Louisiana v. Callais · ¶108

The Robinson court also relied on the “ `sordid history' ” of intentional discrimination by Louisianian officials in the decades before the Voting Rights Act's passage. Id., at 846. And it cast aside as “irrelevant” the lack of evidence that black voters had faced intentional discrimination in recent years. Id., at 847. That analysis had its priorities backwards. The Fifteenth Amendment, which the Voting Rights Act enforces, “is not designed to punish for the past” but works “to ensure a better future.” Shelby County, 570 U. S., at 553. The focus of § 2 must therefore be on “current conditions,” not on “decades-old data relevant to decades-old problems.” Ibid. And none of the historical evidence presented by plaintiffs came close to showing an objective likelihood that the State's challenged map was the result of intentional racial discrimination.

preliminary print (page proof)
Source edition
Passage preview. Read in context for the complete text, notes and references.