Cooper v. Harris

137 S.Ct. 1455 (2017)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

The 2010 census necessitated a redistricting for congressional races. The new map significantly altered both District 1 and District 12. The 2010 census had revealed District 1 to be substantially underpopulated: To comply with the Constitution’s one-person-one-vote principle, the State needed to place almost 100,000 new people within the district’s boundaries. It was decided to take most of those people from heavily black areas of Durham, requiring a finger-like extension of the district’s western line. District 12 was reconfigured adding areas at either end. It gained some 35,000 African-Americans of voting age and lost some 50,000 whites of that age, its BVAP (black voting age population) increased from 43.8% to 50.7%. Harris (P) brought this suit against North Carolina officials (D) complaining of impermissible racial gerrymanders. A three-judge District Court held both districts unconstitutional. All the judges agreed that racial considerations predominated in the design of District 1. All rejected D’s argument that it had a “strong basis” for thinking that the VRA compelled such a race-based drawing of District 1’s lines. As for District 12, a majority of the panel held that “race predominated” over all other factors, including partisanship. The court held that D failed to put forward any reason, compelling or otherwise, for its attention to race in designing that district. D appealed.