The Court prohibited the use of race as the sole consideration for such a program, but upheld the idea of race as one among many factors able to be considered. The latter decision allowed Affirmative Action to continue. This congressional district meandered along Interstate 85 in North Carolina, including black population areas and excluding white population areas. The effect was to create a district with a bizarre shape that virtually guaranteed the election of a black representative to Congress. The case is set against a history of Southern states infringing on blacks' voting rights, which the Voting Rights Act of 1965 sought to curtail.
Racial classifications bring the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment into play.
This particular case is not about whether the North Carolina district was unconstitutional. The case is about whether a plaintiff is permitted to challenge this type of redistricting based on the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court ruled, 5-4, that a plaintiff may challenge a reapportionment statute by arguing that it is an effort to separate voters on the basis of race. If the North Carolina court found that it was, then the district could only be upheld if there was a compelling government interest in separating voters by race. This is because they reinforce the perception that members of the same race share values and candidate preferences because of their race, despite differences in socio-economic status, geography, age, education, or community.