Voinovich v. Quilter, 507 U.S. 146, 7 (1993)

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152

VOINOVICH v. QUILTER

Opinion of the Court

peatedly elected from districts with only a 35% black population. Against this background, the per se requirement of the creation of majority-minority districts has a dilutive effect on black votes . . . ." Id., at 141a, 142a (footnotes omitted).

The District Court further concluded that, because the board had applied the " 'remedy' intentionally" and for the purpose of political advantage, it had violated not only § 2 but the Fifteenth Amendment as well. Id., at 142a-143a. Finally, the court held that the plan violated the Fourteenth Amendment because it departed from the requirement that all districts be of nearly equal population. Id., at 146a-148a.

On March 31, 1992, the District Court ordered that the primary elections for Ohio's General Assembly be rescheduled. 794 F. Supp. 760 (ND Ohio). On April 20, 1992, this Court granted appellants' application for a stay of the District Court's orders, 503 U. S. 979; and on June 1, 1992, we noted probable jurisdiction, 504 U. S. 954. We now reverse the judgment of the District Court and remand only for further proceedings on whether the plan's deviation from equal population among districts violates the Fourteenth Amendment.

II

Congress enacted § 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 42 U. S. C. § 1973, to help effectuate the Fifteenth Amendment's guarantee that no citizen's right to vote shall "be denied or abridged . . . on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude," U. S. Const., Amdt. 15. See NAACP v. New York, 413 U. S. 345, 350 (1973). Section 2(a) of the Act prohibits the imposition of any electoral practice or procedure that "results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen . . . to vote on account of race or color." Section 2(b), in relevant part, specifies that § 2(a) is violated if:

"[B]ased on the totality of circumstances, it is shown that the political processes leading to nomination or elec-

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