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Page Number: 13

4 

MERRILL v. MILLIGAN 

KAGAN, J., dissenting 

usually  to  defeat  the  minority’s  preferred  candidate.”  
Growe v. Emison, 507 U. S. 25, 40 (1993) (quoting Thorn-
burg  v.  Gingles,  478  U. S.  30,  50–51  (1986);  alterations 
omitted).    If  plaintiffs  satisfy  those  conditions,  they  must 
then show that a Section 2 “violation has occurred based on 
the  totality  of  the  circumstances.”    Bartlett  v.  Strickland, 
556  U. S.  1,  12  (2009)  (plurality  opinion).    Those  circum-
stances include the history of race-based discrimination in 
the State (especially as to voting rights), the extent to which 
voting is racially polarized, and the extent to which minor-
ity candidates have struggled to get elected to public office.  
See Gingles, 478 U. S., at 36–37, 44–45. 
  Under  our  precedent,  plaintiffs  have  long  satisfied  the 
first Gingles condition—the only condition at issue in Ala-
bama’s stay application—by showing that another “reason-
ably compact” majority-minority district can be drawn, con-
sistent  with  “traditional  districting  principles.”    See,  e.g., 
League  of  United  Latin  American  Citizens  v.  Perry,  548 
U. S.  399,  430,  433  (2006)  (LULAC).   Those principles  in-
clude—in addition to compactness—contiguity, respect for 
existing  political  subdivisions,  and  the  desire  to  keep  to-
gether  existing  communities  of  interest.2    See  id.,  at  433; 
Alabama  Legislative  Black  Caucus  v.  Alabama,  575  U. S. 
254, 272 (2015).  To make the requisite showing, plaintiffs 
typically submit one or more illustrative, alternative maps 
complying  with  traditional  districting  criteria  while  also 
adding a majority-minority district. 
  The plaintiffs here did just that.  In a seven-day prelimi-
nary  injunction  hearing  with  live  testimony  from  17  wit-
nesses,  they  built  an  extensive  factual  record,  including 
substantial evidence going to the ease of creating a second 
majority-Black district.  Based on that record, the District 

—————— 

2 Alabama’s  redistricting  guidelines  define  a  “community of  interest” 
as  “an  area  with  recognized similarities  of  interests,  including  but  not 
limited to ethnic, racial, economic, tribal, social, geographic, or historical 
identities.”  App. 46.