Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-1086_1co6.pdf
Page Number: 29

22 

ALLEN v. MILLIGAN 

Opinion of the Court 
Opinion of ROBERTS, C. J. 

  Reapportionment,  we  have  repeatedly  observed,  “is  pri-
marily the duty and responsibility of the State[s],” not the 
federal courts.  Id., at ___ (slip op., at 21).  Properly applied, 
the Gingles factors help ensure that remains the case.  As 
respondents  themselves  emphasize,  §2  “never  require[s] 
adoption  of  districts  that  violate  traditional  redistricting 
principles.”  Brief for Respondents in No. 21–1087, p. 3.  Its 
exacting requirements, instead, limit judicial intervention 
to  “those  instances  of  intensive  racial  politics”  where  the 
“excessive role [of race] in the electoral process . . . den[ies] 
minority  voters  equal  opportunity  to  participate.”   Senate 
Report 33–34. 

B 
  Although we are content to reject Alabama’s invitation to 
change existing law on the ground that the State misunder-
stands  §2  and  our  decisions  implementing  it,  we  also  ad-
dress  how  the  race-neutral  benchmark  would  operate  in 
practice.    Alabama’s  approach  fares  poorly  on  that  score, 
which further counsels against our adopting it. 

1 
  The first change to existing law that Alabama would re-
quire  is  prohibiting  the  illustrative  maps  that  plaintiffs 
submit to satisfy the first Gingles precondition from being 
“based” on race.  Brief for Alabama 56.  Although Alabama 
is not entirely clear whether, under its view, plaintiffs’ il-
lustrative  plans  must  not  take  race  into  account  at  all  or 
whether  they  must  just  not “prioritize”  race, ibid.,  we see 
no reason to impose such a new rule. 
  When it comes to considering race in the context of dis-
tricting, we have made clear that there is a difference “be-
tween being aware of racial considerations and being moti-
vated  by  them.”    Miller,  515  U. S.,  at  916;  see  also  North 
Carolina  v.  Covington,  585  U. S.  ___,  ___  (2018)  ( per  cu-
riam) (slip op., at 8).  The former is permissible; the latter