904
Thomas, J., concurring in judgment
claims on behalf of any racial group.12 Moreover, it provides no test—indeed, it is not designed to provide a test—of whether race itself determines a distinctive political community of interest. According to the rule adopted in Gingles, plaintiffs must show simply that members of a racial group tend to prefer the same candidates. See 478 U. S., at 61-67 (opinion of Brennan, J.). There is no set standard defining how strong the correlation must be, and an inquiry into the cause for the correlation (to determine, for example, whether it might be the product of similar socioeconomic interests rather than some other factor related to race) is unnecessary. Ibid. See also id., at 100 (O'Connor, J., concurring in judgment).13 Thus, whenever similarities in political preferences along racial lines exist, we proclaim that the cause of the correlation is irrelevant, but we effectively rely on the fact of the correlation to assume that racial groups have unique political interests.
12 Cf. Citizens for a Better Gretna v. Gretna, 834 F. 2d 496, 501-502 (CA5 1987) (emphasizing that political cohesion under Gingles can be shown where a "significant number" of minority voters prefer the same candidate, and suggesting that data showing that anywhere from 49% to 67% of the members of a minority group preferred the same candidate established cohesion), cert. denied, 492 U. S. 905 (1989).
13 Justice O'Connor agreed with Justice Brennan in Gingles that, insofar as determining political cohesion was concerned, the cause for a correlation between race and candidate preference was irrelevant. She maintained, however, that evidence of the cause of the correlation would still be relevant to the overall vote dilution inquiry and particularly to the question whether a white majority will usually vote to defeat the minority's preferred candidate. See 478 U. S., at 100 (opinion concurring in judgment). The splintering of opinions in Gingles on this point has produced, at best, "uncertainty," Overton v. Austin, 871 F. 2d 529, 538 (CA5 1989), and has allowed bivariate regression analysis—that is, an analysis that measures merely the correlation between race and candidate preference and that does not directly control for other factors—to become the norm for determining cohesion in vote dilution cases. See id., at 539. But cf. League of United Latin American Citizens v. Clements, 999 F. 2d 831, 850-851 (CA5 1993), cert. denied, 510 U. S. 1071 (1994).
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