118
Breyer, J., dissenting
Voinovich v. Quilter, 507 U. S. 146, 156-157 (1993); Chapman v. Meier, 420 U. S. 1, 26 (1975); White, supra, at 795; Reynolds, 377 U. S., at 586; Colegrove v. Green, 328 U. S. 549, 552- 554 (1946). A Court test that forbids the overt use of race in any (or all) of the circumstances listed above will simultaneously permit plaintiffs to bring lawsuits complaining about the covert use of what was overtly forbidden. Any redistricting plan will generate potentially injured plaintiffs, willing and able to carry on their political battles in a judicial forum. And judges (unable to refer, say, to intent, dilution, shape, or some other limiting principle) will find it difficult to dismiss those claims—particularly if (as the majority here says) the law deprives the legislature even of such defenses as a reasonable belief that a particular use of race was legally required.
Nor can I find any legal principle that might constitute a simple, administrable stopping place—a principle that could serve the same function in this context as does the one-person, one-vote rule in the context of reapportionment. See Miller, supra, at 938-939 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting). A simple "color blind" test—a test that rules out race consciousness across the board—will not work. Bush, supra, at 1060-1062 (Souter, J., dissenting). Legislators can and should use race consciously to prevent creating districting plans that discriminate against racial minorities, say, by "diluting" their votes. Cf. Adarand Constructors, Inc., 515 U. S., at 237. Moreover, this Court, recognizing the harm caused by slavery and 80 subsequent years of legal segregation, has held that legislators, within limits, can make conscious use of race in an effort to overcome the present effects of past discrimination. Ibid.; see also Shaw v. Reno, supra, at 646-647; Miller, 515 U. S., at 920. There may be other instances as well. Further, any test that applied only to race, ignoring, say, religion or national origin, would place at a disadvantage the very group, African-Americans, whom the Civil War Amendments sought to help, see id., at 936-
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