Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21a375_d18f.pdf
Page Number: 18

Cite as:  595 U. S. ____ (2022) 

9 

KAGAN, J., dissenting 

produce maps with two majority-Black districts, she replied 
that it “certainly” could.  App. 349.  So Alabama’s applica-
tion for a stay rests on only this much: a single study not in 
the record  that  supposedly—but  not  actually—shows  that 
the  plaintiffs  cannot  comply  with  a  requirement  we  have 
never adopted (and that stands in some tension with Gin-
gles). 
  The  question  whether  to  accept  Alabama’s  position  de-
mands  serious  and  sustained  consideration—the  kind  of 
consideration  impossible  to  give  “on  a  short  fuse  without 
benefit of full briefing and oral argument.”  Does v. Mills, 
595 U. S. ___, ___ (2021) (slip op., at 1) (BARRETT, J., con-
curring in denial of application for injunctive relief ).  Ala-
bama’s challenge to the District Court’s decision cannot suc-
ceed  unless  this  Court  adopts  a  novel  legal  rule.    And 
more—a novel legal rule of potentially large consequence.  
See, e.g., J. Chen & N. Stephanopoulos, The Race-Blind Fu-
ture  of  Voting  Rights,  130  Yale  L. J.  862  (2021)  (showing 
that  one way  of implementing  Alabama’s  approach would 
yield,  across  the  country,  “substantially  fewer  districts 
where minority voters are able to elect their preferred can-
didates”).  Substantial questions merit substantial thought.  
Here, the District Court carefully and correctly applied the 
now-existing law and concluded that Alabama has unlaw-
fully  diluted  the  voting  power  of  Black  Alabamians.    See 
ante, at 1 (ROBERTS, C. J., dissenting) (“[T]he District Court 
properly applied existing law in an extensive opinion with 
no apparent errors for our correction”).  This Court is wrong 
to  stay  that  decision  based  on  a  hastily  made  and  wholly 
unexplained prejudgment that it is ready to change the law. 

III 
  As  to  the  equities,  Alabama  does  not—because  it  can-
not—contend  that  redrawing  its  map  in  advance  of  this 
year’s  elections  would  be  impossible.    The  State’s  legisla-
ture enacted its current plan in less than a week.  See App.