Supreme Court approves South Carolina congressional map previously found to dilute Black voting power

The Supreme Court upheld a pro-Republican South Carolina congressional map Thursday, rejecting the argument raised by civil rights groups that lawmakers impermissibly used race as a proxy to bolster the GOP’s chances.

The Supreme Court upheld a pro-Republican South Carolina congressional map Thursday, rejecting the argument raised by civil rights groups that lawmakers impermissibly used race as a proxy to bolster the GOP’s chances. But the high court also said that the civil rights groups that challenged the maps could continue to pursue one part of their claim, a move that will likely delay the battle over the districts for months. With state election deadlines approaching, a federal court in March had already ruled that South Carolina could use the contested map in this year’s election. The decision was 6-3 along conservative-liberal lines. “The circumstantial evidence falls far short of showing that race, not partisan preferences, drove the districting process, and none of the expert reports offered by the Challengers provides any significant support for their position,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion. The Supreme Court has previously said that it will not review partisan gerrymanders – that is, maps intended to give one party an advantage over the other. In creating those advantages, however, mapmakers are barred from relying predominately on race as they move voters from one district to another. The challenge is that race and party affiliation sometimes align, and so it can be difficult to disentangle one from the other.