Lawyer v. Department of Justice, 521 U.S. 567, 15 (1997)

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Cite as: 521 U. S. 567 (1997)

Opinion of the Court

ida Senate districts,8 and in shape does not stand out as different from numerous other Florida House and Senate districts. See App. 26, 60-75. While District 21 crosses a body of water and encompasses portions of three counties, evidence submitted showed that both features are common characteristics of Florida legislative districts, being products of the State's geography and the fact that 40 Senate districts are superimposed on 67 counties. See id., at 28, 32-33.9

Addressing composition, the District Court found that the residents of District 21 "regard themselves as a community." 920 F. Supp., at 1255. Evidence indicated that District 21 comprises a predominantly urban, low-income population, the poorest of the nine districts in the Tampa Bay region and among the poorest districts in the State, whose white and black members alike share a similarly depressed economic condition, see App. 30-31, 49-51, and interests that reflect it, id., at 149-154. The fact that District 21 under Plan 386 is not a majority black district, the black voting-age population being 36.2%, supports the District Court's finding that the district is not a "safe" one for black-preferred candidates, but one that "offers to any candidate, without regard to race, the opportunity" to seek and be elected to office. 920 F. Supp., at 1256.

8 The distance is 50 miles and record evidence indicates that only 15 of the 40 Senate districts in Florida cover less distance from end-to-end. See App. 26.

9 The Supreme Court of Florida has held that the presence in a district of a body of water, even without a connecting bridge and even if such districting necessitates land travel outside the district to reach other parts of the district, "does not violate this Court's standard for determining contiguity under the Florida Constitution." In re Constitutionality of Senate Joint Resolution 2G, 597 So. 2d 276, 280 (Fla. 1992).

In addition, only 9 of the State's 40 Senate districts are located within a single county, and 5 of those are within Dade County. See App. 33. Multicounty districting also increases the number of legislators who can speak for each county, a districting goal traditionally pursued in the State. See id., at 32, and n. 7.

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