Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-1086_1co6.pdf
Page Number: 36

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

29 

Opinion of the Court 

the number of potential maps may be orders of magnitude 
higher: “the universe of all possible connected, population-
balanced  districting plans  that satisfy  the  state’s  require-
ments,”  it  explains,  “is  likely  in  the  range  of  googols.”  
Duchin & Spencer 768.  Two million maps, in other words, 
is not many maps at all.  And Alabama’s insistent reliance 
on that number, however powerful it may sound in the ab-
stract, is thus close to irrelevant in practice.  What would 
the  next  million  maps  show?    The  next  billion?    The  first 
trillion  of  the  trillion  trillions?    Answerless  questions  all.  
See, e.g., Redistricting Brief 2 (“[I]t is computationally in-
tractable,  and  thus  effectively  impossible,  to  generate  a 
complete  enumeration  of  all  potential  districting  plans.  
[Even]  algorithms  that  attempt  to  create  a  manageable 
sample of that astronomically large universe do not consist-
ently identify an average or median map.”); Duchin & Spen-
cer 768 (“[A] comprehensive survey of [all districting plans 
within a State] is impossible.”). 
  Section 2 cannot require courts to judge a contest of com-
puters when there is no reliable way to determine who wins, 
or even where the finish line is. 

3 
 Alabama’s final contention with respect to the race-neu-
tral benchmark is that it requires plaintiffs to demonstrate 
that  any  deviations  between  the  State’s  enacted plan  and 
race-neutral  alternatives  “can  be  explained  only  by  racial 
discrimination.”  Brief for Alabama 44 (emphasis added). 
  We again find little merit in Alabama’s proposal.  As we 
have already explained, our precedents and the legislative 
compromise  struck  in  the  1982  amendments  clearly  re-
jected treating discriminatory intent as a requirement for 
liability under §2.  See, e.g., Chisom, 501 U. S., at 403–404; 
Shaw, 509 U. S., at 641; Reno v. Bossier Parish School Bd., 
520 U. S. 471, 481–482 (1997).  Yet Alabama’s proposal is