Cite as: 532 U. S. 234 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
v. Biggers, 409 U. S. 188, 193, n. 3 (1972). But in this instance there is no intermediate court, and we are the only court of review. Moreover, the trial here at issue was not lengthy and the key evidence consisted primarily of documents and expert testimony. Credibility evaluations played a minor role. Accordingly, we find that an extensive review of the District Court's findings, for clear error, is warranted. See Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc., 466 U. S. 485, 500-501 (1984). That review leaves us "with the definite and firm conviction," United States Gypsum Co., supra, at 395, that the District Court's key findings are mistaken.
III
The critical District Court determination—the matter for which we remanded this litigation—consists of the finding that race rather than politics predominantly explains District 12's 1997 boundaries. That determination rests upon three findings (the district's shape, its splitting of towns and counties, and its high African-American voting population) that we previously found insufficient to support summary judgment. Cromartie, 526 U. S., at 547-549. Given the un-disputed evidence that racial identification is highly correlated with political affiliation in North Carolina, these facts in and of themselves cannot, as a matter of law, support the District Court's judgment. See Vera, 517 U. S., at 968 (O'Connor, J., principal opinion) ("If district lines merely correlate with race because they are drawn on the basis of political affiliation, which correlates with race, there is no racial classification to justify"). The District Court rested, however, upon five new subsidiary findings to conclude that District 12's lines are the product of no "mer[e] correlat[ion]," ibid., but are instead a result of the predominance of race in the legislature's line-drawing process. See supra, at 240- 241.
In considering each subsidiary finding, we have given weight to the fact that the District Court was familiar with
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