Cite as: 512 U. S. 874 (1994)
Opinion of O'Connor, J.
not necessarily subject to a dilution challenge under § 2 even when a change in that voting practice would be subject to the preclearance requirements of § 5.
III
With respect to challenges to the size of a governing authority, respondents fail to explain where the search for reasonable alternative benchmarks should begin and end, and they provide no acceptable principles for deciding future cases. The wide range of possibilities makes the choice "inherently standardless," post, at 889 (O'Connor, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment), and we therefore conclude that a plaintiff cannot maintain a § 2 challenge to the size of a government body, such as the Bleckley County Commission. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded for consideration of respondents' constitutional claim.
It is so ordered.
Justice O'Connor, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
I agree with Justices Kennedy and Thomas that a plaintiff cannot maintain a § 2 vote dilution challenge to the size of a governing authority, though I reach that conclusion by a somewhat different rationale. Justice Thomas rejects the notion that § 2 covers any dilution challenges, and would hold that § 2 is limited to "state enactments that regulate citizens' access to the ballot or the processes for counting a ballot." Post, at 945. As Justice Stevens points out, however, stare decisis concerns weigh heavily here. Post, at 963-966 (opinion of Stevens, J.); see also Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U. S. 30, 84 (1986) (O'Connor, J., concurring in judgment) ("We know that Congress intended to allow vote dilution claims to be brought under § 2"); id., at 87 ("I agree with the Court that proof of vote dilution can establish a violation of § 2"). These concerns require me to reject Justice
885
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