Cite as: 507 U. S. 146 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
has, if any at all, depends entirely on the facts and circumstances of each case.
The District Court, however, initially thought it unnecessary to determine the effect of creating majority-black districts under the totality of the circumstances. In fact, the court did not believe it necessary to find vote dilution at all. It instead held that § 2 prohibits the creation of majority-minority districts unless such districts are necessary to remedy a statutory violation. 794 F. Supp., at 701. We disagree. Section 2 contains no per se prohibitions against particular types of districts: It says nothing about majority-minority districts, districts dominated by certain political parties, or even districts based entirely on partisan political concerns. Instead, § 2 focuses exclusively on the consequences of apportionment. Only if the apportionment scheme has the effect of denying a protected class the equal opportunity to elect its candidate of choice does it violate § 2; where such an effect has not been demonstrated, § 2 simply does not speak to the matter. See 42 U. S. C. § 1973(b). Indeed, in Gingles we expressly so held: "[E]lectoral devices . . . may not be considered per se violative of § 2. Plaintiffs must demonstrate that, under the totality of the circumstances, the devices result in unequal access to the electoral process." 478 U. S., at 46. As a result, the District Court was required to determine the consequences of Ohio's apportionment plan before ruling on its validity; the failure to do so was error.
The District Court's decision was flawed for another reason as well. By requiring appellants to justify the creation of majority-minority districts, the District Court placed the burden of justifying apportionment on the State. Section 2, however, places at least the initial burden of proving an apportionment's invalidity squarely on the plaintiff's shoulders. Section 2(b) specifies that § 2(a) is violated if "it is shown" that a state practice has the effect of denying a protected group equal access to the electoral proc-
155
Page: Index Previous 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007