Cite as: 515 U. S. 737 (1995)
Stevens, J., concurring in judgment
color-blind and wherein the right to vote is not limited or abridged on account of the designated race or color of the majority of the voters placed in the designated districts." Pet. for Permanent Injunction and Declaratory Judgment in No. CV 92-1522 (WD La.), p. 8, ¶ 29.
Because the Court does not recognize standing to enforce " 'a personal right to a government that does not deny equal protection of the laws,' " ante, at 744 (citing Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc., 454 U. S. 464, 489-490, n. 26 (1982)), it holds that the mere fact of appellees' Louisiana residency does not give them standing. I agree with that conclusion. What I do not understand is the majority's view that these racially diverse appellees should fare better if they resided in black-majority districts instead of white-majority districts. Appellees have not alleged or proved that the State's districting has substantially disadvantaged any group of voters in their opportunity to influence the political process. They therefore lack standing to argue that Louisiana has adopted an unconstitutional gerrymander. See Davis, 478 U. S., at 125, 132-133. Even under a standing analysis that applied a more lenient rule for the victims of racial gerrymandering, see id., at 151-152 (O'Connor, J., concurring in judgment), appellees could not prevail, because they fail to allege having been "shut out of the political process." Id., at 139 (opinion of White, J.).
Accordingly, I cannot join the Court's opinion. I would simply hold that appellees have not made out the essential elements of a gerrymandering claim for the same reasons set forth in Justice White's dissenting opinion in Shaw:
"Because districting inevitably is the expression of interest group politics, and because 'the power to influence the political process is not limited to winning elections,' the question in gerrymandering cases is 'whether a particular group has been unconstitutionally denied
751
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