The #SupremeCourt on Thurs allowed the use of a #SC congressional map that a lower court said “exiled” thousands of #BlackVoters to carve out a district safer for a #WhiteRepublican incumbent.
The decision was a victory for #Republicans not only because it clears the way for a map that is favorable to the #GOP. It also sets a high bar for determining when a map can be considered a #RacialGerrymander, rather than a #partisan one. #SCOTUS has previously found the #Constitution bars racial #gerrymandering but that federal courts cannot police partisan gerrymandering.
Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel #Alito noted many predominantly #Black precincts in #Charleston were moved out of one district & into another. But “because of the tight correlation between race & partisan preferences, this fact does little to show that #race, not #politics drove the legislature’s choice,” he wrote.