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Page Number: 5

Cite as:  576 U. S. ____ (2015) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash­
ington,  D. C.  20543,  of  any  typographical  or  other  formal  errors,  in  order
that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 13–1314 
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ARIZONA STATE LEGISLATURE, APPELLANT v.
 
ARIZONA INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING 

COMMISSION ET AL. 

ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR 
THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 

[June 29, 2015]

 JUSTICE GINSBURG delivered the opinion of the Court. 
This  case  concerns  an  endeavor  by  Arizona  voters  to 
address  the  problem  of  partisan  gerrymandering—the 
drawing  of  legislative  district  lines  to  subordinate  adher­
ents  of  one  political  party  and  entrench  a  rival  party  in 
power.1    “[P]artisan  gerrymanders,”  this  Court  has  recog­
nized,  “[are  incompatible]  with  democratic  principles.” 
Vieth  v.  Jubelirer,  541  U. S.  267,  292  (2004)  (plurality 
opinion);  id.,  at  316  (KENNEDY,  J.,  concurring  in  judg­
ment).  Even so, the Court in Vieth did not grant relief on
the  plaintiffs’  partisan  gerrymander  claim.    The  plurality
held  the  matter  nonjusticiable.    Id.,  at  281.    JUSTICE 
KENNEDY  found  no  standard  workable  in  that  case,  but 
left open the possibility that a suitable standard might be
identified in later litigation.  Id., at 317. 

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1 The  term  “gerrymander”  is  a  portmanteau  of  the  last  name  of  El-
bridge  Gerry,  the  eighth  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  the  shape  of 
the  electoral  map  he  famously  contorted  for  partisan  gain,  which 
included  one  district  shaped  like  a  salamander.    See  E.  Griffith,  The 
Rise and Development of the Gerrymander 16–19 (Arno ed. 1974).