Cite as: 517 U. S. 899 (1996)
Stevens, J., dissenting
tiffs as a viable one is obviously not a model of aesthetic tidiness." Id., at 374.19
Finally, even if the record shows that African-American voters would not have composed more than 50 percent of the population in any plan containing two compact, majority-minority districts, the record reveals that it would have been possible to have drawn a map containing one compact district in which African-Americans would have composed more than 50 percent of the population and another compact district in which African-Americans, by reason of the large presence of Native Americans, would have by far constituted the largest racial group. Plaintiff-Intervenors' Exh. 301, A2- A3. Given our recent emphasis on considering the totality of the circumstances in § 2 cases, we are in no position to rebuke a State for concluding that a 40-plus percent African-American district could provide a defense to a viable Gingles challenge as surely as could one with a 50.1 percent African-American population. See Johnson v. De Grandy, 512 U. S. 997, 1009-1012 (1994); Voinovich v. Quilter, 507 U. S. 146 (1993); Rural West Tennessee African-American Affairs Council, Inc. v. McWherter, 877 F. Supp. 1096 (WD Tenn.), aff'd, 516 U. S. 801 (1995).20
19 Interestingly, although this Court in Thornburg v. Gingles held that § 2 plaintiffs must demonstrate that they live in "compact" majority-minority districts, we affirmed the District Court which had found that the plaintiffs' proposed districts were contiguous but not compact. 478 U. S., at 38. Arguably, therefore, the State could have reasonably concluded that the maps proposing District 12 would have themselves provided the foundation for a viable § 2 suit. For a discussion of how compact "compact" districts must be, see Karlan, Maps and Misreadings: The Role of Geographic Compactness in Racial Vote Dilution Litigation, 24 Harv. Civ. Rights-Civ. Lib. L. Rev. 173, 199-213 (1989). See also Dillard v. Baldwin County Bd. of Ed., 686 F. Supp. 1459, 1465-1466 (MD Ala. 1988); Houston v. Lafayette County, Miss., 56 F. 3d 606, 611 (CA5 1995).
20 Moreover, Mr. Cohen, the State's chief mapmaker, testified at trial that in statewide elections, Native Americans and African-Americans in the southeastern portion of North Carolina had voted for the same candidates. Tr. 411-412.
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