Louisiana v. Callais · ¶12

The parties originally briefed and argued this suit last Term, and their arguments at that time highlighted problems in the existing body of § 2 case law. One problem resulted from the rule that in racial gerrymandering cases, unlike other cases involving claims of racial discrimination, see, e. g., Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Develop ment Corp., 429 U. S. 252, 265–266 (1977), strict scrutiny is triggered only if race “predominated” in the State's decision- making process. In this suit, Louisiana adopted the challenged map and created the second majority-black district because it quite reasonably anticipated that, if it did not do so, the Middle District of Louisiana would order the use of a map with a differently confgured second majority-black district that would effectively oust an incumbent whom the legislature sought to protect. Under our existing case law, that…

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