252
Opinion of the Court
testimony. Appellants presented Dr. Peterson's testimony and data in support of four propositions: first, that registration figures do not accurately reflect actual voting behavior, see App. to Juris. Statement 173a-174a; second, that African-Americans are more reliable Democrats than whites, see id., at 159a-160a; third, that political affiliation explains splitting cities and counties as well as does race, see id., at 189a, 191a-192a, 182a-185a; and fourth, that differences in the racial and political makeup of the precincts just inside and outside the boundaries of District 12 show that politics is as good an explanation as is race for the district's boundaries, see id., at 161a-167a; 181a-182a. The District Court's criticism of Dr. Peterson's testimony at most affects the reliability of the fourth element of Dr. Peterson's testimony, his special boundary segment analysis. The District Court's criticism of Dr. Peterson's boundary segment analysis does not undermine the data related to the split communities. The criticism does not undercut Dr. Peterson's presentation of statistical evidence showing that registration was a poor indicator of party preference and that African-Americans are much more reliably Democratic voters, nor have we found in the record any significant evidence refuting that data.
At the same time, appellees themselves have used the information available in the record to create maps comparing the district's boundaries with Democratic/Republican voting behavior. See Appendixes A, B, and C, infra. Because no one challenges the accuracy of these maps, we assume that they are reliable; and we can assume that Dr. Peterson's testimony is reliable insofar as it confirms what the maps themselves contain and appellees themselves concede. Those maps, with certain exceptions discussed below, see infra, at 254-257, further indicate that the legislature drew boundaries that, in general, placed more-reliably Democratic voters inside the district, while placing less-reliably Democratic voters outside the district. And that fact, in turn,
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