Cite as: 517 U. S. 952 (1996)
Stevens, J., dissenting
Nonracial Factors: Incumbency
The plurality admits that the appellants "present a . . . substantial case for their claim that incumbency protection rivaled race in determining the district's shape." Ante, at 967. Every individual who participated in the redistricting process knew that incumbency protection was a critical factor in producing the bizarre lines and, as the plurality points out, ante, at 963-964, even the District Court recognized that this nearly exclusive focus on the creation of "safe" districts for incumbents was intimately related to the bizarre shape of district lines throughout the State.
"[I]n Texas in 1991, many incumbent protection boundaries sabotaged traditional redistricting principles as they routinely divided counties, cities, neighborhoods, and regions. For the sake of maintaining or winning seats in the House of Representatives, Congressmen or would-be Congressmen shed hostile groups and potential opponents by fencing them out of their districts. The Legislature obligingly carved out districts of apparent supporters of incumbents, . . . and then added appendages to connect their residences to those districts. The final result seems not one in which the people select their representatives, but in which the representatives
("Whenever identifiable groups in our society are disadvantaged, they will share common political interests and tend to vote as a 'bloc' "). Furthermore, it may be that the very fact of racial bloc voting, a prerequisite to § 2 liability, see Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U. S. 30, 51 (1986) (and, under the Court's recent jurisprudence, to the voluntary formation of a majority-minority district), demonstrates the presence of a minority community. While communities based on race may merit a more skeptical review to ensure that a bond, rather than mere stereotyping, ties the community, see 861 F. Supp., at 1338, recognition of such a community in an electoral district certainly could, in certain circumstances, serve as a legitimate race-neutral explanation for particularly odd district shapes. By suggesting the contrary, I believe that the District Court erred. See ibid.; post, at 1060-1061 (Souter, J., dissenting).
1027
Page: Index Previous 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007