Cite as: 517 U. S. 952 (1996)
Stevens, J., dissenting
districting programs) down to the smaller census block level (the smallest level at which demographic and socioeconomic data was available).15 In an effort to further identify which census blocks were likely to support their candidacy, the incumbents used not only census data, but their own long experience as local representatives as well as the experiences of staffers and supporters. See 3 Tr. 177-179, 181-182 (describing methods, such as simply driving through neighborhoods, that staff members and candidates for office used to develop block-specific information regarding the likely political affiliation of voters).16
In addition, although information about political affiliation was not available at the block level through the computer program, legislators and staffers were able to get relatively precise information about voter preferences through a system, developed by the Democratic Party, that allowed candidates to determine in which party primary voters had participated. Id., at 179-180. By examining this information, legislators were able to further fine-tune district lines to include likely supporters and exclude those who would prob-15 Because political boundaries are more closely packed in urban than in rural areas, drawing lines based on such boundaries will almost always require tighter twists and turns in urban districts than in rural districts. Significantly, the three districts struck down by the District Court are the only three districts in the entire State with population densities of over 2,000 persons per square mile. See U. S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Population and Housing Characteristics for Congressional Districts of the 103d Congress: Texas 40-44 (Feb. 1993). If enough empty land were added to these districts that they matched the sparse densities of rural districts (such as District 28, which was upheld by the District Court), their turns would not appear so sharp, and the open space, without its demographic implications, could smooth the deepest of the districts' notches.
16 As Democratic communities were identified, they had to be connected with the core of the district. Although Texas has no state statutory or constitutional requirement to that effect, state legislators agreed that each of the 30 districts should be entirely contiguous, permitting any candidate, map in hand, to visit every residence in her district without leaving it.
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