessemer City, 470 U. S. 564, 573 (1985). Rather, a reviewing court must ask whether, "on the entire evidence," it is "left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed." United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 333 U. S. 364, 395 (1948).
Where an intermediate court reviews, and affirms, a trial court's factual findings, this Court will not "lightly overturn" the concurrent findings of the two lower courts. E. g., Neil
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