Cite as: 517 U. S. 952 (1996)
Stevens, J., dissenting
crazy-quilt of districts" that bore little resemblance to "the work of public-spirited representatives." Vera v. Richards, 861 F. Supp. 1304, 1309 (SD Tex. 1994); see, e. g., Appendixes A-D.
It is clear that race also played a role in Texas' redistricting decisions. According to the 1990 Census, Texas contained 16,986,510 residents, of whom 22.5% were of Hispanic origin, and 11.6% were non-Hispanic African-American. 861 F. Supp., at 1311. Under the pre-1990 districting scheme, Texas' 27-member delegation included four Hispanics and one African-American. In Harris County, a concentrated Hispanic community was divided among several majority-Anglo districts as well as the majority-minority District 18. In Dallas County, the majority-black community in South Dallas was split down the middle between two majority-Anglo districts. The legislature was well aware, after the 1990 census, that the minority communities in each county were disproportionately responsible for the growth in population that gained three representatives for the State. Given the omnipresence of § 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U. S. C. § 1973, the demographics of the two communities, and the pressure from leaders of the minority communities in those cities, it was not unreasonable—and certainly not invidious discrimination of any sort—for the State to accede to calls for the creation of majority-minority districts in both cities.6
6 The State added District 28 (a majority-Hispanic district in south Texas), District 29 (a majority-Hispanic district in Houston), and District 30 (a majority-black district in Dallas). In addition, the State reconfigured Houston's District 18. That district had elected African-American Representatives to Congress since the early 1970's and remained majority-minority in 1990, although a plurality of its population was by then Hispanic. To create District 29, the legislature altered the shape of District 18 to move parts of its Hispanic population into that neighboring district while retaining a majority-black population.
To the extent that the precise shape of these districts relied on race rather than other factors, that racial gerrymandering was somewhat less
1007
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007