Hunt v. Cromartie, 526 U.S. 541, 12 (1999)

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552

HUNT v. CROMARTIE

Opinion of the Court

ing to less than a plurality in a neighboring district will not, by itself, suffice to prove that a jurisdiction was motivated by race in drawing its district lines when the evidence also shows a high correlation between race and party preference.

Of course, neither appellees nor the District Court relied exclusively on appellees' boundary segment evidence, and appellees submitted other evidence tending to show that the General Assembly was motivated by racial considerations in drawing District 12—most notably, District 12's shape and its lack of compactness. But in ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the nonmoving party's evidence "is to be believed, and all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in [that party's] favor." Anderson, 477 U. S., at 255. While appellees' evidence might allow the District Court to find that the State acted with an impermissible racial motivation, despite the State's explanation as supported by the Peterson affidavit, it does not require that the court do so. All that can be said on the record before us is that motivation was in dispute. Reasonable inferences from the undisputed facts can be drawn in favor of a racial motivation finding or in favor of a political motivation finding. The District Court nevertheless concluded that race was the "predominant factor" in the drawing of the district. In doing so, it either credited appellees' asserted inferences over those advanced and supported by appellants or did not give appellants the inference they were due. In any event, it was error in this case for the District Court to resolve the disputed fact of motivation at the summary judgment stage. Cf. ibid. ("Credibility determinations, the weighing of the evidence, and the drawing of legitimate inferences from the facts are jury functions").8

8 We note that Bush v. Vera, 517 U. S. 952 (1996), Shaw II, 517 U. S. 899 (1996), and Miller v. Johnson, 515 U. S. 900 (1995), each came to us on a developed record and after the respective District Courts had made findings of fact. Bush v. Vera, supra, at 959; Vera v.

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