Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/13-1314_3ea4.pdf
Page Number: 60.0

Cite as:  576 U. S. ____ (2015) 

21 

ROBERTS, C. J., dissenting 

rules “[u]ntil [it] is redistricted in the manner provided by
the law thereof,” when what he meant was “any redistrict-
ing  plan  that  the  State  adopts  shall  become  federal  law.” 
And  if  the  drafter  was  doing  something  as  significant  as 
transforming  state  law  into  federal  law,  he  presumably
would have taken care to make that dramatic step “unmis-
takably  clear.”  Gregory  v.  Ashcroft,  501  U. S.  452,  460 
(1991)  (internal  quotation  marks  omitted).  Tellingly,  our
most  recent  case  on  the  meaning  of  Section  2a(c)  seems
not  to  have  even  considered  the  majority’s  position.    See 
Branch, 538 U. S. 254. 

Indeed,  the  majority  does  not  even  seem  persuaded  by 
its  own  argument.  The  majority  quickly  cautions,  in 
discussing  Section 2a(c), that “a  State is  required to com-
ply  with  the  Federal  Constitution,  the  Voting  Rights  Act,
and other federal laws when it draws and implements its
district  map.”    Ante,  at  22,  n. 20.    The  majority  therefore 
concludes  that  “nothing  in  §2a(c)  affects  a  challenge  to  a 
state  district  map  on  the  ground  that  it  violates  one  or
more  of  those  federal  requirements.”    Ibid.  But  here  the 
Arizona  Legislature  has  challenged  “a  state  district  map 
on  the  ground  that  it  violates  one  . . .  of  those  federal 
requirements”—the  Elections  Clause.    If  we  take  the  
majority at its word, nothing in Section 2a(c) should affect
that challenge. 

B 
Not  only  is  the  majority’s  reading  of  Section  2a(c)  im-
plausible as a matter of statutory interpretation, it would 
also likely violate the Constitution in multiple ways. 

First, the majority’s reading of Section 2a(c) as a statute 
approving  the  lines  drawn  by  the  Commission  would 
seemingly  authorize  Congress  to  alter  the  Elections
Clause.  The first part of the Elections Clause gives state
legislatures  the  power  to  prescribe  regulations  regarding
the times, places, and manner of elections; the second part