Cite as: 512 U. S. 874 (1994)
Thomas, J., concurring in judgment
we have perceived to be one of the central values of the policy of stare decisis: the preservation of "the actual and perceived integrity of the judicial process." Payne, supra, at 827.
I have endeavored to explain above that the core of any vote dilution claim is an assertion that the plaintiff group does not hold seats in the proportion that it should.29 There is no logical way to avoid reliance on a simple ratio in evaluating such a claim. And allocation of seats in direct proportion to the minority group's percentage in the population provides the most logical ratio to apply as an "undiluted" norm. But § 2 makes it clear that the Act does not create a right to proportional representation, and thus dictates that proportionality should not provide the rule of decision for § 2 claims. See supra, at 927-928, and n. 26. Nevertheless, despite the statutory command, in deciding claims of vote dilution we have turned to proportionality as a guide, simply for lack of any better alternative.
No formulation of the test for evaluating vote dilution claims has ever dispensed with the inevitable need to consult a mathematical formula to decide a case. The factors listed in White v. Regester, 412 U. S., at 766-767, resurrected in the Senate Report on the 1982 amendments to § 2, see S. Rep. No. 97-417, at 28-29, and finally reincorporated into our decision in Gingles, see 478 U. S., at 44-45, although praised in our cases as a multifaceted test ensuring that vote dilution is determined based on the "totality of circumstances," in reality provide no rule for deciding a vote dilution claim based on anything other than a numerical principle.
29 I assume for purposes of the analysis here that the measure of effective votes is control of seats. That is precisely the measure the Court has applied, both in the past, see, e. g., Gingles, 478 U. S., at 46-51; id., at 93, 99 (O'Connor, J., concurring in judgment) (noting that the Court had made electoral results the "linchpin" of dilution claims), and today, see Johnson v. De Grandy, post, at 1014-1015 (equating "political effectiveness" with control of majority-minority districts).
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