Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-1086_1co6.pdf
Page Number: 72

Cite as:  599 U. S. ____ (2023) 

27 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

son (who is black) in the 2016 Republican Presidential pri-
mary.    Next,  the  court  observed  that  black  candidates 
rarely win  statewide  elections  in  Alabama  and  that  black 
state  legislators  overwhelmingly  come  from  majority-mi-
nority districts.  The court then reviewed Alabama’s history 
of racial discrimination, noted other voting-rights cases in 
which  the  State  was  found  liable,  and  cataloged  socioeco-
nomic disparities between black and white Alabamians in 
everything  from car  ownership  to  health  insurance  cover-
age.  The court attributed these disparities “at least in part” 
to the State’s history of discrimination and found that they 
hinder black residents from participating in politics today, 
notwithstanding the fact that black and white Alabamians 
register and turn out to vote at similar rates.  Id., at 1021–
1022.  Last, the court interpreted a handful of comments by 
three white politicians as “racial campaign appeals.”  Id., at 
1023–1024. 
  In reviewing this march through the Senate factors, it is 
impossible to discern any overarching standard or central 
question,  only  what  might  be  called  an  impressionistic 
moral audit of Alabama’s racial past and present.  Nor is it 
possible to determine any logical nexus between this audit  
and the remedy ordered: a congressional districting plan in 
which  black  Alabamians  can  control  more  than  one  seat.  
Given the District Court’s finding that two reasonably con-
figured majority-black districts could be drawn, would Ala-
bama’s one-district map have been acceptable if Ben Carson 
had won the 2016 primary, or if a greater number of black 
Alabamians owned cars? 
  The  idea  that  such  factors  could  explain  the  District 
Court’s judgment line is absurd.  The plaintiffs’ claims pose 
one  simple  question:  What  is  the  “right”  number  of  Ala-
bama’s  congressional  seats  that  black  voters  who  support 
Democrats “should” control?  Neither the Senate factors nor 
the Gingles framework as a whole offers any principled an-
swer.