Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-1086_1co6.pdf
Page Number: 18.0

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

11 

Opinion of the Court 

would in fact be elected.  See ibid.  The third precondition, 
focused on racially polarized voting, “establish[es] that the 
challenged districting thwarts a distinctive minority vote” 
at least plausibly on account of race.  Ibid.  And finally, the 
totality  of  circumstances  inquiry  recognizes  that  applica-
tion of the Gingles factors is “peculiarly dependent upon the 
facts of each case.”  478 U. S., at 79.  Before courts can find 
a violation of §2, therefore, they must conduct “an intensely 
local appraisal” of the electoral mechanism at issue, as well 
as a “searching practical evaluation of the ‘past and present 
reality.’ ”  Ibid. 
  Gingles  has  governed  our  Voting  Rights  Act  jurispru-
dence since it was decided 37 years ago.  Congress has never 
disturbed our understanding of §2 as Gingles construed it.  
And we have applied Gingles in one §2 case after another, 
to different kinds of electoral systems and to different juris-
dictions  in  States  all  over  the  country.    See  Voinovich  v. 
Quilter, 507 U. S. 146 (1993) (Ohio); Growe, 507 U. S., at 25 
(Minnesota);  Johnson  v.  De  Grandy,  512  U. S.  997  (1994) 
(Florida);  Holder  v.  Hall,  512  U. S.  874  (1994)  (Georgia); 
Abrams v. Johnson, 521 U. S. 74 (1997) (Georgia); League 
of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, 548 U. S. 399, 
423  (2006)  (LULAC)  (Texas);  Bartlett  v.  Strickland,  556 
U. S. 1 (2009) (plurality opinion) (North Carolina); Cooper 
v. Harris, 581 U. S. 285 (2017) (North Carolina); Abbott v. 
Perez, 585 U. S. ___ (2018) (Texas); Wisconsin Legislature, 
595 U. S. ___ (Wisconsin). 

B 
 As noted, the District Court concluded that plaintiffs’ §2 
claim was likely to succeed under Gingles.  582 F. Supp. 3d, 
at 1026.  Based on our review of the record, we agree. 
  With respect to the first Gingles precondition, the District 
Court  correctly  found  that  black  voters  could  constitute  a 
majority  in  a  second  district  that  was  “reasonably  config-
ured.”  1 App. to Emergency Application for Stay in No. 21–