Cite as: 526 U. S. 541 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
permissible racial motive—even though they presented no direct evidence of intent. Summary judgment, however, is appropriate only where there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U. S. 317 (1986); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U. S. 242 (1986). To be sure, appellants did not contest the evidence of District 12's shape (which hardly could be contested), nor did they claim that appellees' statistical and demographic evidence, most if not all of which appears to have been obtained from the State's own data banks, was untrue.
The District Court nevertheless was only partially correct in stating that the material facts before it were uncontroverted. The legislature's motivation is itself a factual question. See Shaw II, 517 U. S., at 905; Miller, supra, at 910. Appellants asserted that the General Assembly drew its district lines with the intent to make District 12 a strong Democratic district. In support, they presented the after-the-fact affidavit testimony of the two members of the General Assembly responsible for developing the State's 1997 plan. See App. to Juris. Statement 69a-84a. Those legislators further stated that, in crafting their districting law, they attempted to protect incumbents, to adhere to traditional districting criteria, and to preserve the existing partisan balance in the State's congressional delegation, which in 1997 was composed of six Republicans and six Democrats. Ibid.
More important, we think, was the affidavit of an expert, Dr. David W. Peterson. Id., at 85a-100a. He reviewed racial demographics, party registration, and election result data (the number of people voting for Democratic candidates) gleaned from the State's 1998 Court of Appeals election, 1998 Lieutenant Governor election, and 1990 United States Senate election for the precincts included within District 12 and those surrounding it. Unlike appellees' evidence, which highlighted select boundary segments, appellants' expert
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