876
Opinion of Kennedy, J.
which O'Connor, J., joined. O'Connor, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, post, p. 885. Thomas, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Scalia, J., joined, post, p. 891. Blackmun, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Stevens, Souter, and Ginsburg, JJ., joined, post, p. 946. Ginsburg, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 956. Stevens, J., filed a separate opinion, in which Blackmun, Souter, and Ginsburg, JJ., joined, post, p. 957.
R. Napier Murphy argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the briefs was W. Lonnie Barlow.
Christopher Coates argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief were Laughlin McDonald, Kathleen Wilde, Neil Bradley, Mary Wyckoff, John A. Powell, and Steven R. Shapiro.*
Justice Kennedy announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion, in which The Chief Justice joined, and in all but Part II-B of which Justice O'Connor joined.
This case presents the question whether the size of a governing authority is subject to a vote dilution challenge under § 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 42 U. S. C. § 1973.
I
The State of Georgia has 159 counties, one of which is Bleckley County, a rural county in central Georgia. Black persons make up nearly 20% of the eligible voting population in Bleckley County. Since its creation in 1912, the county has had a single-commissioner form of government for the exercise of "county governing authority." See Ga. Code Ann. § 1-3-3(7) (Supp. 1993). Under this system, the
*Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the United States by Acting Solicitor General Bryson, Acting Assistant Attorney General Turner, Acting Deputy Solicitor General Kneedler, Michael R. Dreeben, and Dennis J. Dimsey; and for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law by Antonia B. Ianniello, Herbert M. Wachtell, William H. Brown III, Norman Redlich, Thomas J. Henderson, Frank R. Parker, and Brenda Wright.
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