Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/12pdf/12-96_6k47.pdf
Page Number: 36.0

Cite as:  570 U. S. ____ (2013) 

5 

GINSBURG, J., dissenting 

surely  has  not  eliminated  all  vestiges  of  discrimination 
against  the  exercise  of  the  franchise  by  minority  citizens. 
Jurisdictions  covered  by  the  preclearance  requirement 
continued  to  submit,  in  large  numbers,  proposed  changes
to  voting  laws  that  the  Attorney  General  declined  to  ap­
prove,  auguring  that  barriers  to  minority  voting  would 
quickly  resurface  were  the  preclearance  remedy  elimi­
nated.  City  of  Rome  v.  United  States,  446  U. S.  156,  181 
(1980).  Congress  also  found  that  as  “registration  and 
voting  of  minority  citizens  increas[ed],  other  measures
may be resorted to which would dilute increasing minority
voting  strength.”    Ibid.  (quoting  H. R.  Rep.  No.  94–196, 
p. 10  (1975)).  See  also  Shaw  v.  Reno,  509  U. S.  630, 
640 (1993) (“[I]t soon became apparent that guaranteeing
equal access to the polls would not suffice to root out other
racially  discriminatory  voting  practices”  such  as  voting 
dilution).  Efforts  to  reduce  the  impact  of  minority  votes,
in  contrast  to  direct  attempts  to  block  access  to  the  bal­
lot,  are  aptly  described  as  “second-generation  barriers”  to
minority voting.

Second-generation barriers come in various forms.  One 
of  the  blockages  is  racial  gerrymandering,  the  redrawing
of  legislative  districts  in  an  “effort  to  segregate  the  races
for purposes of voting.”  Id., at 642.  Another is adoption of 
a  system  of  at-large  voting  in  lieu  of  district-by-district
voting in a city with a sizable black minority.  By switch­
ing  to  at-large  voting,  the  overall  majority  could  control 
the election of each city council member, effectively elimi­
nating  the  potency  of  the  minority’s  votes.  Grofman  & 
Davidson,  The  Effect  of  Municipal  Election  Structure  on
Black  Representation 
in 
Quiet  Revolution  in  the  South  301,  319  (C.  Davidson
&  B.  Grofman  eds.  1994)  (hereinafter  Quiet  Revolution). 
A  similar  effect  could  be  achieved  if  the  city  engaged 
in  discriminatory  annexation  by  incorporating  majority­
white  areas  into  city  limits,  thereby  decreasing  the  effect 

in  Eight  Southern  States,