Feature Story from civilrights.org
Helen Norton
June 5, 2001
On April 18, by a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court upheld the boundaries of a North Carolina congressional district that has been the subject of repeated voting rights litigation for nearly a decade. The majority ruled in Hunt v. Cromartie that the use of race as a factor in congressional redistricting decisions is constitutional so long as race is not the predominant factor considered.
In two earlier decisions, the Supreme Court determined that North Carolina had impermissibly used race-based factors in drawing district boundaries and ordered the drawing of new boundaries. In its third decision, the Court again found that North Carolina had used race-based factors in drawing the district's boundaries, but remanded the case to the lower court to determine whether race was in fact
the predominant factor.
On remand, the lower court concluded that the State had unconstitutionally drawn the district in question. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that political affiliation, rather than race, was the predominant factor in redrawing the district lines. Although race was one factor considered by the State in drawing the district, such consideration was not unconstitutional in light of undisputed evidence that racial and political considerations were intertwined since racial identification is highly correlated with political affiliation.
