Louisiana v. Callais · ¶137

This Court soon held, in White v. Regester, 412 U. S. 755 (1973), that such practices could be unlawful because of their effects—more specifically, because they result in unequal electoral opportunities for minority citizens. (Attend closely here, because White becomes the template for the current version of Section 2.) The plaintiffs in White challenged a Texas districting scheme that established multi- member districts in two counties with concentrated urban populations, even while using single-member districts nearly everywhere else. The effect of the scheme, the plaintiffs charged, was to “minimize the voting strength of racial groups”—both African Americans and Mexican Americans— by putting them in a broad county-wide district in which their votes would be swamped. Id., at 765, 767. In addressing that claim, the Court initially stated that it was “not enough” to show that the…

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