Cite as: 517 U. S. 899 (1996)
Stevens, J., dissenting
ment of the reasons for the Attorney General's denial of pre-clearance led it to the reasonable conclusion that its 11-white district plan would violate the purpose prong of § 5. 861 F. Supp., at 474. As a result, I do not accept the Court's conclusion that it was unreasonable for the State to believe that its decision to draw 1 majority-minority district out of 12 would have been subject to a successful attack under the purpose prong of § 5. Ante, at 911-913.
I acknowledge that when North Carolina sought preclearance it asserted nondiscriminatory reasons for deciding not to draw a second majority-minority district. See 861 F. Supp., at 480, n. 9 (Vorhees, C. J., dissenting). On careful reflection, however, the legislature concluded that those reasons would not likely suffice in a federal action to challenge the Attorney General's ruling. The District Court found that conclusion to be reasonable. Id., at 474. I am mystified as to why this finding does not deserve our acceptance. Nor do I understand the Court's willingness to credit the State's declarations of nondiscriminatory purpose in this context, ante, at 912-913, in light of its unwillingness to accept any of North Carolina's race-neutral explanations for its decision to draw District 12, ante, at 905-906.
Third, regardless of the possible outcome of litigation alleging that § 2 of the Voting Rights Act would be violated by a plan that ensured the election of white legislators in 11 of the State's 12 congressional districts, the interest in avoiding the expense and unpleasantness of such litigation was certainly legitimate and substantial. That the legislature reasonably feared the possibility of a successful § 2 challenge cannot be credibly denied.18
18 While the majority is surely correct in stating that the threat of a lawsuit, however unlikely to succeed, does not constitute a compelling interest, ante, at 908-909, n. 4, it does not follow that a State has no compelling interest in avoiding litigation over a substantial challenge. Here, of course, the District Court found that North Carolina premised its decision to draw a second majority-minority district on its reasonable conclusion
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