Cite as: 532 U. S. 234 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
have "swapped" a handful of precincts out of a total of 154 precincts, involving a population of a few hundred out of a total population of about half a million, cannot significantly strengthen appellees' case.
IV
We concede the record contains a modicum of evidence offering support for the District Court's conclusion. That evidence includes the Cohen e-mail, Senator Cooper's reference to "racial balance," and to a minor degree, some aspects of Dr. Weber's testimony. The evidence taken together, however, does not show that racial considerations predominated in the drawing of District 12's boundaries. That is because race in this case correlates closely with political behavior. The basic question is whether the legislature drew District 12's boundaries because of race rather than because of political behavior (coupled with traditional, non-racial districting considerations). It is not, as the dissent contends, see post, at 266 (opinion of Thomas, J.), whether a legislature may defend its districting decisions based on a "stereotype" about African-American voting behavior. And given the fact that the party attacking the legislature's decision bears the burden of proving that racial considerations are "dominant and controlling," Miller, 515 U. S., at 913, given the "demanding" nature of that burden of proof, id., at 929 (O'Connor, J., concurring), and given the sensitivity, the "extraordinary caution," that district courts must show to avoid treading upon legislative prerogatives, id., at 916 (majority opinion), the attacking party has not successfully shown that race, rather than politics, predominantly accounts for the result. The record leaves us with the "definite and firm conviction," United States Gypsum Co., 333 U. S., at 395, that the District Court erred in finding to the contrary. And we do not believe that providing appellees a further opportunity to make their "precinct swapping" arguments in the District Court could change this result.
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