274
Opinion of Scalia, J.
Section 2a(c) is, of course, only provisionally applicable. It governs the manner of election for Representatives in any election held "[u]ntil a State is redistricted in the manner provided by the law thereof after any apportionment." That language clashes with § 2c only if it is interpreted to forbid judicial redistricting unless the state legislature has first acted. On that interpretation, whereas § 2c categorically instructs courts to redistrict, § 2a(c)(5) forbids them to do anything but order at-large elections unless the state legislature has acted. But there is of course no need for such an interpretation. "Until a State is redistricted" can certainly refer to redistricting by courts as well as by legislatures. Indeed, that interpretation would seem the preferable one even if it were not a necessary means of reconciling the two sections. Under prior versions of § 2a(c), its default or stopgap provisions were to be invoked for a State "until the legislature of such State . . . [had] redistrict[ed] such State." Act of Jan. 16, 1901, ch. 93, § 4, 31 Stat. 734 (emphasis added); see Act of Feb. 7, 1891, ch. 116, § 4, 26 Stat. 736 ("until such State be redistricted as herein prescribed by the legislature of said State" (emphasis added)); Act of Feb. 25, 1882, ch. 20, § 3, 22 Stat. 6 ("shall be elected at large, unless the Legislatures of said States have provided or shall otherwise provide" (emphasis added)). These provisions are in stark contrast to the text of the current § 2a(c): "[u]ntil a State is redistricted in the manner provided by the law thereof."
If the more expansive (and more natural) interpretation of § 2a(c) is adopted, its condition can be met—and its demand for at-large elections suspended—by the very court that follows the command of § 2c. For when a court, state or federal, redistricts pursuant to § 2c, it necessarily does so "in the manner provided by [state] law." It must follow the "policies and preferences of the State, as expressed in statutory and constitutional provisions or in the reapportionment plans proposed by the state legislature," except, of course,
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