Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-1257_g204.pdf
Page Number: 21.0

Cite as:  594 U. S. ____ (2021) 

15 

Opinion of the Court 

  The key requirement is that the political processes lead-
ing to nomination and election (here, the process of voting) 
must be “equally open” to minority and non-minority groups 
alike, and the most relevant definition of the term “open,” 
as used in §2(b), is “without restrictions as to who may par-
ticipate,”  Random  House  Dictionary  of  the  English  Lan-
guage 1008 (J. Stein ed. 1966), or “requiring no special sta-
tus,  identification,  or  permit  for  entry  or  participation,” 
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 1579 (1976). 
  What §2(b) means by voting that is not “equally open” is 
further  explained  by  this  language:  “in  that  its  members 
have less opportunity than other members of the electorate 
to participate in the political process and to elect represent-
atives of their choice.”  The phrase “in that” is “used to spec-
ify the respect in which a statement is true.”10  Thus, equal 
openness  and equal  opportunity  are  not separate require-
ments.    Instead,  equal  opportunity  helps  to  explain  the 
meaning  of  equal  openness.    And  the  term  “opportunity” 
means,  among  other  things,  “a  combination  of  circum-
stances, time, and place suitable or favorable for a particu-
lar activity or action.”  Id., at 1583; see also Random House 
Dictionary of the English Language, at 1010 (“an appropri-
ate or favorable time or occasion,” “a situation or condition 
favorable for attainment of a goal”). 
  Putting these terms together, it appears that the core of 
§2(b) is the requirement that voting be “equally open.”  The 
statute’s reference to equal “opportunity” may stretch that 
concept  to  some  degree  to  include  consideration  of  a  per-
son’s ability to use the means that are equally open.  But 
equal openness remains the touchstone. 

—————— 

10 The New Oxford American Dictionary 851 (2d ed. 2005); see 7 Oxford 
English Dictionary 763 (2d ed. 1989) (“in presence, view, or consequence 
of the fact that”); Webster’s New International Dictionary 1253 (2d ed. 
1934) (“Because; for the reason that”).