Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-1086_1co6.pdf
Page Number: 13.0

6 

ALLEN v. MILLIGAN 

Opinion of the Court 

based on the totality of circumstances, it is shown that 
the political processes leading to nomination or election 
in  the  State  or  political  subdivision  are  not  equally 
open to participation by members of a class of citizens 
. . .  in  that  its  members  have  less  opportunity  than 
other  members  of  the  electorate  to  participate  in  the 
political  process  and  to  elect  representatives  of  their 
choice.    The  extent  to  which  members  of  a  protected 
class have been elected to office in the State or political 
subdivision is one circumstance which may be consid-
ered: Provided, That nothing in this section establishes 
a right to have members of a protected class elected in 
numbers equal to their proportion in the population.”  
52 U. S. C. §10301. 

B 
  For  the  first  115  years  following  Reconstruction,  the 
State of Alabama elected no black Representatives to Con-
gress.    See  Singleton  v.  Merrill,  582  F. Supp.  3d  924,  947 
(ND  Ala.  2022)  ( per curiam).    In  1992,  several  plaintiffs 
sued the State, alleging that it had been impermissibly di-
luting the votes of black Alabamians in violation of §2.  See 
Wesch v. Hunt, 785 F. Supp. 1491, 1493 (SD Ala.).  The law-
suit produced a majority-black district in Alabama for the 
first time in decades.  Id., at 1499.  And that fall, Birming-
ham lawyer Earl Hillard became the first black Representa-
tive from Alabama since 1877.  582 F. Supp. 3d, at 947. 
  Alabama’s congressional map has “remained remarkably 
similar” after Wesch.  Brief for Appellants in No. 21–1086 
etc., p. 9 (Brief for Alabama).  The map contains seven con-
gressional districts, each with a single representative.  See 
Supp. App. 205–211; 582 F. Supp. 3d, at 951.  District 1 en-
compasses the Gulf Coast region in the southwest; District 
2—known as the Wiregrass region—occupies the southeast; 
District 3 covers the eastern-central part of the State; Dis-
tricts 4 and 5 stretch width-wise across the north, with the