Colleton County Council v. McConnell’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 3 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[E]ven were we to agree that [a proposed change to a district configuration] had some political benefit, such an important change to the core of an existing district in a [court-drawn] redistricting plan, based on nothing more than our determination that one elected official will do a better job than another, is clearly beyond the scope of our remedial authority.”

   6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Covington v. North Carolina · People Ex Rel. Salazar v. Davidson

2. “Although they share the goal of addressing the evils of racial discrimination, § 5 differs in important respects from § 2 of the Voting Rights Act. First, § 2 applies to all states, whereas § 5 applies only to those states, such as South Carolina, which have the worst reputation for historical and ongoing discrimination against blacks. Second, by requiring the creation of majority-minority districts where vote dilution under the Gingles test would occur, § 2 looks beyond the status quo to ensure that a redistricting plan affords blacks an equal opportunity to elect the representatives of their choice as white voters enjoy. See 42 U.S.C.A. § 1973 (b); Gingles, 478 U.S. at 47, 106 S.Ct. 2752 . Section 5, in contrast, maintains the status quo. It only prevents “backsliding” in those jurisdictions subject to its requirements by prohibiting the implementation of any proposed voting change that has been enacted for a retrogressive purpose, see Reno v. Bossier Parish Sch. Bd., 528 U.S. 320, 335 , 120 S.Ct. 866 , 145 L.Ed.2d 845 (2000) (“Bossier Parish II”), or that has a retrogressive effect on minority voting strength, see Beer, 425 U.S. at 141 , 96 S.Ct. 1357 . Section 5 requires no separate inquiry into the Gingles factors to determine whether an opportunity district must be created, but “mandates that the minority’s [existing] opportunity to elect representatives of its choice not be diminished, directly or indirectly, by the State’s actions.” Bush v. Vera, 517 U.S. 952, 983 , 1”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 306 F. Supp. 2d 1228 - Wright v. City of Albany

3. “[S]o long as they do not subordinate traditional districting criteria to the use of race for its own sake or as a proxy, States may intentionally create majority-minority districts and may otherwise take race into consideration, without coming under strict scrutiny. Only if traditional districting criteria are neglected and that neglect is predominately due to the misuse of race does strict scrutiny apply.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 306 F. Supp. 2d 1228 - Wright v. City of Albany