Opinion ID: 75887
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Incumbency

Text: 45 Finally, the district court accepted the County's and Ms. Meggers' contention that incumbency was, in fact, the primary consideration in the reapportionment process. While it is undoubtedly true that the County was interested in protecting incumbents, it is clear that racially motivated gerrymandering had a qualitatively greater influence on the drawing of district lines than politically motivated gerrymandering, and that political gerrymandering was accomplished in large part by the use of race as a proxy. Vera, 517 U.S. at 969, 116 S.Ct. 1941. The County sought to protect its two black incumbents by maximizing the black population in their districts. 21 Incumbency protection achieved by using race as a proxy is evidence of racial gerrymandering. Id. at 970, 116 S.Ct. 1941. Furthermore, it is indicative of the sort of racial stereotyping that the Supreme Court has condemned as resembling political apartheid: 46 It reinforces the perception that members of the same racial group — regardless of their age, education, economic status, or the community in which they live — think alike, share the same political interests, and will prefer the same candidates at the polls. We have rejected such perceptions elsewhere as impermissible racial stereotypes. 47