Louisiana v. Callais · ¶168

The majority's misplaced focus on purpose shows up first, and most critically, in its recasting of the first Gingles precondition. That threshold requirement, as the majority acknowledges, has always functioned to ensure that a minority community is large and geographically compact enough to elect a representative of its choice in a reasonably confgured district. See ante, at 98, 118–119; supra, at 144–145. So the illustrative maps most vote-dilution plaintiffs submit show exactly that—how a reasonable majority-minority district could be created. But now, the majority says, the first precondition must be devoted to fushing out discriminatory purpose on the part of the State, by excluding the possibility that its districting plan arose from nonracial motives. See ante, at 119. So the plaintiffs' alternative maps have to satisfy (as well or better than the State's own) every permissible…

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